Could urban greenhouses convert London into a greener city?

Urban Treehouse uses 150 trees to protect residents from noise and pollution

The desire for green spaces within major cities around the world, like London, is growing. As these cities continue to grow, and eat up some of the surrounding green space, innovative architects are looking for new ways to bring green space into the urban landscape.

Luciano Pia, from Italy, is one of these innovative and environmentally friendly architects. He has a beautiful vision for how people and nature can cohabit, even in a thoroughly urban landscape.

An apartment complex he designed in Turin, Italy, is a woven 5-story mix of trees and steel girders that let urban residents feel like they live in a giant urban tree-house. 

The organic and asymmetric shape of its terraces allow potted trees to sprout out from the building at random intervals, whilst the ponds in the courtyard provide residents with a refreshing place to relax in the summer. There are 150 deciduous trees, which lose their leaves in the winter, allowing light to filter in to the building during the darker months.

The building helps keep the city’s air cleaner and isolates the residents from the urban sounds and smells surrounding them.

Perhaps Luciano Pia’s idea might make it to London?