Italian architect Stefano Boeri and his studio have won the MIPIM award in the Best Mix-Use Project category for their Wonderwoods Vertical Forest building in the Netherlands.
The award, presented at the annual MIPIM international real estate trade show held in Cannes, recognises the most “useful, sustainable and visionary projects” in the real estate industry.
Located in Utrecht, Wonderwoods Vertical Forest is a 104-metre tower that includes 360 trees and 50,000 plants on its façades, the “equivalent to the vegetation of a hectare of forest.”
The project aims to improve the quality of life in the area, by enhancing biodiversity and absorbing carbon dioxide. “This is a real urban ecosystem, a haven for the biodiversity of living species”, the Stefano Boeri Architetti studio said in a statement.
The high-rise, which opened in February, is the first vertical forest in the Netherlands to incorporate both apartments and public spaces, including services and commercial areas.
“The recognition of the MIPIM Award as the best 'Mixed Use' building in the world, has captured the profoundly urban character of Wonderwoods: a multipurpose and highly biodiverse architecture, open to the daily life of the citizens, plants and birds of Utrecht”, said architect Francesca Cesa Bianchi during the award ceremony on 13 March.
Stefano Boeri is known for his innovate urban forestry designs. One of his most famous projects is the Bosco Verticale – literally the "Vertical Forest" – two residential towers covered in vegetation, built in Milan.
Completed in 2014, the creation received worldwide recognition in the architecture community, winning the 2014 International Highrise Award and the 2015 Best Tall Building Worldwide.
Stefano Boeri went on to replicate his design all over the world. In 2021, he opened the Trudo Vertical Forest in the Netherlands, applying for the first time his concept to a social housing complex. The Stefano Boeri Architetti studio also has ongoing projects in China and Dubai.
“I try to promote urban forestation because that's what we need," Boeri told Euronews in 2021. "We have to multiply the number of trees everywhere. And the reasons are very clear. It’s a faster, cheaper and more inclusive way to try to take down global warming.”
