WILL FUTURE VERTICAL “SKY FARMS” FEED OUR CITIES?
Posted on August 25, 2009 by Jeffrey Newman
Imagine a future where fruits and vegetables can all be obtained locally–even in our cities withoutbeing trucked or shipped thousands of miles before reaching our stores? Some new architectural thinking may become a reality in the form of vertical urban farming, IF (and its a big IF), certain problems, particularly costs, can be worked out. One such design created by Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University envisions all-in-one eco-towers that would produce more energy, water (through condensation and purification) and food than the occupants would consume. The architectural firm Mithun has also created a farm building that has several green building concepts built in but is also a mixed-use residential and commercial complex. It is self-sufficient and includes water and energy from rainwater and “gray water” reuse, solar cells, vegetable and growing spaces and even a chicken farm–all on a downtown urban lot proposed for Seattle. A lot of consideration is being given to these conceps and realted concepts such asfour story farms in rural areas around the country. Naysayers point out that indoor agriculture is presently energy intensive ,which may be why it is not presently used for production. What is needed is a marriage of farmers, agriculture experts, engineers, agriculture experts, and probably economists to come up with some practical solutions. That said the idea of enhancing local farms, including in cities could be one of the most attractive short term advances with significant investment within ten years.
Comments (4)
Great idea! Obviously this is a sci fi concept that is seen over and over in the literature. The actual design of a closed building was been tried in the desert and failed. We must solve this problem if humans and their bodies are going to get off this planet.
I know this is not truly a closed system and Seattle would be a different story with its access to water in the form of both rain and river systems. Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio are going to have to find water to make this happen. Of course with our base of wind and solar to make electricity, desalination is a possibility.
The acknowledged theorist in this area is the Malaysian architect Ken Yeang, who has been suggesting, designing, and theorising on such buildings sine the early 1970’s. He calls his structures “Bioclimatic Buildings”
But if you want to go back further than this, you might consider “The hanging gardens of Babylon” as an even earlier influencer of bio climatic structures. In fact a great deal of Islamic architecture adopted principles of solar alignments, water, colour, intelligent fenestration, and vegetation as a means to make buildings more comfortable. Finally, if you want a Science Fiction perspective look no further than “silent Running.” Made in 1972, the theme is ecology and it features a bio-climatic space ship that holds within the last vestiges of vegetation from a ravaged planet earth. Very prescient……….. perhaps??
If I could find a good set of instructions to create our own Wind Turbine For the Home, I am sure that it would lessen our electricity monthly bill. I think wind mills and alternate forms of energy is the way of the future.
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