Tower Made of Hundreds of Living Trees

Treehouses are nothing new to enterprising kids, but a group of architects at the University of Stuttgart in Germany have brought a new twist to the idea: the first tower made entirely out of living trees. The “baubotanical” building, which measures 9 meters high with a base area of 8 square meters, is made up of hundreds of White Willow plants, which will eventually fuse together to form a single, giant mega tree.

Building the structure wasn’t easy. Plants at the base of the building were plugged into the soil, while others were placed in containers attached to a temporary steel scaffolding. When the root structure is strong enough, the plant containers will be removed. And once the structure can carry three steel platforms, the scaffolding will be taken down. The whole process is expected to take between 8 and 10 years, but a green wall should sprout in the coming year.

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