What if chlorophyll photosynthesis wasn’t the prerogative of trees? What if buildings purified the air too? These questions are answered by the new red building inaugurated in Bicocca, beautiful to look at but above all sustainable, intelligent and futuristic.
One of the problems of the historical period in which we live is certainly overbuildinga phenomenon that contributes to increasing the levels of pollution in the city, since the trees are reduced in favor of the buildings (thus unable to purify the air, as well as to refresh the ground with their shadow).
Some architects and some architects have therefore tried to apply the principle of chlorophyll photosynthesis right to them, to buildings, to reverse the situation and bring benefits to cities by guaranteeing ecological, sustainable and above all purifying housing units. One of these tree-buildings has arrived in Milan: it is called Open336, it is located in Bicocca and now we will explain how it works.
The first building that captures CO2 to release oxygen
To design Open 336, the first building in Milan conceived as a tree to purify the area in which it stands, was the Park Associati architecture firm (commissioned by the US company Barings Real Estate with Savills Investment). Its construction was completed in recent months and was inaugurated on 28 September 2022.
How does it work
The principle is precisely that of chlorophyll photosynthesis, which allows plants – during the day – to capture the carbon dioxide present in the air to release it in the form of clean oxygen.
By exploiting an innovative technology applied to architecture, Open336 manages to filter out carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (eight times what trees would naturally do) to return air cleaner and richer in oxygenthus helping to reduce emissions and thus re-entering the buildings Net Carbon Zero.
Where is it
This innovative building is located in the Bicocca area of Milan, and more precisely in Viale Sarca, near the Pirelli Hangar Bicocca. It can be recognized because it has a reddish color and for its modernly classic, geometric and regular structure. With seven floors (two of which are underground dedicated to parking), it is surrounded by the greenery of the neighborhood and on the top levels it has a large panoramic terrace overlooking the city.
Aesthetically appealing (but also intelligently sustainable since they control the diffusion of the sun’s heat) they are the stained glass windows that follow one another in the fiber cement structurewhich thanks to the reddish-orange color reminiscent of the old brick buildings of this once metalworking district.
As the project managers write, inside there will be several working spaces and the building itself will help make the neighborhood a particularly livable and sustainable areaa city of the future that not only looks at the functionality of the moment, but at future developments and the health of the planet (and of the city, above all).
Open336 in Bicocca is a building, but it behaves like a tree: a revolution?