Saskia said: Trees made from steel, still green.

‘Green’ in the city is decreasing. Although urban-farming is a trend, ‘green’ still disappears in the city and in the surrounding area. It had to happen eventually, man is capable of many things even making trees. An example is in the ‘Gardens by the Bay’ in Singapore. What do these man-made trees mean and what will it add to our lives?

What

The park ‘Gardens by the Bay’ In Singapore has a small bunch of man-made-trees, they are up to 50 metres high. These super trees are steel-framed, this does not really remind me of something called sustainable. But it really is sustainable! The trees have flowers and ferns growing on them. The steel frame ensures not only the shape of it, but it also disseminates and absorbs heat. Also the tree can harvest rainwater and provide two types of air ventilation. But that is not all, of the 18 trees in the park there are 11 trees which have solar panels along their ‘arms’. Therefore they can generate their own energy. The trees harvest solar energy and converts it to a wonderful light show in the evening. This means the steel-casing of the trees is not only a vertical ‘forest’ but also has ecological and sustainable features.

Why

Have you ever seen something as beautiful as these trees? They look gorgeous in the picture, imagine how they look like in real life. It is wonderful to see how these trees function as vertical gardens, which are even very easy to maintain because of the chosen plants. The ‘Gardens by the Bay’ is ranked number 4 out of the 311 attractions in Singapore and hereby one of the most popular attraction for tourist whom travel all over the world to visit it. It would be amazing to see these super trees all over the world to provide us with solar energy. In my opinion it would look much more beautiful instead of the solar panels on the roofs of our homes and maybe it even gives the opportunity to harvest our own food of it. But would it even be possible to place them everywhere? Just for an example, how would it look in The Netherlands? Would the flowers and ferns even survive the winter? If it does not we will be stuck with just huge steel-trees without ‘green’ on it, but even than it has a sustainable function. But because of the looks without the flowers and plants I do not think these trees will even be built in The Netherlands or any other countries with the singular climate. But in Singapore it may have a future, over there it has the right climate and temperature. It would be great if there would be smaller version on the market and if they can be placed in home-gardens. This even means people could get their own solar energy and collect water with ‘a tree’.

Even though it may not have a great future in The Netherlands and other counties but it certainly looks beautiful and I would love to visit it once in my life. Take a look at the video below to see a part of the light show.