The Nanjing Green Towers designed by Stefano Boeri will become the first “Vertical Forest” built in Asia, according to a press release. Following the prototype of towers built in Milan, the two towers designed for Nanjing Pukou District comprise the “interchange of green tanks and balconies”.

600 tall trees, 500 medium-sized trees, and 2,500 plants and shrubs will cover the façade. It is, according to the architects, a “real vertical forest” capable of regenerating local biodiversity. The building will capture 25 tons of CO2 per year and produce about 60kg of oxygen per day.

The first tower—the taller of the two—will include a museum, a “green architecture” school and a private club. The second tower, which is 108 meters tall, will contain a Hyatt Hotel with a rooftop pool. 

As an essay by Mark Minkjan for Failed Architecture once noted, these sort of green towers “never come to look as lavish as they are projected”. Plants have trouble surviving the smog and high winds present at such altitudes, as well as the inevitable lack of adequate soil. So it’ll be an interesting test to see if this tower succeeds where others, in the opinion of some, have failed to constitute much besides the “green-washing” of a luxury developing.