086 HOUSING
has doubled. Add into this crisis the soaring cost of renting and it would be hard to imagine a tougher scenario for anyone whose income leaves them no wiggle room.
Te model that has dominated house building over the last two decades isn’t working – local authorities have been selling off land in order to raise much needed cash, but thereby allowing speculative developers to pretty much do what they will, at great cost to
‘In 2000, a home might cost only four times the average salary. In 2021, they said, a home would cost eight times an average salary’
public realm, community and, of course, neighbourhood cohesion.
In such a pressurised situation, it’s not surprising that our best creative brains are hard at work trying to improve the situation, with homes that are both thoughtful of individual finances and environmental impact, but also specific life situations. Take, for example, the range of homes that Glasgow- based practice O’Donnell Brown is designing
CASE STUDY STEFANO BOERI TRUDO VERTICALE
Having planted his metropolitan reforestation ambitions firmly on the map in Milan in 2014 with his first Vertical Forest (Bosco Verticale) scheme – two towers, 80m and 112m high, whose balconies use thousands of trees, shrubs and plants as shading – architect Stefano Boeri is taking his bid for urban biodiversity out to the world, with recent examples popping up in Huanggang and Nanjing, China. But where the initial examples are all luxury apartments, he broke the mold in 2021 with a Vertical Forest for social housing in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. This 18-storey Trudo Verticale tower features 125 affordable social housing apartments, each 50 sq m of reconfigurable space with ceiling heights of at least 3.5m. The structure comprises white concrete horizontal bands sandwiched between strips of solar-reflective glazing. Staggered planter balconies of 4 sq m for each
flat are extruded from the concrete at a variety of widths, heights and depths, supporting a total of 10,135 plants, shrubs and trees. The planters are fitted with sensors that monitor the hydration and nutrition levels of the soil so that, hopefully, even the most plant-ignorant resident will be able to maintain their greenery. Just to be on the safe side, a reservoir-cum-rainwater collection system ensures the plants remain well irrigated, and regular visits from abseiling gardners will keep trees and shrubs in shape.
Cost savings were achieved through using prefabricated components and ‘cost-eficient’ materials to meet the budgetary constraints. Said Stefano Boeri Architetti partner Francesca Cesa Bianchi: ‘The use of latest generation construction technologies, the rationalisation of certain technical solutions for the facades and, more generally, the optimisation of resources related to the project and construction of the building allowed [us] to achieve the goal to realise a Vertical Forest especially intended to accommodate low-income users and young couples.’
Each year, Boeri estimates his vertical forest will absorb over 50 tonnes of CO2 and produce 13 tonnes of oxygen. Solar panels placed on the roofs of adjacent buildings will provide some of the energy residents need.
Client Sint-Trudo Social Housing Company
Architect Stefano Boeri Architettti Executive Architect Inbo Technical advice Laura Gatti Studio
Planting consultants Dupre Groenprojecten Studio and Van den Berk Nursery
Completed October 2021
STAM + DE KONING BOUW
PAOLO ROSSELLI
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