What grows organic produce, consumes CO2, and is over 30 stories tall? The answer is Eric Vergne’s Dystopian Farm skyscraper, a winner of 2009's Evolo Skyscraper Competition. The Evolo Skyscraper Competition, held each year, encourages some of the world's most creative architects, engineers, and artists to design new structures to meet the needs future urban residents.
One of this year's three winning designs was the spiraling Dystopian Farm tower, a green skyscraper designed for the Hudson Yard area of Manhattan. The tower is modeled after the cells in ferns and other plants. Its organic design provides stability to the structure, and a network of housing for the tower's growing systems. The tower is equipped with advanced growing technologies such as airoponic watering, nutrient feed systems, controlled lighting, and CO2 level regulation.
The end result is a tower which not only looks natural, but is home to a rich green garden that consumes carbon dioxide and provides food for the growing urban population. Mr. Vergne describes, "Through food production and consumption, this skyscraper sets up a fluctuation of varying densities and collections of people, bringing together different social and cultural groups, creating new and unforeseen urban experiences that form and dissipate within the flux of city life."
World population in urban centers is on the rise. Experts predict that by 2050 80% of the world's citizens will reside in an urban setting. These residents will need an estimated 109 hectares of arable land to provide their food. As space on the ground is limited, one increasingly attractive solution is to build upwards, creating vertical farms. While few such farms currently exist, several projects are planned and the field could grow tremendously in the next couple decades.
The Evolo Skyscraper competition drew 416 entrants this year from 64 countries. Ultimately, three winners, including the Dystopian Farm, were picked, with 15 special mentions.
Via Inhabitat
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written by Adriana, February 20, 2009
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written by Fred, February 22, 2009
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written by Caster, February 23, 2009
greenlifesmartlife.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/problem-solved-mother-nature-shows-us-how-its-done/
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written by Mark Bachelder, February 25, 2009
I'm not trying to shoot this idea down, but as presented, it is not realistic, it is just a concept. It's a good enough idea to be further devoloped into a buildable plan, but I'm not sure why it's included here, just yet.
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written by Rolfey, February 25, 2009
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written by Jorge, February 26, 2009
http://www.verticalfarm.com/
to find out... It is a missprinted figure. The one they mention is 10 to the power of 9, not 109.
So 10000000000 Ha, really a lot of land...
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written by Rachel, October 02, 2010
It's exciting to see so many designers being influenced by organic systems.
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