31.08.2009
Nine metre high tower built of living trees

The first ever tower to be made of living trees (© University of Stuttgart)

Construction botanists at the University of Stuttgart have erected the first ever tower to be made of living trees. The approximately nine metre high tower is still at its early growth stage, but should stand stably in a few years time and be ready to support three suspended galvanised steel floors, each covering an area of eight square metres. The living tower will consist of several hundred young white willows planted on top of each other in a temporary steel frame and, after “operative interventions” similar to the grafting (shield budding) procedures familiar in the cultivation of fruit trees, will fuse to form an unsupported truss structure. Once the lowest plants develop a strong root system in the earth and have merged with the white willows growing above them to form a single organism, the plant containers which are in the upper layers at the moment will be removed with the supporting scaffolding.

The aim of the Stuttgart-based researchers’ project is to demonstrate the architectonic and ecological potential of construction botany. Their objective is to build structures with living plants as freely formable supporting architectonic structures equal in dimension to fully grown trees. This would enable green areas to develop in a very short space of time. According to the University of Stuttgart, living buildings will combine the aesthetic and ecological qualities of trees with useful building functions. The metabolisms of trees – even artificial ones – would not only make an important contribution to the microclimates of urban areas, they would also put an attractive new face on our towns and cities.

The pilot project was launched in the framework of doctoral studies under Professor Gerd de Bruyn at Stuttgart’s “Institute of the Theory of Modern Architecture and Design” (Igma) and Professor Thomas Speck (Plant Biomechanics Group Freiburg, University of Freiburg) in collaboration with the sculptor Cornelius Hackenbracht (from the landscape art and architecture project Neue Kunst am Ried) in Wald near Sigmaringen. The project is supported by the German government's Environment Foundation (Bundesstiftung Umwelt), numerous specialist firms, consulting engineers and other sponsors. The project will be presented to the public for the first time on 19 September.