Plantagon’s Vertical Farm
We have shared architects’ different approaches to addressing the pressing food issue, from the highly conceptual designs to the more classical ideas. It seems that more competitions and clients require architects to implement gardens for harvesting food, or create an available food solution to accompany the structure. Statistics estimate that more than 80% of the population will live in cities by 2050 and the oil transportation needed to ship food from rural areas will only become more expensive. Soon, adding alternative farming methods won’t be an option; it will be a necessity if food for cities is to remain cost-efficient.
Plantagon, a Swedish-American company, has recently created their take on the vertical farm idea: a geodesic dome containing an urban Plantagon® greenhouse. The farm “will dramatically change the way we produce organic and functional food. It allows us to produce ecological with clean air and water inside urban environments, even major cities, cutting costs and environmental damage by eliminating transportation and deliver directly to consumers,” explained Plantagon.
More about the dome after the break.
As the images illustrated, Plantagon envisions major cities adopting their greenhouse solution. The project features a large spiraling ramp that will provide the necessary space for food growth and production. The glass dome covering the ramped space will provide the necessary light needed to nurture the gardens. Since the glass is curved, varying amounts of sunlight will penetrate according to the angle of incidence.
The company is presently working with Sweco, a consulting engineering firm, to calculate how much sun will reach the interior ramps as the seasons and the sun’s position in the sky change. “It has been a considerable challenge for us at Sweco. Our goal has been to find technical solutions that make it possible to grow crops with high quality and good operating economy,” stated Stephan Stålered, a consultant at Sweco. While a lot of areas still need to be figured out, Plantagon hopes to have the first farm fully functioning within 3 years.
As seen on Inhabitat and Treehugger.
expensive and useless idea
Luna I completely agree. If each person, to support current living standards, requires approx 0.5ha/ 5,000 sqm of agricultural land for food*, then each hideously expensive dome would struggle to feed what, a family of 4?
So Paris, as shown in the visuals, a city of 2 million, would only require about 500,000 of these domes to feed itself. Very sustainable!
* http://tinyfarmwiki.com/index.php?title=How_much_land_to_feed_one_person%3F
THIS CAN WORK. The vertical farm concept is based on HYDROPONIC plant growing. A very SMALL area is needed to feed each person. Please do a search on Vertical Farm and city farms.
This is a very, very practical concept.
concept = pass
execution = fail
but something like this may be coming to a city near you sometime soon http://bit.ly/YvZsn
Unfortunately I concur with previous comments. I looks like an appropriate solution, but ultimately impractical – except for maybe a particular low bulk agricultural product like herbs, so there may be some limited application for this idea. Better would be what is actually evolving: many smaller independent farms closer to big cities usually within 200 miles. This is now one of the fastest growing segments, at least in the US where this has not been the norm for decades. Food does not have to be grown where real estate is premium $$ right in the “downtown” to gain transportation efficiency – it just doesn’t need to be shipped 1500 – 4000 miles. There has to be a balance. What I would like to see: more water transport of food in the downstream direction where possible – like in NY, the Hudson River Valley where there is increasing ag. production and Hudson River available for transport. Most large cities are intersected by one or more navigable waterways. That is the greater opportunity imo, vs sexy urban Chia disco ball.
Sorry, for me as a German this looks like a complete ripoff from the dome of the German Reichstag in Berlin which was constructed by Sir Norman Foster.
Just check google for “Reichstag” and “Kuppel” or for example these links:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Reichstag_Luft_2004.jpg
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstagsgebäude (scroll down to “Die Kuppel”)
http://www.reichstagskuppel.de/ (Klick on “Kuppel” “Konus” and “Rampe” in the left menu)
ah c’mon Peter, what you say is not really accurate. The Reichstag Cupola is not a geodesic sphere, and inside of it there’s a double helix – unlike in this proposal.
Only because superficially similar elements are used doesn’t mean it’s a “ripoff”.
wonder what the ROI is on this?
how much food has to be grown and sold to pay for construction and operation? was this even considered?
mike90260@yahoo.com
9:56 AM Jul 14th
RT @ArchDaily Plantagon, a Swedish-American company, has recently created their take on the vertical farm idea ~ http://bit.ly/9X3X69
1:51 PM Oct 14th
Plantagon’s Vertical Farm | ArchDaily http://www.archdaily.com/?p=28903
7:38 PM Nov 2nd
Vertical #farming – #agriculture moves to the city – Plantagon's dome design http://bit.ly/zpGkR and article on concept http://bit.ly/c9DsCt
7:42 PM Nov 2nd
RT @gzaneti: Vertical #farming – #agriculture moves to the city – Plantagon's dome design http://bit.ly/zpGkR and article on concept htt …
11:23 PM Mar 8th
http://goo.gl/BmopL Plantagon, concept for city farming #design #IN #innovation Bucky would be proud…