Sustainable Development

Jungle City: Africa’s First “Vertical Forest” Will Be In Cairo

Egypt will be home for Africa’s first vertical forest in its New Administrative Capital, located
about 48 km east of Cairo in the desert.

Designed by the Italian architect Stefano Boeri, the vertical forest consists of three 30m by 30m
cube-shaped apartment buildings covered in planted terraces. The seven story-high trio will be
home for at least “350 trees and 14 thousand shrubs of over 100 species,”

Boeri’s designs often focus on the environmental implications of urban phenomena keep on
decreasing the footprint. According to the architect’s website, the vertical forest scheme is a
“project for the environmental survival of contemporary cities designed to promote the
coexistence of architecture and nature in urban areas”.

He works alongside Egyptian designer Shimaa Shalash and Italian landscape architect Laura
Gatti who are helping him bring thing architectural innovation to life. The project will begin in
2020 and will take two years to construct.

In an interview with CNN Style in 2018, Boeri said “The ability to enlarge green surfaces inside
and around our city is one of the most efficient ways to try to reverse climate change.”

“So, a vertical forest is one of the possible ways to … enlarge biological surfaces, in the
horizontal and the vertical. (The solution is) not only gardens. Why not also the side of the
building?”

One building will be a hotel while the other two will be residential buildings; all will be energy
sufficient. Each apartment will have a balcony which will be home for various plant species that
can survive the local climate conditions all year round.

Aside from its aesthetic appeal, the vertical forest will be both beneficial for the health of the
residents as well as the environment; something Egypt has been struggling with for a while.

In late August of last year, Forbes released an article on a report done by The Eco Experts saying
that Cairo is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The data was based on three different
types of pollution: air, noise and light.

This forest is one of many steps the country has been taking to be become more sustainable. Last
month, the capital’s governor Khaled Abdel Aal announced a new initiative to plant gardens on
all the rooftops on Cairo’s buildings as part of the governorate’s sustainable development plan.
Vocabulary:
 Outskirt (periferie)- a part remote from the center
 Storeys (etaje)- the space in a building between two adjancent floor levels or between a
floor and the roof
 Rooftop (acoperis)- the outer surface of a roof
 Dwelling (locuinta)- a shelter( such as a house) in which people live
 Surface (suprafata)- a plane or curved two-dimensional locus of points(such as the
boundary of a three-dimensional region)

Specialized verbs:
Covered in planted terraces- acoperite cu terase plantate

Aesthetic appeal- recurs estetic

Summary:
This text gives us information about a new project of an Italian architect Stefano Boeri in
collaboration with designer Shimaa Shalash and Italian landscape architect Laura Gatti, which is
called “Vertical Forest” that is supposed to be built in Cairo. It, also, informs us about the aspect
of these buildings that will consist of three 30m by 30m cube-shaped apartment buildings
covered in planted terraces. One of these will be a hotel and the other ones will be apartments.
This project is supposed to reduce the pollution in this city and to enlarge biological surfaces.
Also this project can be a good example of a combination between architecture and nature for
future architects who can implement this one in their own ideas.