There are a lot of great reasons to incorporate more greenery into urban environments. Trees, shrubs, grass, and other plants help keep cities cooler by mitigating the urban heat island effect that occurs when materials like concrete and asphalt absorb heat and radiate it back into the urban environment. They also boost biodiversity, make cities more beautiful, and improve air quality.

It may seem like heavily developed cities don’t have a lot of room for more greenery, but Singapore is proving there are all kinds of ways to integrate it, even within skyscrapers. CapitaSpring by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Carlo Ratti Associati is the latest project to bring beautiful vegetation to Singapore’s extremely dense urban fabric.
Standing over 918 feet tall, CapitaSpring incorporates an incredible 80,000 plants spread across its 51 floors. These green spaces offer a “seamless transition between the garden and the city,” with lushly planted oases concentrated at the base, core, and roof of the building.

“As someone with Singaporean heritage, I have been honored and humbled by the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing evolution of architecture in Singapore as a distinct blending between the contemporary and the tropical,” says Brian Yang, Partner in Charge of BIG. “In our design, this manifests as a seamless transition between the garden and the city, articulated in the facades and a series of lush spiraling gardens connecting betwe...