One Central Park uses two unusual technologies for tall buildings – hydroponics and heliostats – to grow plants around the periphery of the building at all levels. The shading saves cooling energy, while the heliostat directs sunlight for heating and lighting into or away from the building and the adjoining park when it is most needed.
The project presages a future in which biomimicry is no longer a radical concept in architecture, while inverting a perception that tall buildings can only block light and rob the urban environment of natural greenery. Instead, it does just the opposite, strategically casting light about itself to reduce rooftop heat loads and stir visual interest at height and on the ground, while enshrouding itself in lush
greenery. By showcasing the green art of the possible, One Central Park ascribes a tantalising literalness to the expression “a forest of skyscrapers.”