Eighteen “supertrees” — artificial trees up to 165 feet tall — will be unveiled to the public later this month in a new garden in Singapore.
The mechanical trees contain vertical gardens, generate solar power, collect rainwater and filter air for nearby buildings. They’re covered in over 162,900 tropical plants, including bromeliads, orchids, ferns, and tropical flowering climbers. Eleven of the trees have solar panels, providing energy to the conservatory buildings below. In the daytime, the trees will help provide shade and shelter for garden visitors, and absorb and disperse heat. At night, the solar power from the trees will be used to fill them with light.
Some of the tallest trees are connected by “skywalks,” allowing visitors to walk between them and look at the park below. The park, the new 250-acre Gardens by the Bay, also contains two conservatories holding plants from around the world. One of the conservatories uses plant waste to feed a steam turbine, generating more on-site renewable energy.
The park is part of the country’s plan to transform Singapore into a “city in a garden.” Costing $1 billion to build and designed by Grant Associates, the government hopes that the garden will help bring new visitors.
Main image credit: Grant Associates.
Secondary image: Gardens by the Bay.