Redwood Highrise

Future: Dotted throughout a valley in the wild-urban interface of the Santa Cruz Mountains, are pods of high-rise buildings, blending homes, businesses, and community spaces. Tile mosaic murals lend the buildings extra protection against stray embers from regular controlled burns on the forest floor. Between the structures, rows of hydroponic crops hang, while pumpkin vines climb sculptural trellises. Wildlife moves freely among the human infrastructure. The community manages and harvests the forest’s mushrooms, deer, salmon and herbs in a way that honors Indigenous people’s knowledge and access to the land. Accessible walking paths meander through the valley, supplemented by a gondola system for transporting goods and passengers between pods. Select redwoods have been nurtured back to an old growth state, sequestering carbon and fostering a cool, wet micro-climate. The community’s decision to structure their forest home vertically mirrors the epiphyte ecosystem on the redwood canopy.