SA lab reimagines vertical farming in a game-play way, using robotics and recycled materials during the ‘Architecture+Foodtech’ workshop.
The green future of cities: adaptive farms
The Autumn of 2022 has seen the world population surpass 8 billion for the first time in history. It is projected that by 2050 about two-thirds of the global populace will be living in cities. And it has also not happened before. People need to grow as much as we have grown in the past 8000 years combined to provide food for such a population. And we have to do so in the next couple of decades within urban environments!
A group of students has devised a new typology of vertical farms under the guidance of the SA lab team: one that allows for edible plants to be grown in cities. During the ‘Architecture+Foodtech’ workshop on the OpenCity festival, the team worked as a startup: they conducted multidisciplinary research that encompassed architecture, biology, and digital fabrication and designed a physical prototype of a vertical farm.
A group of students has devised a new typology of vertical farms under the guidance of the SA lab team: one that allows for edible plants to be grown in cities. During the ‘Architecture+Foodtech’ workshop on the OpenCity festival, the team worked as a startup: they conducted multidisciplinary research that encompassed architecture, biology, and digital fabrication and designed a physical prototype of a vertical farm.
Hydroponics: a decrease in distance, an increase in efficiency
If the cities continue to grow, traditional field crop farming becomes less and less effective: commercial agricultural production exhausts the soil and leads to the lengthening of delivery chains.
A vertical farm is an alternative growing approach that allows producing enough plants in urban environments. While requiring a minimal amount of space, it provides a considerable decrease in expenses on land and water resources — thanks to hydroponics. During the workshop, the group analyzed more than 40 vertical farming companies and startups.
A vertical farm is an alternative growing approach that allows producing enough plants in urban environments. While requiring a minimal amount of space, it provides a considerable decrease in expenses on land and water resources — thanks to hydroponics. During the workshop, the group analyzed more than 40 vertical farming companies and startups.
There are two different types of such farms:
- industrial, used to grow plants for sale
- decorative, meant for use at home
However, there isn’t a middle-sized solution on the market, which could be easily integrated into urban environments and adapted to be used at cafes, residential complexes, showrooms, offices, public spaces, and educational centers. The survey has shown that urban residents have a high interest in growing plants and forming communities, and also have some awareness about hydroponics.
Hydroponics, recycled plastics, modular structure: which spaces adaptive vertical farms are suitable for?
The students worked as a startup team and came up with a new form of a vertical farm, which will be suitable for urban spaces: the farm consists of modular building blocks made from recycled plastic, a hydroponic system, and a lighting system. The project’s MVP — a full-scale prototype with several modules — was printed on a KUKA robot in collaboration with the Eburet studio. The Green Space provided a hydroponic system and plants.
Thanks to its modular structure, the ‘Architectural Jungle’ can grow to fill the spaces it finds itself in: apartments, cafes, offices, city squares, and rooftops. The prototype cultivated thyme, peppermint, basil, and kale, but the number and type of plants being grown can be adapted to fit any requirements. A restaurant owner can install several modules for a fresh salad. The city’s municipality can use modules to fill in empty areas, where every citizen can rent the necessary number of modules for themselves; housing developers will be able to integrate them into their future projects.
Despite the modest size of a single module, ‘Architectural Jungle’ can fill in whole pavilions, and, thanks to its design and technological solutions, may be used in any city or country. The blocks can grow a range of various plants, thus increasing biodiversity.
Thanks to its modular structure, the ‘Architectural Jungle’ can grow to fill the spaces it finds itself in: apartments, cafes, offices, city squares, and rooftops. The prototype cultivated thyme, peppermint, basil, and kale, but the number and type of plants being grown can be adapted to fit any requirements. A restaurant owner can install several modules for a fresh salad. The city’s municipality can use modules to fill in empty areas, where every citizen can rent the necessary number of modules for themselves; housing developers will be able to integrate them into their future projects.
Despite the modest size of a single module, ‘Architectural Jungle’ can fill in whole pavilions, and, thanks to its design and technological solutions, may be used in any city or country. The blocks can grow a range of various plants, thus increasing biodiversity.
If I may ask: which one needs more light – sage or thyme?
Modules also inherently act as a source of knowledge, demonstrating possible ways of propagating plants in urban environments, emphasizing the beneficial properties of herbs and vegetables, showcasing a responsible approach to resources, and allowing communities to share values to form around them. Conducted surveys show that inhabitants of large cities often lack nature — and the project helps compensate for this on many levels. The team developed an app to involve more citizens and used neural networks to generate icons of plants and their descriptions.
Conscious design at the intersection of disciplines: entry of the digital into the real world.
Students have broadened the typology of vertical farms by allowing them to transform into community centers while simultaneously blurring the boundaries between architecture, biology, and business to solve global challenges using local solutions. Curators created the workshop, where students go through the initial stages of forming a startup, shifting the traditional principles of architectural design. The ‘Architectural Jungle’ project initiates a dialogue about conscious production, the delicate shift in the way we grow and consume food, and the necessity for close collaboration between technology and architecture.
Autors: SA lab
Tutors: Stepan Kukharskiy, Alina Chereyskaya, Elizaveta Fakirova
Contractors: Eburet studio (3d printing), Green Space (hydroponics and plants)
Participants: Elizaveta Agafonova, Ekaterina Borisenko, Nikita Groshev, Tatiana Dvoretskova, Lilia Zamanova, Roman Kasyan, Julia Kozhemyachenko, Elizaveta Kotkova, Daria Mansurova, Anastasia Sonina, Aline Fefelova, Tahir Haibullin
Description: Daria Plaksieva, Anastasia Shatalova,
Photos: Aleksandra Semochkina
Video: Vladimir Chistyakov
Tutors: Stepan Kukharskiy, Alina Chereyskaya, Elizaveta Fakirova
Contractors: Eburet studio (3d printing), Green Space (hydroponics and plants)
Participants: Elizaveta Agafonova, Ekaterina Borisenko, Nikita Groshev, Tatiana Dvoretskova, Lilia Zamanova, Roman Kasyan, Julia Kozhemyachenko, Elizaveta Kotkova, Daria Mansurova, Anastasia Sonina, Aline Fefelova, Tahir Haibullin
Description: Daria Plaksieva, Anastasia Shatalova,
Photos: Aleksandra Semochkina
Video: Vladimir Chistyakov
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