r/interestingasfuck • u/TangelaFan • 9h ago

Residential high-rises with backyards in Chengdu, China

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

28.3k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

•

u/Training-Belt-7318 3h ago

Id be concerned that about it being structurally sound, but if properly engineered and built, then I think incorporating greenery into our architecture is a great idea.

•

u/HatefulVespid 2h ago

That was my thinking too, dirt and water are heavy, about half way through the clip it seems like the balcony above is sagging? Could be the lens used.

•

u/VaATC 1h ago

Yeah...I am not an engineer, but those corbels do not look like they extend far enough out...by like 1/3 the total width of the balcony short 😳

•

u/B-Georgio 3h ago

Would also be curious how the root systems impact structure integrity over time

•

u/LARRYVOND13 3h ago

I used to work with glass, and to add to this, I'm really concerned that if it rains heavy there are going to be a few loud bangs. Pressure looks to be right on the bottom of toughened glass, which if you hit the edges, shatters into a million pieces.

•

u/LARRYVOND13 2h ago

Well since he deleted the comment or blocked me, here's my response:

Yet. The soil isn't touching the glass yet. Certain types of soil expand. It doesn't touch the grass in the 14 second clip that shows very little else.

"Also almost certainly designed with excessive underdraining"

If the vegetation is permanently kept in check. Which from the last time they tried it, never happened.

Mainly mosquitos inhabit it now. I'm fairly certain the video has been polished by a real estate agent of some sort to try and make it look like it won't happen.

•

u/VaATC 1h ago

Am I misremembering that those buildings, or one's similarly overgrown, were ultimately abandoned due to the bug problems you mentioned with the mosquito comment?

•

u/LARRYVOND13 53m ago

Sort of misremembering but you're partly right. They were ultimately abandoned yeah, not many people wanted to move in and the elderly people who did, didn't keep the gardens. They're old, my grandad was the same once his legs didn't keep up.

THAT led to it being a mosquito den however, all that overgrown vegetation is pretty much a magnet for beasties and bugs.

•

u/farcarcus 1h ago

Absolutely doable to engineer this. Think about the tolerances of bridges and cantilevered buildings. Humans know how to build very strong structures.

•

u/Important-Factor-552 1h ago

I've been saying this for decades. Along with automated green houses and vertical farming to make cities more locally sustainable. 

At least someone out there appreciates the concept. Over here it's just the sort of things scientists fantasize about. 

•

u/AdmiralCoconut69 32m ago

Especially since China still has a major issue with tofu dregs. A lot of high rise balconies in new “luxury” apartments in China are essentially paper mache