This Forest-Like Building Is Full of Life!

Nestled along the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai, China, a unique building covered in thousands of trees and plants has recently opened, bringing nature to heavily-populated areas on a breathtaking scale, while encouraging biodiversity in social settings.

“[The project] 1,000 Trees is inspired by the idea of making cities into social spaces,” says architect Thomas Heatherwick from the British architecture firm Heatherwick Studio. “It breaks down the monolithic scale of a typical retail development into a multitude of human-scale spaces. I think it will be transformational for people who live and work in this dense residential neighborhood.”

The 6-hectare ‘1,000 Trees’ complex will hold museums, residential spaces, offices, a cinema, a heritage center, and a boutique hotel that has an infinity pool and spa facilities overlooking the river. It will additionally feature 250,000 plants, 125,000 of which have already been planted. Inspired by the Unesco-listed Huangshan Mountain – dubbed the loveliest mountain in China – the building has the shape of two forest-capped mountains. Concrete pillars act as individual planters for locally-sourced trees. The complex – likened to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – is set to be completed in 2024.