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Inaugurated in the autumn of 2014, the Bosco Verticale was designed and planned by the Boeri Studio (Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra) and built and managed by COIMA in Milan’s Porta Nuova neighbourhood. It has just celebrated its tenth birthday, along with ten years of awards, recognitions, studies and work which have meant that today it is a symbol of the city of Milan, a model not only for green architecture but also a pop icon and a star of films, television series, quizzes, jewellery, fashion, advertising and even songs.



“I realised that the Bosco Verticale was a game changer not when it won the award for the world’s best skyscraper, but a few months later, when the great graphic designer Giuseppe Montanari sent me his drawing of Dylan Dog and Groucho looking astounded at this strange, bizarre, high-rise home for trees, humans and birds in the heart of Milan” --Stefano Boeri



To celebrate this anniversary, the Stefano Boeri Architetti studio (Stefano Boeri, Francesca Cesa Bianchi, Marco Giorgio and Pietro Chiodi) together with Rizzoli have brought out “BOSCO VERTICALE Morphology of a Vertical Forest”. This book in English traces the history of the project, from the initial impossible challenge to the creation of the Porta Nuova district. It analyses all those aspects that make it unique thanks to contributions by Beatriz Colomina, Emanuele Coccia, Paul Hawken, Vittorio Lingiardi, Manuel Orazi, Matilda van den Bosch and James Wines together with a hitherto unpublished collection of photographs by Iwan Baan which has been created specifically for the book, as well as shots by Paolo Rosselli, Giovanni Nardi, Dimitar Harizanov, Elisa Galluzzo, Laura Cionci and the extraordinary graphic images created by the cartoonist Enrico Pinto.



The book takes us on a unique narrative journey that calls to mind the growth of a tree, starting from its roots, up to the trunk and the branches. The roots represent the starting point, the germ of an innovative idea resulting from a number of creative and artistic inspirations while the trunk instead corresponds to the genesis of the project, the challenges faced in structural, technological and environmental terms together with the construction site, and finally the impact of the Bosco Verticale on the transformation of the surrounding area and the urban landscape.

Finally, the branches tell the story of the life of the Bosco Verticale: on the one hand, they describe its position within the panorama of international architecture, which marks a change of trajectory towards the integration of living nature in the urban environment, while on the other, they represent an independent path as a symbol and catalyst of biodiversity, not least in the eyes and imagination of the general public.

In the section dedicated to the "trunk", the book includes an authentic herbarium which describes the main plant species (geraniums, bellflowers, periwinkles, ornamental apple trees, etc.) that grow throughout the Bosco Verticale, also showing their location on the different facades of the building through the use of specific graphics.



The chapter entitled The Voices of the Bosco Verticale is dedicated to the cartoonist Enrico Pinto who has expressed the vibrant world of the building through his illustrations, representing all the voices that are heard inside and outside it, whether they are the human, vegetal and animal residents, or the voices of passers-by who comment on it.

In the opening pages, which are dedicated to the Bosco Verticale as a manifesto, Stefano Boeri says the following:



“Sometimes I like to think that the Bosco Verticale should be considered in the same light as Italo Calvino's novel, a work that is both political and fantasy at the same time. Something capable of making the impossible plausible.

[…] The political statement behind the Bosco Verticale is simple and for everyone: living nature must return to inhabit the spaces designed for humans. No more, no less. There are plenty of reasons: environmental, health, aesthetic etc, but what really matters is that the words used in this particular political manifesto are made of earth, concrete, steel, glass and 21,000 plants, 360 human beings, 20 species of birds and countless insects. They don’t disappear on a computer screen or fade away in the sun; rather, they are constantly changing because they grow, get old, die and are reborn from their own seeds.

“[…] Right from its inception, in the collective and retrospective imagination the Bosco Verticale has been inhabited by fairy tales and urban legends. The Bosco Verticale is fantastic because of what it offers its inhabitants: the experience of looking across the city from above, with a view filtered by the leaves and branches of trees and shrubs whose roots are a hundred meters high. In the last few years I have received dozens of drawings and messages from children; their amazement, their curiosity, sometimes mild and sometimes mischievous, are all together the most beautiful gift that the Bosco has given us and the reason for its success, at least until today”.



Based in Milan and with offices in Shanghai and Tirana, Stefano Boeri Architetti is dedicated to research and design in architecture and urban planning, with a constant focus on the geopolitical and environmental implications of urban phenomena. The studio is currently engaged in architectural, urban and vertical forestry projects all over the world; thanks to an integrated and multidisciplinary design approach, Stefano Boeri Architetti can boast a clearly defined identity and has become a point of reference for sustainable architecture and strategic urban development at every different level, both in Italy and the rest of the world.

Thanks to its “Green Obsession” philosophy, in 2023 the studio was awarded the UN SDGs Action Award in the “Inspire” category by the United Nations, as it “envisions sustainable cities and communities that prioritize health and well-being, while stepping up climate action through its creative approach to urban planning, ecological connectivity and urban forestry – meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals”.


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