Taipei's smog-absorbing skyscraper

After an eleven-year construction process (the project was announced in 2010), the Tao Zhu Yin Yuan tower signed by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is about to be completed in Taipei, capital of Taiwan, with the installation of hanging gardens, waterfalls and interior definition. What makes the tower a masterpiece of ecological architecture is its ability to absorb smog: thanks to more than 23,000 trees that will cover its many terraces, the skyscraper will in fact be able to absorb up to 130 tons of carbon dioxide per year. 

The project has been eco-friendly since its building process. The team of structuralists, seismic experts, interior design and landscape architects who worked on the constructions conceived the structure more as a vertical extension of the earth than a real building, analyzing the exposure to sunlight, wind and bioclimatic characteristics of the area to improve its efficiency. The energy costs of the structure are also minimal, thanks to photovoltaic panels, regenerative drives of the elevators and the optimization of ventilation and natural lighting – guaranteed by the helical shape of the structure, which also makes it anti-seismic. 

In a future in which the sustainability of cities will become a fundamental factor, the Tao Zhu Yin Yuan tower represents the future of urban planning – a concept that in Milan was explored with Stefano Boeri's Vertical Forest. The surface of towers and skyscrapers can in fact become an opportunity for metropolitan reforestation and for the creation of housing units in which energy systems dedicated to renewable energy are already implemented.