Architect Ole Scheeren has unveiled plans to build a 333-metre-high skyscraper in Vietnam's largest city, which will mimic the topography of the country's natural landscape.

Called Empire City, the building will be built near the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, in a rapidly developing area on the east side of the Saigon River.

It will be made up of three towers, which will rise up from a "mountain-shaped" podium. This podium will feature terraced gardens, designed to be reminiscent of Vietnam's tiered paddy fields, while the tallest of the towers will swell out near the top, to create an elevated garden, or "sky forest".

With a height of 333 metres, Empire City will be taller than any of Ho Chi Minh City's existing skyscrapers – far exceeding the 262.5 metres of Bitexco Financial Tower, the city's current tallest building.

Vertical gardens are becoming increasingly common in Vietnam. Empire City will join a Vo Trong Nghia Architects-designed concrete vertical garden house and the five-star Rex Hotel, with its massive five-storey planters in Ho Chi Minh. 

Via Dezeen & independent.co.uk