Amazon has finally opened its stunning new downtown Seattle office, and it’s unlike any workspace we’ve seen before, reported The Bloomberg. The Amazon Spheres are three glass geodesic domes that provide office and greenhouse space. Designed by NBBJ, the US$ 4 billion “mini-rainforest” campus will house over 800 Amazon employees in addition to more than 40,000 plants in an ecosystem built to emulate a verdant cloud forest. Amazon’s giant geodesic domes are made with a steel frame holding 2,643 laminated glass panels made up of four-layered low-iron glass to minimize heat loss. The largest of the three domes measures 27 meters tall and 40 meters in diameter with five floors (and a four-story-tall living plant wall that grows 200 plant species). Retail space occupies the ground floor and part of the first floor. Over 400 species of plants from more than 30 countries are represented in the domes and are cared for by a full-time horticulturalist. Nearly all of the plants were grown in a suburban greenhouse for the Spheres project. The flora centerpiece is a 17 meters-tall Ficus tree (nicknamed Rubi) that weighs almost 16.300 kilograms and was craned into the space through the roof. The plantings are mostly organized in either the Old World garden that features African and Asian plants, or in the New World garden with a focus on the Americas. An architectural highlight is undoubtedly the “bird’s nest,” a timber tree house suspended 9 meters in the air that serves as an intimate meeting space. The interior temperature will be stabilized at 69 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit with 60 percent humidity, and the climate will vary throughout the space. Recycled heat from the nearby data center is used to heat the Spheres. The project is on track for LEED Gold certification. The public is welcome to take a free tour of the facilities but must first book with Spheres Discovery at Understory.

When a few years ago, different architects spoke about vertical forests, nobody believes, that this structures is certainly more than just a fantasy. But in fact the world's first vertical forest construction nears completion this year, in Milan. In addition, Agora Garden, an inhabited and cultivated vertical garden in the Xinyin District of Taipei, is currently under construction. A competition for the project was won by Vincent Callebaut Architectures in 2010 with a design inspired by two encircling hands clasped together and the helical structure of DNA. Once completed the 42,335 square meter luxury residential building will incorporate nanotechnologies and vertical gardening into the residents' everyday life to make this one of the most eco-friendly structures in the city. One of the more visually arresting aspects of this ambitious project is the 90 degree twist of the tower, the sinuosity of which, the practice explains, "corresponds to the universal musical symbol of harmonic revealing the notion of ultimate balance praised by the project". The result is such that the shape of the structure morphs depending on where the onlooker is standing, for example its east/west elevations draw a rhomboidal pyramid whereas the north/south elevation is a reverse pyramid. These suspended gardens not only bring an aesthetic appeal to the Agora Garden project but will provide the building's residents with orchards, organic vegetable gardens, aromatic gardens and medicinal plants. The vertically-wide planted balconies will be accessible for all residents and will also include rain water tanks for the irrigation of the suspended gardens, nests for birdlife, composting facilities for converting waste into fertilizer and garden furniture for their own enjoyment. The planting beds are to be covered by a layer of white natural stone to protect the foliage from excess heat. To enter the Agora Garden property, users will pass through a cluster of mature trees and cross a mineral moat which will be installed to enhance the privacy of residents. In the Conceptual Design Proposal, the architects explain: "In the heart of the vegetable lung, the pedestrian square opens itself on a mineral and aquatic glade." Plants that cascade into the lower basements are provided with sunlight which penetrates through a circular light well that also illuminates the car parks, swimming pool and fitness centre. The location of these luxury 'sky houses' means that residents will have exquisite views of the C. Y. Lee & Partners and Thornton Tomasetti - designed 101 Taipei tower and the city's Central Business District. Once the project is completed in 2016, the residential units on offer will give much flexibility to potential inhabitants. The fixed central core separates the vertical circulations with the towers rotated storey by storey at 4.5 degrees. Each 540 square meter apartment is entirely free of columns as the levels are connected at both ends by two spiralling mega-columns coated in green walls, ensuring optimum living conditions for residents.