These designers are dreaming of a vertical forest for Zagreb’s skyline

Designers have unveiled their vision for a vertical forest rising from the Zagreb skyline as part of a new urban gate for the Croatian capital.

Simply named Ascension, the concept project by design studio SUPERSPACE made the finals of the city’s latest competition for an urban observation tower.

Envisioned as an “aerial forest”, the wooden high rise would include a series of curved terraces dotted with trees. At 40 metres tall, the highest viewing platform would provide visitors with an ideal vantage point to enjoy views of the city, the Sava river, and Medvednica mountain to the north.

The design takes inspiration from the city’s built environment and the surrounding wooded landscape. Situated in the Novi Zagreb neighbourhood, the tower was imagined as a uniting force between old and new districts of the city, natural and manmade materials, and the past and future of the city.

“The historic city of Zagreb is composed of a medieval urban complex of churches, palaces, museums, galleries and government buildings which make it a popular tourist destination,” said SUPERSPACE in a statement. “The city expanded east and west during the first half of the 20th century, [and then] gave way to construction to the south of River Sava, resulting in ‘Novi Zagreb’.”

The studio designed the tower as an addition to a series of new developments engineered to fight back against a “lack of cultural, public, and commercial facilities” in the neighbourhood.