Vertical Farm Design

A recent competition held in Vancouver addressing the need for greener development in the quest to reduce carbon emissions was won by Romses Architects for their vertical farm design. At first glance it seems a dream come true in utmost green design, with not only food and energy harvesting capabilities, but a proposed area for use as residential, business and retail facilities as well. There in lies the sticky wicket. While attractive in its architectural design, it doesn’t appear to be practical, with the livestock areas located above the organic foods market and adjacent to the education center. Anyone familiar with livestock or poultry farms knows that they have their own very definite bouquet. Bottom line though, vertical farming for crops is probably in humanity’s not too distant future, as the world’s population increases by the thousands daily. This is just one of many vertical farm designs that will probably be used as a collaborative guide for what will eventually be a truly “green”, ethical, practical and functional environmental farm.