Ecological high-rise design: urban farming strategy
Creators: name: Dorward, Craig
Publisher: name: Environmental Design
Year: 2009

description: Bibliography: p. 66-68
description: Thesis is in colour.
description: Missing signature page.
description: The population trend of people moving from rural to urban areas has now become one of the most visible and profound global forces. This instability calls for the exploration of the relationship between the cities we build and the places we inhabit. The primary issue to consider is curbing a decentralized suburban structure, commonly referred to as sprawl, and develop the densification of the city. This densification, and it's inherent efficiency will primarily be considered though the use of tall structures. As in the case of many cities across North America, necessary growth has put increased pressures on the arable soil in the surrounding region. "Cities, like other assemblies of organisms, have a definite metabolism, consisting of flow of resources and products through the urban system for the benefit of urban populations. " It is this metabolism that is explored. The large scale of a tower project means an intensiveness of material, labour, finances, and infrastructure. Because of this inherent intensiveness, we should be asking these buildings to have a longer lifespan. Therefore, for this building to continue functioning as a productive part of society, it must accommodate the shifting landscape of the culture/society that it sits within. When a building can do more than stand, and it contributes several basic needs of life, it has an inherent value. What are the essentials of life? After air and water, the next primary basic need of life is food . This comes even before shelter. Farming has been crucial in our evolutionary history. Early efforts caused irreversible damage to the natural landscape. The concept of indoor farming is not new, and greenhouse industries are well established. Driven by population growth, there is a need to scale up the technology of indoor farming. Thrusting farming upwards from its horizontal status quo into the vertical plane. Situated in urban centers, vertical farms offer a safe and varied local food supply There are several advantages of vertical farming such as year round crop production, the removal of the factor of unpredictable weather, and most importantly, that it dramatically reduces fossil fuel use as vertical farming requires little to no transportation to bring food to people. Through the exploration of formal, programmatic, occupation, and vertical circulation alternatives to typical tall building design strategies; potential solutions to how the inclusion of vertical farms into architecture can begin to occur. Conceptual framework is proposed, and double skin principles are seen as a viable option to expand the climate growing range. Akin to the multiple layers of the onion, the double skin system is key to developing extended growing seasons in near arctic ecozone. By expanding and developing the space within the double skin, natural heat gain patterns can provide a cold climate community with the capability to grow exotic food crops. By focussing on a strong relationship to natural lighting, the solar metrics of the project establish a prototype. The growing area of the farm governs the extent of the program associated with the farm. This ratio reflects the density of the vertical structure. By exploring a relationship to a residential living units, With a goal of self sustenance, the food output of the farm directly governs how many people live in the building. The food footprint of one person is revealed and expressed in the architecture of the vertical structure.