Known as a pioneer of green architecture, the French architect Édouard François (Boulogne-Billancourt, France, 1957) established his practice in Paris in 1998. Ever since his first experiments in the late 1990s, François has been continuously seeking new solutions to place nature at the core of his designs.

In 2000, his L’immeuble qui pousse (“the building that grows”) was completed in Montpellier. Described as a living organism, the structure is made of stones and soil packed in gabions on which plants can grow. Tower-Flower and Eden Bio, built in Paris in 2004 and 2009 respectively, are two of his landmark projects from the early 2000s. Conceived as a vertical extension of the nearby park, Tower-Flower is a social housing block encircled over its full height by giant concrete planters sprouting from the balconies of each floor. Filled with bamboo trees, the planters rest in circular holes cast directly in the concrete floor slab.

The Eden Bio is a low-rise social housing complex surrounded by a grid of wooden trellises that welcome the growth of wisteria plants. Until recently, most of François’ buildings were designed to fit in the typically 37-metre high skyline of the French capital, but with the 50-metre M6B2 Tower of Biodiversity (2016), he was recently able to enjoy an exception from that rule. Planted with wild species, cladded in green titanium panels, the structure is described as an environmental asset. Indeed, its height facilitates the dispersal of eeds and thus the biodiverse verdancy of the city.

The project has opened the way for new vertical ventures: the Gardens of Anfa in Casablanca, Morocco, and the Limassol Giverny Oasis in Cyprus, both due for completion in the upcoming years.