Through use of water evaporation, mirrors, solar panels this is possible, the hydroponics and air con problems are easily solved by growing different things in the differing conditions. Don’t try to raise the water with power just use a massive condenser near the top. Water raises it self if you ask it nicely, rain forest style. Water use is minimal its all recycled and collected from rain and the amount of clean air this would make for a large city would be great, no shortage of CO2 outside

Its a lot of work at first, computer simulations and then the teething problems with evo control but once they have done it once it becomes easier, cheaper, more viable. Back in the 50s everybody said renewable energy is a waste of time. Now we got energy costs going through the roof cause demand is hi and we running out. Now we have suddenly changed our mind. Mother nature will bite back, and is nibbling right now (Katrina) just to mention 1 nibble.

This is and will be more viable once the price of food goes even higher, if it grew a lot of different imported expensive fruit that would be profitable. With efficient solar energy and use of batteries it could give some plants a 24 hour cycle, tomatoes and chillies like that.

The only other option is to put a world bad on population growth on the scale it is now, ask the USA to stop using cars that do less than 30mpg also use 33% less power than they do and then throw away 33% less rubbish. Then kindly ask china to stop building coal fired power stations. Maybe even fly over some unnamed countries and blanket bomb them with Durex.

Lets face it the above paragraph ain’t happening soon so in the meantime we need to do what we can, we ain’t got much choice. Look at what happened on Easter Island, now imagine 6 billion people in the same position better to do something now than stick our heads in the sand and pretend it don’t exist cause our super market still has food on the shelves and therefore we must be fine.

Comments Welcome

With boxes like that, I\’d prefer boxes that work over the fanciful organic form mentioned in the article.

As to its biomorphic form, yes, it’s arbitrary, but aren’t you tired of boxes?

On the contrary, there is plenty of design intent and content conveyed on the full submission panels (http://www.evolo-arch.com/dskyc.html). If anything, the extent of detail and resolution put towards structural systems and water delivery (i.e. aeroponic flooring) makes the project vulnerable to a lot of criticism – both positive and negative – especially with regard to resources. In all fairness though, the author of this “Dystopian Farming” project stated that the concept is about the social and spatial realm of farming and how urban dwellers could experience production/consumption in a more immediate and local way. For that reason, I agree with ‘engineer’ that it’s irresponsible to lump this project in with the greater discussion of technical efficiency in vertical farming.

“Nobody is talking about building a self-contained biosphere. Obviously, you will need off-site power generation (just like the rest of the city) and you will need to have water pumped in… Nobody is making claims about water or power or anything other than having more space to grow crops.” – ‘engineer’

I wish more people were making those claims. There are countless design schemes that specialize in displacing resource pressure and passing the buck. Given that change is an incremental thing, we have to live with those intermediary steps and their shortcomings… but that doesn’t absolve those intermediary steps from criticism. Even from non-engineers.

;)

to the critics, please also bear in mind that this is an entry in a design competition
aimed to propose / flesh out certain ideas and concepts

There’s still an enormous amount of work involved & details to be resolved in turning something like this into a buildable solution.

And we all know just how critical “sustainable vertical density” is. WTF?

“By 2050 nearly 80% of the world’s population will reside in urban centers, and 109 hectares of arable land will be needed to feed them.” A hectare is a little less than 2 1/2 acres. Whatever does the author intend to mean?

And yes, this is just another student architect’s absurd design fantasy that is both counter-logical and wholly impractical–simply more architectural eye/mind-candy with no relevance to the real world as any kind of design solution. Any structure of this kind would in reality (you know, where most of us actually live) cost hundreds of millions of dollars just to construct, would be resource and energy intensive, and addresses none of the valid concerns and criticisms noted above regarding lighting, water, power or other practical matters. Whale of a fail.

If that grid is “green” and the skyscraper farm reduces our need for fossil fuels in farming, then we may have created an oil free agricultural sector that uses recycled nutrients. However, the true bugbear may be generating enough green electrons in this “electric skyfarming” of the future.

Oil free farming is very, very important, as peak oil is nearly here. The sooner we can experiment with alternative technologies and find what actually works, with experience in the field and not just on paper, the better!

Nobody is talking about building a self-contained biosphere. Obviously, you will need off-site power generation (just like the rest of the city) and you will need to have water pumped in. Yes, the wording is somewhat unfortunate in the article (specifically “self-sustaining food source”), however what this design and other vertical farms provide is a large amount of arable land on a relatively small footprint. Nobody is making claims about water or power or anything other than having more space to grow crops.

Since there is no further design information available besides an artist’s concept, none of you can make any claims as to the feasibility or ’sustainability’ of this particular design.

The entire point of vertical farms is to provide local capacity to grow crops, eliminating costly and inefficient supply chains that are often transcontinental. By making vertical farms a standard form of construction a decade or two from now, it would be possible to design cities to take pressure off neighboring ecologies and reduce the incentive to deforest the planet to provide adequate cropland.

I’m not even going to touch the HVAC issues or apt numbers because seriously dude. That’s like saying “hybrids won’t work because where will the seats go!”