This Glass Building in Denver Will Have a Hiking Trail Built Into the Façade

Nature-inspired designs are nothing new in architecture, but in recent years, architects have taken biophilic design to a whole new level. In China, for example, the Nanjing Green Towers are the country's first vertical forest building with more than 1,100 trees and 2,500 cascading plants. In Singapore's Changi Airport, you'll find the world's largest indoor waterfall, and in the Netherlands, a brand new art depot features a rooftop forest. And now, Denver is the latest city adding a striking biophilic building to its modern skyline.

Located in the city's River North District, the new 16-story residential tower "merges nature and architecture to inspire a well-balanced life." It features more than 13,000 square feet of open-air spaces inspired by Colorado's landscapes. What makes the glass-clad façade genuinely stand out, though, is a jaw-dropping 10-story rift that allows you to see a trail-like walkway that spans four stories as well as a water feature. Other highlights include a 6,813-square-foot rooftop terrace with a pool, garden, and a spa offering stunning Rocky Mountain views.

The new tower, set to be completed in 2023, will have 187 residences for rent and almost 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The groundbreaking design is conceived by the famous Chinese architecture firm MAD Architects (behind the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, currently under construction, and the Gardenhouse residential complex in Los Angeles) and the Denver-based Davis Partnership Architects.

"If we regard modern cities as man-made landscapes on the Earth, we need to design canyons, woods, creeks, and waterfalls, transforming concrete forests into second nature," said Ma Yansong, MAD founder and principal partner, in a press release.

This is MAD's first residential project in the U.S., and it certainly has the potential to become an architectural masterpiece.