flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

Agora Garden, a twisting, plant-filled tower in Taipei, will absorb 130 tons of carbon dioxide annually once completed

High-rise Construction

Agora Garden, a twisting, plant-filled tower in Taipei, will absorb 130 tons of carbon dioxide annually once completed

The building sits just a few blocks from the LEED-Platinum certified Taipei 101, the world’s eighth tallest building.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | December 2, 2016

Image courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures

A twisted tower is a dramatic addition to any skyline and doesn’t require much else to catch the eye of anyone whose sightline it may come into. But a new twisted tower from Vincent Callebaut Architectures will add a metaphorical twist on top of the literal 90-degree twist its recently topped out Agora Garden skyscraper already has. The new building will be packed with plants, vegetable gardens, and trees on each of its 22 floors, turning it into, what the architect calls, a vertical farm.

Agora Garden is looking to become the embodiment of a vertical farm and will include vertically wide planted balconies of suspended orchards, organic vegetable gardens, aromatic gardens, and other medicinal gardens as a means of producing its own organic food.

In addition to allowing the building to produce some of its own food, the inclusion of all of this greenery means the building will be able to absorb up to 130 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

 

Image courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures

 

According to the architect, the building will integrate the recycling of organic waste and used water, BIPV solar photovoltaic energy, rainwater recycling, and composting into its plans, as well. Vincent Callebaut Architectures’ website lists four main ecological objectives the building will accomplish:

 

  1. The reduction of the climatic global warming. 
  2. The protection of nature and biodiversity.
  3. The protection of the environment and the quality of life.
  4. The management of natural resources and waste. 

 

The building will include car parks, a swimming pool, a fitness center, and lobbies that will connect the indoor spaces with the surrounding outdoor spaces. The central core of the building will be a vertical twisted garden surrounded by sky entry foyers. The core itself does not pivot but is surrounded by a naturally lightened horizontal circulation loop welcoming the entry foyer dedicated to each unit. This “buffer loop” enables the main entrance to always be in the axis of each apartment despite the 4.5 degrees rotation story by story.

The tower has recently topped out and is expected to be completed in September 2017. For additional, detailed information on the project, click here.

 

Image courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures

 

Image courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures

 

Image courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures

 

Image courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures

 

Image courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures

Related Stories

| Mar 11, 2011

Chicago office building will serve tenants and historic church

The Alter Group is partnering with White Oak Realty Partners to develop a 490,000-sf high-performance office building in Chicago’s West Loop. The tower will be located on land owned by Old St. Patrick’s Church (a neighborhood landmark that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871) that’s currently being used as a parking lot.

| Mar 9, 2011

Winners of the 2011 eVolo Skyscraper Competition

Winners of the eVolo 2011 Skyscraper Competition include a high-rise recycling center in New Delhi, India, a dome-like horizontal skyscraper in France that harvests solar energy and collects rainwater, and the Hoover Dam reimagined as an inhabitable skyscraper.

| Mar 2, 2011

How skyscrapers can save the city

Besides making cities more affordable and architecturally interesting, tall buildings are greener than sprawl, and they foster social capital and creativity. Yet some urban planners and preservationists seem to have a misplaced fear of heights that yields damaging restrictions on how tall a building can be. From New York to Paris to Mumbai, there’s a powerful case for building up, not out.

| Feb 11, 2011

Chicago high-rise mixes condos with classrooms for Art Institute students

The Legacy at Millennium Park is a 72-story, mixed-use complex that rises high above Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. The glass tower, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, is mostly residential, but also includes 41,000 sf of classroom space for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and another 7,400 sf of retail space. The building’s 355 one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom condominiums range from 875 sf to 9,300 sf, and there are seven levels of parking. Sky patios on the 15th, 42nd, and 60th floors give owners outdoor access and views of Lake Michigan.

| Feb 11, 2011

Chicago architecture firm planning one of China’s tallest towers

Chicago-based Goettsch Partners was commissioned by developer Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Ltd. to design a new 294,570-sm mixed-use tower in Tianjin, China. The Tianjin R&F Guangdong Tower will be located within the city’s newly planned business district, and at 439 meters it will be one of China’s tallest buildings. The massive complex will feature 134,900 sm of Class A office space, a 400-key, five-star hotel, 55 condominiums, and 8,550 sm of retail space. The architects are designing the tower with multi-story atriums and a high-performance curtain wall to bring daylight deep into the building, thereby creating deeper lease spans. The project is currently finishing design.

| Dec 17, 2010

Condominium and retail building offers luxury and elegance

The 58-story Austonian in Austin, Texas, is the tallest residential building in the western U.S. Benchmark Development, along with Ziegler Cooper Architects and Balfour Beatty (GC), created the 850,000-sf tower with 178 residences, retail space, a 6,000-sf fitness center, and a 10th-floor outdoor area with a 75-foot saltwater lap pool and spa, private cabanas, outdoor kitchens, and pet exercise and grooming areas.

| Dec 17, 2010

Luxury condos built for privacy

A new luxury condominium tower in Los Angeles, The Carlyle has 24 floors with 78 units. Each of the four units on each floor has a private elevator foyer. The top three floors house six 5,000-sf penthouses that offer residents both indoor and outdoor living space. KMD Architects designed the 310,000-sf structure, and Elad Properties was project developer.

| Dec 17, 2010

Vietnam business center will combine office and residential space

The 300,000-sm VietinBank Business Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, designed by Foster + Partners, will have two commercial towers: the first, a 68-story, 362-meter office tower for the international headquarters of VietinBank; the second, a five-star hotel, spa, and serviced apartments. A seven-story podium with conference facilities, retail space, restaurants, and rooftop garden will connect the two towers. Eco-friendly features include using recycled heat from the center’s power plant to provide hot water, and installing water features and plants to improve indoor air quality. Turner Construction Co. is the general contractor.

| Nov 16, 2010

CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition

MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.

| Nov 3, 2010

Rotating atriums give Riyadh’s first Hilton an unusual twist

Goettsch Partners, in collaboration with Omrania & Associates (architect of record) and David Wrenn Interiors (interior designer), is serving as design architect for the five-star, 900-key Hilton Riyadh.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category




halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021