First tower made of living trees

German architects have grown the first tower made of living trees at the University of Stuttgart.

Nearly 9m high, the tree-structure is made up of several hundred young, 2m high White Willow plants.

The plants at ground-level are planted into the soil while the others are rooted in plant containers, plugged in temporary steel scaffolding.

The scaffolding structure will be removed after several growth periods, probably in 8-10 years time. At this point the plants will have joined up and the ones at the bottom will have sufficiently developed their roots in the ground.

The tower was designed by Ferdinand Ludwig, a PhD student at the Institute of Theory of Modern Architecture and Design and in collaboration with the sculptor Cornelius Hackenbracht.

It will be opened to the public from 19th September.

Useful links
University of Stuttgart

Image: tree as it currently looks