Saturday, April 30, 2011

Twenty-First Century Farming

Vertical Farm designed by Chris Jacobs and Dean Fowler 

Demand for food resources is increasing as the global population increases. Economists, agriculturists, aquaculturists are finding new ways to meet this need of increase in food production in the twenty-first Century. Over the next 40 years, U.N. predicts that global population will increase by 2.5 billion people. Among those 2.5 billion people approximately 80% of whom will live in urban cities. This poses two problems: 1) land scarcity and 2) food scarcity. Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor of microbiology at Columbia University, came up with the idea of the Vertical Farm Project, as a solution to the future pressure on land and resources and as a way of reducing the carbon footprint of our cities. His argues that “vertical farming” is legitimate due to environmental reasons. He claims that cultivating plants and animals in skyscrapers requires less energy and water, and it even produces less toxicity to the environment.

Traditional agriculture and aquaculture were both practiced unsustainably for several reasons: croplands destroying forests and natural habitats, fish farms polluting water, and long “food miles” of transporting from suburban farms to urban cities leading to carbon dioxide exhaust. Cities which heavily rely on other “food-producing” cities (such as China) are now researching on new ways to sustain themselves. Dr. Dickson Despommier and his advocates of environmentalists, scientist, and aquaculturists, claim that the solution is “vertical farming.”

Vertical Farming” is “a concept that argues that it is economically and environmentally viable to cultivate plant or animal life within skyscrapers.” Some conceptual proposals of vertical farming that have been usually designed with integration of systems such as hydroponics and aquaponics.

Hydroponics is “a method of growing plants using mineral nutrients, in water, without soil.” This allows plants to grow in a tube, tank, anywhere--even in indoor space of high-rise buildings. This solution allows avoiding the usage of land around our cities; the old farm lands, which were reducing soil quality and unnecessarily damaging to our environment, can even return to an unspoiled ecosystem of forests and grasslands. By placing our food source right around the corner in the center of the city, we can now shorten the food miles, relieving the pollution from CO2 emission of delivery trucks and ships exhausting fumes.

However, one of the disadvantages of hydroponics is that the system recirculates the same water that filtered through the plants, which means that it requires additional nutrients in order for the plants to be full of nutrients and flavor. (Hydroponic tomatoes are claimed to have no flavor.)

This problem is solved by system called aquaponics. Aquaponics is system that combines a traditional aquaculture with hydroponics in a symbiotic environment. If run correctly, aquaponics systems can be extremely efficient, since the only major input needed is food for the fish. Their waste then provides nutrients for plants, and the plants filter out nitrates and ammonia that can harm the fish as the water returns to the tank. Only a little bit of water to account for transpiration is needed.

Because the cycle of these systems are closed loop, the orientation of farming can be vertical--the water travels down the system from the top (providing nutrients for plants) and the water on the bottom of the system is pumped back up to the top. According the Dr. Despommier, the benefit to the environment of producing food in vertical greenhouse-like farms in the heart of urban cities would be multiple. By farming in completely controlled environment allows consistency of food production--no soil borne diseases or pests, no drought, no flood. What is even better is that vertical farming allows all this optimal condition in verticality. Also, hydroponics claims that the system only uses one-twentieth of the water used in traditional farming for irrigation.

Many developers, investors, mayors, and city planners have become advocates of “vertical farming” and are looking into making it reality in the future. Time magazine wrote an article on “Vertical Farming” and have commented positively by saying this proposal can possibly feed the world. Oliver Foster, an Australian architect, currently works on a design to build the first full-scale vertical farm for about five years and is about to be built in China. The new concept of “vertical farming” provided opportunities for architectural students and competitions to conceptually visualize futuristic scenarios of the vertical farming in our cities without holding practical potential for providing food. Currently, AWR Competition “Loft London Farm Tower” is calling for entries for innovative “design of a vertical farm with a residential use.” The competition advocates Dr. Despommier’s proposal and is asking designers to further explore the idea of “vertical farming” in the heart of London.

Although the idea is providing opportunities for architecture students and designers to create innovative, sometimes beautiful building designs, it holds little practical potential for providing food.

Despite the benefits of “vertical farming” which Dr. Despommier claims, “vertical farming” does not calculate its ecological and environmental costs of extracting materials to build skyscrapers for the simple purpose of agricultural production. The costs of the additional energy needed for “consistent conditions” such as artificial lighting, heating, and other vertical farming operations, would outweigh the benefit of the building’s proximity to the areas of consumption.

Most importantly, major downfall of “vertical farming” is that it does not expose plants to “the most plentiful and ecologically benign energy source of all: sunlight.” Stan Cox and David Van Tassel writes and investigates the feasibility of “vertical farming.” The authors argue that “vertical farming” does not expose plants to “the most plentiful and ecologically benign energy source of all: sunlight,” unlike the traditional farming, which are horizontal. They further elaborate the argument that “for obvious reasons, no one has ever proposed stacking solar photovoltaic panels one above the other. For the same reasons, crop fields cannot be layered one above the other without providing a substitute for the sunlight that has been cut off...As a result, the lion’s share of a vertical farm’s lighting would have to be supplied artificially, consuming resource-intensive electricity rather than free sunlight.” The authors calculated the efficiency of converting sunlight to plant matter, and found that the vertical farming’s lighting alone will require “eight times as much electricity as all U.S. utilities generate in the entire year.” (See calculations here.)

After disclaiming the idea of “vertical farming,” the authors conclude by stating that we don’t have to farm vertically, but we do have to change the way we do it horizontally: “it will mean a reliance on natural processes and cohesive rural communities, not technological fantasies.” Knowing the downfalls of vertical farming and suburban farming (long food miles), we must seek alternative solutions. The growth of population and urban centralization will inevitably lead to increased demand for food in the urban cities.

One possibility is “floating farm.” “Floating farm” is a concept of farming on river or on ocean to be close to urban coastal cities and provide food without using spaces on land. While this can be hard to visualize, similar concept can be seen in a competition entry from the “South Street Seaport: Re-envisioning the Urban Edge.” N.E.E.D., whose entry was awarded First Place, proposed “an aquaculture-driven floating park” called “Fish Works.” Looking at its site plan on the left, we can imagine vegetation farms spread out on New York’s riverfront horizontally, utilizing sunlight (which was one of criticism of “vertical farming” by Cox and Tassel). If proposed as urban farm, this proposal not only can fully use the free source of sunlight but also the resource of water. Because the project is situated on the surface of the water, it can easily “borrow” the water the river by bio-filtering the water to irrigate vegetations instead of using waters from aqueducts and reservoirs (which are valuable for human consumption). “Floating farm” not only can provide energy-and-resource efficiency, but also can provide variety of food production. For example, “Fish Works” proposes fish farms on New York’s riverfront. When the water is filtered, the river can be home to fish farms.

Fish is becoming one of the most important food resource for human consumption as it is known as healthiest food choice. Unfortunately, wild fisheries are overfished and ocean is in danger to be depleted because of human consumption. CBS news further predicts that the world marine ecology will be depleted by 2048. By providing floating fish farms, there is opportunity for urban aquaculture to sustain fish consumptions in the future.

The major potential problem of “floating farm” will be recycling. The dirty water and fish waste must not be released to surrounding environment to not harm the natural ecologies. This can be easily solved as hydroponics and aquaponics systems, which already solved the issue by providing closed-loop system. Although the “floating farm” also needs to be further investigated for its feasibility, it brings hope for our urban cities to become environmentally responsive cities--marrying environment and human usage, while using residual spaces which our minds do not perceive as occupiable spaces.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

grounded design: Monumental Fragility: The Stunning Design for the ...

grounded design: Monumental Fragility: The Stunning Design for the ...: "World’s Fairs have long been a celebration of human industry and invention, our Promethean spirit on display. Most World’s Fairs have a cent..."

This beautiful design for Milan Expo 2015 propose beautiful landscape of food produce and heightens the awareness of active recycling and reusing system within the project. The project bio-filters blackwater and graywater through natural filtration and gives the clean water back to its nature. The solid wastes and sludge is fed into composting system and turns into energy.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Bamboo as Building Material

As we are more and more aware of sustainability, architects are looking for more use of renewable materials like bamboo to build architecture. Bamboos are renewable material that is durable and easily replaceable. When built with this material, the interior space can feel cool in hot and humid temperatures. Also, because of its raw nature form, it gives a sense of connection to nature.

Here are list of few projects that utilize bamboo as their building material.

1) Folded Bamboo Houses by Ming Tang

















The project is inspired by origami--it folds and unfolds depending on the needs of the user and was proposed as temporary housing for Haiti aftermath.

2) Bamboo Pavilion by Esan Rahmani

















The Bamboo Pavilion is designed with 100% bamboo material for the homeless.

3) Bamboo dormitories for Thai orphanage by TYIN Tegnestue


















This dormitories collect rainwater.

Although these projects are fascinating in that they utilize readily available bamboo from their site, the projects mainly provide for poor, homeless, and orphans. Bamboo is a great material that is sustainable. It helps our forests to survive, is environmentally harmless, and is beautiful in the eye. We should utilize such material in our apartments or luxury hotels, not just for the poor, homeless, and orphans.

Facade Generation in USC

Recently, USC Architecture held a workshop called "TOP FUEL: Filters Funnels Flows" with famous Germany-based architect Frank Barkow, who is known for his research in facade systems. The workshop was one-week investigation of interactive facade system and how the facade system can become to have complex functions such as collecting rainwater, absorbing heat, providing shade, responding to use, responding to weather, transform according to different needs and so on, besides its function as skin of the building. The building skins we see in downtown, Los Angeles, are usually anonymous glass curtain walls that only do its part as a mere closure of the building. USC Architecture pushes students to rethink "what is facade or skin of a building" in terms of its function and performance. The workshop concentrated on facade generation with the help of Frank Barkow. The students designed and fabricated full-scale building components of new solution for skin performance. The workshop was held during March 21-March 28, 2011.  http://arch-pubs.usc.edu/topfuel/

Wetland Matrix for Living

The issue of growing elderly population is critical in China. This student project called Wetland Matrix for Living creatively solves the problem together with sustainability. The project is not only beautiful in its architecture form, but is also beautiful in its creation of these elders' new lifestyle that this student designs. This project's attempt to change and to better people's lifestyle through architecture is successful in that it also enhances the natural environment by cleaning the semi-polluted water.


The site Lu Wei Qiao is located in the Guangdon-Foshan region of China, which is suffering from aging population. There are currently over 10 million residents aged over 60 with around 200,000 suffering from dementia. Yet, the area lacks retirement homes, consisting only 245 in the region to support them. As a result, these elderly population is left idle as their only child lives in the urban cities to work. The project sees opportunity in the site being next to the river to provide retirement home if the semi-polluted river can be cleaned.


The project pays keen attention to psychological health of the elderly population as many of these elders suffer from dementia. This attention includes design awareness for interactive spaces, which will give the sense of contact and emotional support; active lifestyle, which will give the sense of self-needing and societal contribution; and environment, which will give the sense of ownership and connectivity to nature.



The design proposal is a "living machine system," which is a design of a community consisting a large communal greenhouse. Here, biological waste can be processed by fish and plants, which are maintained by the residents. The resulting outflow is filtered through individual residential gardens providing nutrients for gardens before it is discharged into the surrounding wetlands or farms. Landscape and rich aquatic life sprouts as a result in the wetlands, and recycled water and fishing gives back to the residents. The end product is a beautiful landscaped residential physically and visually blending into the natural surroundings.


 Great!

Future for Sustainable Los Angeles

[Solar Serpent in Santa Monica Freeway by Mans Tham]
Foreign architects are envisioning Los Angeles Freeway system as a means of opportunity of sustainability. Sweden-based architect Mans Tham covers Santa Monica Freeway with solar-skin that looks like a serpent's scale. The whole freeway system is covered with this skin, providing nice shade for drivers while collecting hot solar energy, which is abundant in Los Angeles. The collected energy will provide the city grid and also power for electric cars. 

[New Green Transportation Solution for LA by ODBC Architects]

French architect Odile Decq and Bonit Conrnette Architects proposed an extensive plan to make the "freeway city" a little greener. The project proposes large stretches of green space over freeway system and a system of small vehicles with designated transportation lanes and parking stations. 

Looking through the eyes of these foreign architects' view of Los Angeles, we can see how unsustainable our city is and how much it would be a better place if these ideas would actually be built. 

Invasive Seaweed Still Growing in San Francisco

[Undaria pinnatifida: one of world's top 100 invasive species]

Two years ago, there were news articles about an asian kelp known as wakame hit San Francisco. It is known as one of the world's top 100 invasive species. It can grow one inch a day in its length, and can spread rapidly. In 2009, the divers attempted to rip out the kelp in a race to stop the release of millions of spores that can grow into new plants. They did this until the fund was cut. If it is inevitable, why not enjoy it?

First of all, wakame is good when used in miso soup and Undaria pinnatifida. It can also help clean the bay water, if you prefer not to eat it for some reason. Although there is a risk that when these seaweeds take over the bay that they can change the ecosystem in the water, if it can be grown with control, the seaweeds can be used for the benefit. The seaweed can consume toxin and algae while it can also be converted into bio-fuel.

Nowadays, we face many obstacles with nature like natural disasters or foreign species invasion. We cannot win the nature by resisting it, but rather we must accept the change and turn it around by utilizing it. The seaweed should be investigated and researched further if it could be used for medicine, bio-fuel, and bio-filtering.