A sparkle of green now rises above Utrecht’s newly pedestrian Beurskwartier—a 100-metre-tall forest that breathes, rustles, and transforms the city skyline. Dubbed Wonderwoods Vertical Forest, this tower is home to over 10,000 plants and 300 trees, a living ecosystem perched on balconies and terraces, and a bold statement that architecture and nature can flourish together.
An Urban Forest Comes Alive
Imagine stepping off a bicycle near Utrecht Central Station and being greeted by walls of foliage—grapevines, pear trees, native shrubs—so lush they seem to pulse with life.
That is the Wonderwoods, a mixed-use tower designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti in collaboration with MVSA Architects. The taller of two linked buildings, Tower A soars to approximately 104–105 m and hosts 360 trees, about 9,640 shrubs and bushes, and 10,000 additional plants, drawing inspiration from the nearby Utrechtse Heuvelrug National Park.
Opens in winter with bare branches, then unfurls each spring into full verdant splendour, the building’s green skin changes with the seasons. As Boeri himself explained: “Plants and living nature are not simply an ornament – it is part of the life of the building,” and the facade shifts in appearance as leaves grow, colors deepen, and light dances across foliage.
The Home For Humans And Non-Humans Alike
Inside, about 200 apartments of varied types nestle among the trees. Large terraces offer views and privacy, while terraces double as planters—all supported by carefully prefabricated balconies and facades. Residents live among 30 native plant species, chosen to support local biodiversity and attract birds and insects. Circular openings in the facade serve as nesting holes for birds, integrating wildlife into the urban fabric.
Beyond private homes, the tower opens to the public: lower floors include exhibition spaces, fitness areas, cafés, bike parking (with room for hundreds of bicycles), and commercial zones. A raised green pedestrian bridge links the vertical forest to its adjacent twin, fostering interaction between residents and passers-by.
A Microclimate That Heals
Boeri’s vision extends well beyond aesthetics. The vegetation boasts real environmental benefits: absorbing CO₂, capturing fine dust particles, producing about 41 tonnes of oxygen per year, while shading the facade to reduce urban heat, dampening noise, and lowering reliance on air conditioning.
In a warming climate, such features matter more than ever. As Euronews highlights, the cooling shade, air-filtration and softer soundscape deliver measurable improvements in mood, health and energy use—something particularly valuable as heatwaves become more frequent.
This Summer, Residents Move In—But Questions Remain
By summer 2024, the tower was completed and welcoming its first residents. That pivotal fourth point—“ready for residents by summer 2024”—marks the transition from concept to lived reality. Families, young professionals, and artists now inhabit balconies draped in leaves.
But living in a vertical forest isn’t without challenges. Previous projects—such as Milan’s Bosco Verticale and Eindhoven’s Trudo—revealed that the care of greenery entails special maintenance, including flying gardeners who rappel down the facades to prune, inspect, and replace plants as needed.
Wonderwoods implements a centralized irrigation system with sensors to automate watering and pruning schedules, yet still depends on ongoing horticultural expertise.
Residents echo both excitement and mild concern: one interviewee noted that occasional bees or birds visiting balconies bring charm, but also prompts caution. Still, many speak of a rejuvenating connection to nature—even in a dense city centre.
Weaving Narratives: Living Poetry Among Leaves
Maria, one of the tenants who moved in early 2025, described her first spring waking up to the rustle of leaves outside her bedroom window: “I never imagined a forest could exist above this street. Each morning birds land on the branches while I sip tea.”
Downstairs, café-owner Johan reflects how customers now linger longer, drawn by the canopy dripping overhead: “They say they feel calmer, more rested. It’s like the city has become quieter—without losing its heartbeat.”
These small moments—tenant recollections, café chatter—illustrate real human stories embedded in an architectural experiment.
A Model For Green Urban Living
Wonderwoods isn’t Utrecht’s first foray into vertical forests—Trudo Vertical Forest in Eindhoven, completed in 2021, pioneered the concept in Dutch social housing. But Utrecht’s version is the first in the Netherlands to open amenities to the public and integrate commercial, residential, and creative uses in a pedestrian-friendly district.
According to architect Francesca Cesa Bianchi, partner and project director: “It will be a model of virtuous integration between architecture and living nature… an instrument to be used in making cities ever greener.”
Designboom emphasizes that the building’s prefabricated façade system is a breakthrough, lowering resource use and costs—making vertical forests more scalable than ever before.
Challenges Ahead—And Reasons For Hope
Skeptics point to the maintenance burden: Who will pay for the arborists, sensors, and ongoing gardening year after year? Lessons from Milan suggest that high costs can make such buildings accessible only to privileged residents.
Wonderwoods tries to address this by mixing public spaces, and structuring housing types to include moderate rent apartments. The project balances ambition with inclusion—but only time will tell whether that balance holds in practice.
Still, for many residents and visitors, the Wonderwoods tower feels like a gentle protest against concrete and glass—proof that cities need not sacrifice nature, nor nature sacrifice architecture. It has the potential to seed change; inspire other cities to adopt lush vertical planting; and redefine how people perceive urban living.
Conclusion: A Whisper Of Forest In The Sky
The Wonderwoods Vertical Forest is more than architecture with green on it—it is a city-scale living artwork, a microclimate in vertical form, and a hopeful reminder that nature can flourish even in dense urban hubs. Since it opened to inhabitants in summer 2024, tenants and visitors alike speak of calmer senses, cleaner air, and a gentle reconnection to the natural world.
It may not be perfect, but it embodies a new kind of optimism: that buildings can breathe, cities can grow forests, and daily life can feel a little more alive. Utrecht now hosts a soaring vertical promise—that humanity and nature can share the skyline, one tender leaf at a time.
Sources:
Euro News
The Guardian
Design Boom
