The world seems to be in a competition for the craziest skyscrapers and even more so are greenery covered buildings. After the design of Bosce Verticale in Italy by Stefano Boeri, forest covered buildings have begun to appear in other parts of the world. An architecture firm Studio Libeskind has revealed a glazed skyscraper for Toulouse, France that will be twisted in a ribbon of greenery.
The Occitanie Tower will be a 150 m (492 ft) mix use building that will host a Hilton hotel, about 120 residential apartments and 11,00 square meters of office space. It will also include some retail space and office space on the ground floor. The tower is due to begin construction in 2018 that is planned to be completed by 2022.
The towers will feature a glazed facade broken up by a strip of greenery that will begin at the base and reach the top in a swirl. The designs are created by Nicolas Gilsoul who is a landscape architect. The building will provide the residents a glorious view of the Pyrenees mountain range along with a bunch of vertical gardens and abundant outdoor space. There is no mention of the quantity and the type of plants that will highlight the skyscraper.
Libeskind explained the design of the skyscraper in a press release saying, “With its suspended gardens that change color during the seasons, the slight silvertine of the glazing of the façade will reflect the pink tones of Toulouse and the brightness of this material will change perception of the space, according to the variation of light. The tower becomes a unique object in a vast urban space – the tower will not only become a destination, but also a defining public space.”
The Occitanie Tower will be Toulouse’s first skyscraper, located on the site of a former postal sorting office. Compagnie de Phalsbourg is developing the project, and a local architect Francis Cardete is also involved.
We will have to wait till 2022, how the Occitanie Tower turns out.
