Outside the Chelsea College of Art in London, UK, a 10-metre ‘urban greening’ structure has been unveiled: a showcase of using natural materials in construction to support biodiversity. The project, Vert, is designed to address challenges that are common to urban areas, such as rising temperatures, heatwaves and declining biodiversity. Its red oak timber frames, fitted with fabric nets or ‘sails’, can support more than 20 species of climbing plants at once. Its designers say that it encourages nature into the city and creates sheltered spaces to gather.  …Vert is projected to cool the surrounding air space by as much as 8ºC, cast four times more shade than a 20-year-old tree, and produce as much biomass as an 80-year-old lime tree – all through the use of climbing plants grown over the course of a single summer.