French design practice Studio NAB has proposed a large-scale vertical farm as a sustainable solution to urban population growth in the face of dwindling arable land. Envisioned for urban centers, the conceptual vertical agriculture facility — dubbed the SUPERFARM — aims to produce high-yielding food with high nutrition values, including but not limited to various seaweeds, edible insects and fish raised in aquaponic systems. To minimize the SUPERFARM’s impact on the environment, the designers have also proposed that the futuristic indoor farming concept be powered entirely with renewable energy from wind turbines and solar panels.
Studio NAB created its SUPERFARM utopian architecture in response to the startling statistics put forth by Dickson Despommier, an emeritus professor of microbiology and public health at Columbia University. Considered a pioneer in vertical farming, Dr. Despommier authored the book The Problem, in which he proposed indoor urban agriculture as a sustainable alternative to traditional farming methods and a potential solution to feeding the world’s growing urban populations.
“Vector for ecological transition, the ‘Superfarm’ project is part of a resilient and human-sensitive approach, paying attention to its health and its relations with food,” Studio NAB shares in its project statement. “Far from the traditional urban farm producing salads or other fruits and vegetables, the ‘Superfarm’ project, as its name suggests, focuses its production on the culture of foods with a high nutritional value that can be consumed in addition to a healthy diet, but also on foods likes fishes or honey.”
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SUPERFARM is envisioned as a six-story building erected over water rather than land so as not to take away real estate that could otherwise be used for parkland. To fulfill the designers’ goal of reconnecting people to their food, the urban farm would also need to be located close to the consumers so that they can come directly to the farm. Studio NAB believes that because of the highly controlled indoor environment, no pesticides would be used in any of the farming operations. Moreover, water would be saved and recycled for energy efficiency.
Images via Studio NAB
from INHABITAT http://bit.ly/2V91OYC
via Inhabitat
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