The organism is complex: born of man, serving nature, subjugating
nature. It is a dichotomy of agrarian and industrial - of old ways and new
technologies. It is the homestead and the factory, sited on worn grounds and
new frontiers. The vertical farm defines an altogether new way of life, a
culture that is not easily reconciled with the schemas of our society and as
such creates the illusion of contradiction and confusion. The education and
installment of a new society of urban agronomists, with a currently
inaccessible understanding of a deep, cultural and spiritual commitment to
ecology is perhaps the greatest challenge facing agriculture in an urban
environment. The vital movement towards the production of sustenance in our
cities is by its nature radical … and in order to be embraced, it must turn our
culture on its ear.
It is the urban farm’s necessarily unorthodox mindset
which leads us to the most radical, yet rewarding of schemes. New York, the
city of towers has been pursing verticality for over a century. It was here
that the first elevators were installed, where the steel-frame skyscraper was
pioneered and brought to new heights. In this place that reaches the sky
we continue to challenge the occupant’s orientation to
the ground plane. We have taken the farm and the field and turned it skyward;
it becomes the literal connection between earth and heavens, as New York truly
becomes oriented vertically. Our ephemeral fields are kinetic looms of
vegetation, held aloft by buoyant dirigibles in the atmosphere. Urban
agriculture is liberated of the dimness and grime of the street-level city, and
opened up to light and air. It is the deployable hanging garden, an icon and a
park of an entirely different experience, the new lungs of the city. It adds
new dimension to the natural aspect of the city by adding a vertical axis to
the highline viaduct, opening the possibility for greenery and agricultural
growth in three-dimensional space. We envision
the vertical field as a set of movable and
re-configurable parts. These may be re-oriented to grow different crops,
hangared in the building’s atrium for winter, or set aloft at
a separate location until ready for harvest. While this
kinetic field is woven into the permanent structure of the building it provides
a sort of urban theatre within the void of the open atrium, allowing another
enthralling experience along the highline path. The high- line and street
levels are interconnected and programmed with an open market that allows for
social interactions and the sale of produce to the local population.
The residencies in the two wings of the building are
interconnected by a doubly-helical path, punctuated by communal gardens which
are each meant to accommodate 3-4 units. With the addition of balconies to each
unit, the act of growing as prescribed by the provided spaces, becomes a
socially-scalable event. There exists the private or individual garden at the
scale of the household’s balcony, the communal garden, at the scale of the
terrace which is shared and maintained by several households, and the public
farm, which is main- tained by the
entire building and provides food for the local urban population. These are
functional, yet social spaces, all intertwined with the intent of supporting a
culture ca- pable of the deep
ecological values needed for the venture of urban farming.
We propose a program that produces food in proportion to healthy human
diet, using a local labor population which in term consumes the produce. This ensures a high quality of crops and a
meaningful connection to the ingredient. A culture has the opportunity to
thrive and mature around this mutual endeavor to provide, and the sharing of
labor’s rewards. New jobs are created, and a popilation is educated about their own livelihood ad well was the greater environment's. The culmination of these practices is an architectural organism that stands as an icon in the city. It is an urban event, a metropolitan asset, and an object of progress.
The vertical farm employs a variety of technological
innovations aimed at sustainability and productivity. High-altitude balloons
sheathed with screens for moisture harvesting are an artificial raincloud,
returning water to the farm via a drip-line. Using stored electri- cal power from photovoltaic arrays this
water can be split via electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen. Like an inverted
lung, the farm vents oxygen into the carbon-rich city. The hy- drogen is used to inflate dirigibles
that hold the farm aloft. Windmills continually rotate the farming system,
ensuring all crops are equally exposed to light, and allowing the field to be
used as its own water lift for irrigation. As the farm passes into the atrium,
crops are harvested and the growing medium is replenished and re-sown in a
giant loom-like appa- ratus. All of
these systems are made lightweight and mobile through material and structural
innovations, such as the use of lightweight composites and alloys. In the
colder months it is intended that the vertical structure is stored within the
building’s atrium and used for greenhouse growing as durable plastic drop
sheets are used to enclose the void, and trap solar radiation (this serves the
double-purpose of creating an insulated air-void around the heated residences).
All organisms in the farm are selected as part of a sustainable ecological web
that can operate as a closed loop, or aid in the support of other endemic
species, supporting and enhancing the biodiversity of the island, and extending
the mission of the highline.
Our proposal not only allows for a radical alteration of
the Chelsea neighborhood, but also envisions a flexible and deployable system,
reconfigurable for a variety of environments and circumstances. The production
of food in our urban centers is a vital step towards the sustainable city that
may be realized only through the mass deployment of these practic-
es and infrastructures. The adaptability of this scheme
is paramount to its implementation and the general proliferation of vertical,
urban farming. We see this model as an archetype that establishes a timeline,
one which matures with a new urban skyline of filled with sus- tainable agrarian-urbanity, with
skyward fields of green.
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