The world's tallest vertical garden now adorns Sydney skyline. The One Central Park is already completed and offers its potential owners a unique combination of architecture and nature. One Central Park designed by Jean Nouvel in collaboration with his French compatriot Patrick Blanc, a botanist, the vertical garden incorporated in the facades is made of different plant species which provide natural regulation of incoming solar radiation, adapting to the seasons of the year. The majority of Central Park is being developed jointly by Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia - two global companies with a shared passion for sustainable communities. The vertical garden consists of 250 native Australian exotic plant species. The shrubbery covers 50 percent of the building's facade and according to the designers intends to extend the greenery from the adjacent park onto the building. The Central Park project by Ateliers Jean Nouvel consists of two adjoining residential towers. Nouvel's towers are 116 meters and 64.5 meters in height and are part of a larger mixed-use development that includes apartments, shops, cafes, restaurants and office units. The tallest tower features a large cantilever that contains 38 luxury penthouse apartments. On the underneath, there is a heliostat of motorized mirrors that direct sunlight down onto the surrounding gardens. After nightfall the cantilever is used as a canvas for a LED light installation by artist Yann Kersale. One Central Park is part of an "urban village" in downtown Sydney that features residential towers, retail shops and collaborative spaces for artists and architects. The dynamic setting was designed around a beautiful and spacious 64,000 square meter park. Much like New York's iconic Central Park, the grounds will serve as a tranquil respite from city life, with a large lawn for relaxation, chessboards, an open-air cinema, and occasional festivals and live music. One Central Park from Asia and Australia named the best tall building in the world for 2014 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

CDL's Tree House in Singapore just set a new Guinness World Record with the world's largest vertical garden. The building's green wall measures 2289 square meters and is expected to save more than US$ 500 thousand in energy and water costs annually. Located in a quiet corner of Singapore's District 23, Tree House is a 24-storey condo building that boasts the world's largest vertical garden and features state-of-the-art sustainable technologies and elements such as heat-reducing windows and motion sensors that automatically activate lights. The vertical garden will reduce the estate's carbon footprint by filtering pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air. The green exterior wall will reduce heat absorption, which could result in energy savings of between 15 and 30 percent. The developer, City Developments Limited (CDL) won the tender for the site in August 2009 and the project was completed in 2013.

Saudi Arabia laid the foundation stone for the King Abdullah International Gardens (KAIG) in Riyadh, with plans for the facility set to include the world's largest botanical gardens. KAIG, one of the largest environment projects in the world, will be spread over a total area of 2.5 million square meters along Riyadh-Jeddah Road. Construction work of KAIG has started after the completion of the first phase of the project, which included leveling the site and fencing works. There will be six main sections at KAIG, including covered and open facilities. They are the Plants Gardens, the Valley Gardens, the Scientific Gardens, the Water Gardens, the International Gardens, and the Nature Gardens. The covered facility, which will be the largest of its kind in the world, would have two giant botanical gardens spread over a total area of 100 thousand square meters. The crescent-shaped facility will be five times bigger than the world's largest geodesic domes at the Eden Project, Cornwall, in Britain (). Its structure and fabric are capable of adaptation to the various environments. The project will focus on local plant life in the Arabian Peninsula and is designed to appeal to families and tourists. KAIG's open facility will have plants growing in the local environment, in addition to an open museum for plants, seeds bank, and rocky garden. There will also be research institutes, office accommodation, shops, restaurants, visitor facilities and a theater. The gardens will use recycled water and alternative energy supplies, exploiting solar and wind power as well as rainfall through collection tanks.

Dubai is to build the world's largest vertical garden and the world's biggest butterfly garden as part of an expansion to the Miracle Garden launched in Dubailand earlier this year. As part of phase two, Dubai Properties Group's (DPG) partner Akar Landscaping & Agriculture Company will start work on the latest attractions, which are due to be unveiled in October 2013. In addition to the current variety of plant and flower species, the second phase of the 67 thousand square meters Miracle Garden will include the largest vertical garden in the world. It will also feature an Edible Plants Garden from which visitors can pick their own fruits and vegetables and a Butterfly Garden, made up of an impressive 10 thousand live butterflies bred in the UAE for the first time. The Butterfly Garden, set to be one of the biggest in the world, will be home to over 40 different species of butterfly. A breeding station is also set to be built to manage the butterfly population. Other elements will include new children's attractions, a Flower Hills and Mountains themed garden and a retail area. Currently, world's largest vertical garden is situated in Italy. Last year a shopping centre near Milan claimed an unusual record -- the biggest vertical garden in the world, covering a surface of 1250 square meters with a total of 44 thousand plants.

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.