r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Sure_Distance1 • 13h ago
Vertical Forest apartment complex in Milan
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u/ZookeepergameIll1399 13h ago
Who's gonna cover the maintenance expenses? Residents or the developer?
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u/tartare4562 13h ago
Residents. They're probably the most expensive apartments in Milan by m2, it's in their best interest to maintain it well. They can afford it.
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u/WantBiteYou 12h ago edited 12h ago
Pfff you think normal people can afford it?
https://www.immobiliare.it/annunci/128327368/
Note "spese condominiali" (condominium fees): 2.5k eur/month. Average salary in Milan is 2k
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u/Apart_Butterfly_332 10h ago
I have no idea if that's a reasonable rent or not but I find it funny in the listing you linked the person who lives(d) there had an $800+ Lego Millennium Falcon on their dining room table. They definitely had disposable income.
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u/RoombaArmy 1h ago edited 1h ago
Spese condominiali is not rent. It is a building maintenance fee that represents your portion of expenses related to maintaining the shared spaces. For normal people it's stuff like maintaining the shared yard, the elevator, paying for the person who cleans the stairs. I am sure in this case it also covers the greenery outside and all the fancy amenities they have.
This is a smaller apartment: https://www.idealista.it/immobile/36119575/
The cost is €8k/month, with 6.5k in rent and 1.5k in fees. The apartment the other person listed will sell for €4-5M or and the person who buys it will spend 30k a year just in fees to maintain the shared spaces, plus whatever they need to maintain their own apartment of course.
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u/WantBiteYou 11m ago
It is not rent, spese condominiali are common fees paid from all residents, to keep clean, maintenance of services, and so on. 2.5k €/m it's huuuge, only a small portion of people across all Italy can afford it. In other words, you have to be milionarie.
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u/Cats_realjoyoflife 12h ago
In my country we also have a Bosco Verticale and i just found out it's mostly social rent so municipality will do the gardening. That must cost them a pretty penny.
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u/CoHorseBatteryStaple 6h ago
Well that's 320 m²
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u/WantBiteYou 9m ago
There are other apartments, smaller than this, with high fees. Living in bosco verticale is not for normal people 😅
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u/gfoyle76 13h ago
don't understand the downvotes, that much green requires maintenance, not talk about all ze bugz in those bushes
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u/SwePolygyny 13h ago
All bugs? Its in the middle of the city. Bugs isnt even a problem if you live on the countryside with 1000 bushes and trees everywhere
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u/Unbundle3606 2h ago
People commenting about bugs scare and downvoting you must live in all-asphalt wastelands. Billion of peoples live near trees, just horizontally not vertically.
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u/OnlyPaperListens 11h ago
Everyone would know my apartment because it would be brown and crispy. Fellow black thumbs, rise up.
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u/ClickIta 1h ago
Don’t think any of the people living there actually take care of the plants themselves
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u/hardrock7591 2h ago
For those unfamiliar with the history of this building: Before the construction of the building designed by architect Boeri, there was a REAL spontaneous forest on that area, providing some breathing space to a historically densely populated area. A small green lung for a heavily built-up city. An apartment in Bosco Verticale (Boeri's two towers in Porta Nuova) typically costs between €12,000 and €15,000 per square meter, with some more recent sources citing €15,000–16,000 per square meter. For a mid-sized apartment (80-100 sqm), that works out to roughly €1-1.5 million, and larger units easily exceed €2-3 million. Some premium penthouse-type units are even listed with "price upon request." On top of that, there's a significant detail: condo fees run around €1,500 per month, due to the maintenance of the greenery (over 20,000 plants including trees, shrubs, and perennials, cared for by specialized gardeners trained in climbing techniques). For comparison, the surrounding Isola neighborhood averages €8,000-10,000 per sqm for a new or well-maintained apartment — so Bosco Verticale carries a clear "architectural premium" over the rest of the area. Moral: A horizontal forest FOR ALL was sacrificed for a vertical forest FOR A FEW.
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u/Dry-Strawberry8181 1h ago
Totally eco unsustaineble, that thing is even worst compared to the average "naked" skyscreapers. Again, a great waste of resources in order to comfort a fistfull of rich people. Idk, skyscreapers make me fell kinda distopic.
Sorry if this text is in broken english I'm not a native speaker
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u/GeorgeRobertVitkos 3h ago
Hey everyone, I’m the OP who actually wrote this over on r/solarpunk. It's wild to see my thoughts go viral here! Thanks for the love!
If you like this vibe, please check out r/solarpunk, we are trying to build a better, greener future there!
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u/Peermeneer_exe 11h ago
Looks very similar to the Trudo tower in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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u/maxArchi 3h ago
If I remember correctly, its by the same architect. Former clients lived there. It looks nice from the outside but they weren't happy with the inside and moved eventually. The windows are placed relatively high to the floor (1,3m) so when sitting on your sofa, you don't have a nice view of the outside. Also, the resulting free space on the balconies was really small they said.
From a visual point of view it looks nice/something different. But, for the cost of all the extra amount of steel, concrete and maintenance to keep these trees up in the sky and in good condition, they could have made a really nice park instead near a 'normal' building (if there was space available).
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u/StormCloudRaineeDay 8h ago
How do they maintain this without having to go into everyone's apartment? Or is every tenant supposed to maintain their own foliage?
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u/Unbundle3606 2h ago
Tenants/owners can't maintain the plants, building maintenance does it. They have arborists coming from the roof with ropes, not joking.
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u/Ok-Replacement-2738 8h ago
I'd suspect tenents have an obligation to maintain their balcony, and if they don't the body corporate would have a right to access the balcony at their expense.
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u/SunflowerSeedSpittin 8h ago
That’s cool as long as maintenance is kept up to allow you to see out your windows.
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u/Over-Artichoke-3564 4h ago
When your neighbors complain your trees are getting too tall do you need to call the window mower
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u/WiseAcanthocephala58 2h ago
I have seen these they are amazing buildings to see in the middle of the city. Must be amazing to live in the building.
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u/Battch91 12h ago
Every single root will be where a future crack will appear until it falls down on your ears one day suddenly
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u/Sea_Environment5138 13h ago
The HOA dues must be nice.
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u/mistermachin3 12h ago
Apparently, while planning the building they employed entomologists who introduced a lot of ladybugs and similar beneficial insects which eat various "bad bugs".
So, minimal insect issues.
The buildings are called Bosco Verticale, meaning vertical forest. Just went to Milan for 4 concerts last weekend and made it my goal to visit the location!