French-Brazilian firm Triptyque Architecture has designed a residential skyscraper covered in vegetation for São Paulo.

Triptyque, which has offices in São Paulo and Paris, proposed the Tropical Tower as part of a 150,000-square-metre masterplan at a university campus in the Brazilian city.

Shown as a model, the design features balconies and screens that jut out from its form, creating a push-and-pulled effect similar to Herzog & de Meuron's "Jenga tower" in New York.

"The Tropical Tower is defined by its nonlinearity, opposing to the ambient rationality, it is a twist of the architectural body," said the studio.

The outdoor spaces would be planted with trees and vegetation all the way up the buildings' 150-metre height.

"Each floor provides access to the plants, where the terraces – kind of excrescences – will support trees or even greenhouses, some of them will be used for vegetables growing," Triptyque added.

Black concrete floor slabs would be visible between glazed external walls, while wooden brise-soleils would be moveable across the facades.

Triptyque's design is one of four towers proposed for the site, which will be connected by bridges and include a mixed program of 400 apartments, a hotel, offices and shops.

French agencies PCA and Edouard Francois were also invited to work on the scheme.

Triptyque has previously added planted balconies during the revamp a 1970s office block in Rio de Janeiro. The firm's earlier projects in São Paulo include a warehouse converted into an arts space for Red Bull and a stack of creative studios illuminated by a chequerboard of glass blocks.

Another studio that frequently design plant-covered structures is Vietnam-based Vo Trong Nghia, which has most recently unveiled a planted city hall for Bac Ninh and a trio of towers shielded with swathes of bamboo.

Photography is by Ricardo Bassetti.