Many buildings are adorned with fancy-sounding names with no obvious connection, but not these Milan skyscrapers Bosco Verticale, which means vertical forest in Italian. The 256-foot and 344-foot towers are covered in more than 700 trees and 90 species of plants, which is laid flat on the ground, would create a forest area of nearly two acres. 

The plants help to reduce smog, dampen noise levels, produce oxygen, and regulate temperatures inside the two buildings. In winter, sunlight can easily pass through the bare plant life and help heat people's rooms, while in summer, the leaves can protect the apartments from the sun. 

The trees are kept alive by a complex irrigation system inside the building, which redirects the water people use back onto the porches to sustain plant life.

"It is a model of vertical densification of nature within the city," says designer and architect Stefano Boeri.