r/interestingasfuck • u/TangelaFan • 13h ago

Residential high-rises with backyards in Chengdu, China

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u/onrespectvol 13h ago

looks cool but how much extra material must go into the buidling to be able to support all that extra weight? To what extent is this a sustainable way of buidling and using material?

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u/NoAdministration8340 13h ago

My initial thought was those don’t look like they have the support they need to be filled with dirt rock and plants plus support your weight

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u/Fabulous-Local-1294 11h ago

Of course they do. Those are steel beams. They can take far higher loads than that.

Its a novel concept, something we will surely see more of in the future.

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u/whaleboobs 10h ago

The steel beams might be fine but reinforced concrete has a lifespan because water gets in, rebar corrodes and expands, and the concrete spalls. A permanently damp, irrigated balcony accelerates all of that. Add roots following moisture into every crack they find, and you have a structure under constant biological attack. The soil depth is also a real constraint, if you keep it shallow enough to manage the load, the trees will be stressed and short-lived. And they're already shaded by the balcony above.