What the world’s “Greenest Buildings” can teach us on everyday infrastructure

Across the world, a growing number of buildings are showing what is possible when sustainability is put at the centre of design. From net-positive energy to urban farming and rainwater harvesting, these headline projects push boundaries and set a valuable example for everyone involved in shaping our built environment.

At urbanspec, we take inspiration from these landmark developments and believe in the principles they represent: low carbon design, habitat creation and long-term performance. More importantly, we know these principles should not just be reserved for large-scale, capital-funded buildings.

Through external storage structures with integrated green roofs, these same ideas can be applied at ground level; across housing developments, school campuses and public realm schemes, bringing nature into everyday infrastructure.

Three inspirational green builds

1. Pasona Urban Farm

Tokyo, Japan
Completed: 2010

With its striking green walls and rooftop gardens, Pasona Urban Farm is a standout example of how living architecture can transform a commercial space. This nine-storey office in Tokyo integrates over 200 species of fruits, vegetables, herbs and rice into its building fabric, grown directly on façades, balconies and interior spaces. Designed to reconnect urban workers with food production, the building reduces food miles, lowers internal temperatures and creates a lush, biodiverse environment that supports wellbeing and sustainability in one of the world’s densest cities.

2. Bullitt Center

Seattle, USA
Opened: 2013

The Bullitt Center’s extensive green roof is a key feature of its net-positive design. Paired with a solar PV array and 26 geothermal wells, the green roof helps the building generate 30% more energy than it consumes while managing stormwater, filtering air pollutants, and moderating the urban heat island effect. 

Built to the ultra-stringent ‘Living Building Challenge’ standard, the six-storey commercial building avoids car parking entirely, offering only bike racks. It proves that high performance and ecological integrity can be achieved in the everyday fabric of cities.

3. Bosco Verticale

Milan, Italy
Completed: 2014

Few buildings have redefined green architecture as boldly as Bosco Verticale, or “Vertical Forest”. The project incorporates extensive green roofs and a façade of living walls populated by more than 20,000 plants, including 900 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 perennials. Equivalent in scale to a hectare of forest, the towers function as vertical ecosystems, absorbing CO₂, filtering air pollution, reducing noise, and creating a cool microclimate.

Unlike conventional green roofs hidden from view, Bosco Verticale’s planted terraces are designed to be highly visible expressions of ecological design, offering changing colours and textures throughout the seasons. These vertical gardens also support urban biodiversity, providing habitat for birds and insects while reconnecting residents with nature.

The project’s success demonstrates that greenery itself, through thoughtful architectural integration, can deliver climate performance, wellbeing and a radical reimagining of what the building envelope can do.

Everyday Lessons for Urban Infrastructure

What links all three projects is their commitment to ecological performance, long-term resilience and the prominence of planted architecture, whether through rooftops, terraces or entire façades. 

At urbanspec, we take those same principles and apply them to bin and cycle stores. These components of the built environment are sometimes overlooked but collectively they have huge potential to shape greener, healthier places.

By specifying sedum or wildflower green roofs on our modular storage structures, developers can reduce carbon, enhance biodiversity and improve site integration, even on the most space-constrained urban plots.

While not every project can be a vertical forest or a global landmark, every development can make space for nature. Whether through a bin store that absorbs rainwater and CO₂ or a cycle shelter that doubles as a pollinator habitat, everyday infrastructure can deliver environmental value.

Inspired? Discover how urbanspec green roof structures can help bring nature back into everyday spaces.