Blue 2: Vertical Farming by Brian Liu

(image source: http://blog.makezine.com/urbanf2.jpg)

With the ever growing population of the earth and the migration of people into cities, the issue of nourishing and sheltering these people becomes more and more prominent. A recent innovation is the concept of vertical farming. Architects along with farmers, engineers and city planners have designed whole skyscrapers in which farms are incorporated into the building. The basic notion of vertical farming is the creation of space to grow plants using hydroponics inside a skyscraper which has many advantages over traditional agriculture and many benefits to the surrounding population. (see Caelin's post for more information on hydroponics)

Advantages of Vertical Farming:

Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
All food grown in vertical farms is grown organically meaning no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
Vertical farms virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
Converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration
Vertical farms add energy back to the grid via methane generation from compositing non-edible parts of plants and animals
Vertical farms dramatically reduce fossil fuel use that would be used in traditional agriculture like tractors, plow and shipping.
Converts urban plots into food production centers
Vertical farms are highly sustainable environments
Creates employment
Farm lands are returned back to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
Transport, packaging and storing costs are cut and will therefore reduce the price of food

Skyfarm

(image source: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/05/25/gordon-graffs-skyfarm-for-toronto/)

A design for a vertical farm, which is to be built in the middle of downtown Toronto named Skyfarm, has been completed by one of our very own University of Waterloo Masters students, Gordon Graff. This 59 story building will grow multiple vegetables inlcuding carrots, lettuce, spinach and soybeans to name a few and even raise chickens. The food production is estimated to be able to produce enough for 50,000 people a year. There are of course problems that come with growing plants in a skyscraper. The energy used by lighting for the crops to grow will be up to 82 million kwH per year and the system of growing crops hydroponically will require large amounts of water. Designers however have implemented gas plants able to produce methane from the produced waste of the building into energy for the building and the water issue can be solved by filtrating waste water from sewage.

Center for Urban Agriculture

An even more amazing solution to many of the problems of growing urban areas is a design for a vertical farm by Mithun. Their design for the “Center for Urban Agriculture” (CUA) not only includes growing vegetables and chicken farms but also incorporates apartments. Mithun has transformed this downtown Seattle .72 acre site into a building which will have 1.35 acres of flora and 318 apartments. The CUA is zero net energy and net water usage building. Grey water and rain is collected via the structure’s 31,000 + sq. ft. rooftop rainwater collection area and treated on site. The building is also equipped with 34,000 + square footage of photovoltaic cells which would collect energy that would be stored in hydrogen tanks when needed. The building is composed mostly of glass and steel which allows ample amount of sunlight into the building for the plants. This building goes above and beyond as the water collected is 20 times its own discharge potential which means it can distribute water to the surrounding area along with its produce which is served in the in-house restaurant and café below.