DESIGN POSTCARD: 25Verde in Turin

This tree-covered building - conceived as a living forest - was built before its more famous cousin, Milan's Bosco Verticale.

Instagram is full of things to see and learn and discover - as well as lots of Reels of people making coffee and folding their pants. Sometimes (rarely) these things coincide with a dash of right time and right place, and so it was last week. We were in Turin. We had guests, one of whom is a garden designer and who had requested to visit a good garden. She had already been to the former Fiat factory in Lingotto, where the rooftop test track has been converted into an elevated sculpture park, but she wanted more…

Scrolling through Instagram in bed that very morning, I came across an AI-augmented video telling the story of 25Verde in Turin. It showed the construction of this extraordinary “vertical forest” apartment building on the site of another former Fiat building (you are never far from Fiat in this city). The film explained the design behind the unique condominium, using AI to illustrate how trees in giant steel pots were integrated into the structure.

So, after breakfast we headed…