The first French vertical forest

The first vertical forest was created in the city of Villiers sur Marne, in the eastern quadrant of the metropolitan area of ​​Paris. Forêt Blanche, that is the name of Stefano Boeri Architetti’s project promoted by the Compagnie de Phalsbourg. It is a tower 54 meters high with wooden structures.

The other architectural structures of the Balcón de París project are the works of Kengo Kuma & Associates (Sora, Le Palais des Congrès), Oxo Architectes (Le Potager De Villiers, Business House), KOZ Architectes (2 buildings, Archipel), Michael Green Architecture (Peuplier Blanc, Prairie Blanche) and X-Tu (The Ressourcerie, Green Jenga). The Forêt Blanche façades are covered by 2000 trees, shrubs and plants, with a green surface equivalent to one hectare of forest, 10 times the surface area of ​​the lot in which the building is located.

Forêt Blanche will house residential apartments on the upper floors, offices and commercial services at the bottom, with a combination of terraces and balconies on all four sides of the tower. The sides facing east and west allow the passage of sunlight, offer natural lighting and ventilation to the apartments and an exceptional panorama in the landscape of downtown Paris. Forêt Blanche is one of the 12 architectural structures presented by the Compagnie de Phalsbourg on the Marne Europe – Villiers sur Marne site, called Balcon sur Paris.

Balcon sur Paris is part of the broader framework of “Inventons la Métropole du Grand Paris”, one of the largest urban development competitions promoted in the metropolitan area of ​​Paris, in which 51 sites and big names have participated in international architecture . In addition to Forêt Blanche, Stefano Boeri Architetti also presented the La Cour Verte project for Balcon sur Paris, a building with a patio, whose ceiling touches the ground and which has a hanging garden in the center -with a 600 m2 cover of pastures- inserted in the innovative and sustainable context of the project, favoring the development of biodiversity. The master plan for public green spaces James Corner Field Operations, which commissioned, among others, the High Line project in New York from Diller + Scofidio and the Atelier Paul Arène.