Category — Roof Garden

Vertigo Farming – Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm

World Challenge 2011 is a competition organised by BBC World News Limited (“BBC World News”) and Newsweek, aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grassroots level

The winning project will receive a US$20,000 grant, while two runners up will each receive US$10,000 to help develop their initiatives.

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Greens from the aquaponics bed for lunch.

‘The Plant’ houses an aquaponics system, a beer brewery, a kombucha (fermented tea) brewery, a composting company, a company that creates vertical growing systems, and a mushroom farm.

By Cole Mellino
Think Progress
Oct 31, 2011

Excerpt:

John Edel built a mini-vertical farm, called The Plant, in a former meat-packing facility complete with an aquaponics farm and a food business incubator that offers low rent, low energy costs, and a licensed shared kitchen.

Located in the economically distressed Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago, the Plant was relatively cheap to buy. That solved the property cost problem.

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Clepsydra is a a vertical farm linked through a bridge to host buildings with a scale applicable to new housing developments, existing urban blocks, diverse type of buildings (hospitals, dorms, hotels, supermarkets)

Project by Bruno Viganò – Florencia Costa
via Agritecture
2011-10-31

Excerpt:

“The autonomy of the stories facilitates the creation of the appropriate environment for each crop allowing year round production. The 1500 sq ft footprint urban lot prototype produces the equivalent to 6 acres of farmland for certain crops or 40 tons of tomatoes a year. The prefab structural frame is built with mechanically assembled steel rods needing no welding, enable fast mounting, disassembling and maintenance operations. The enclosure is made of a transparent, resistant structural plastic membrane (ETFE). Clepsydra can be composed into multiple kits creating sustainable neighborhoods and cities.”

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Riverpark Farm represents one creative way local citizens and property owners can and are increasingly are beginning to experiment with cities’ forlorn patches of economically stagnant land.

By Morgan Brennan
Forbes Staff
8/30/2011

Excerpt:

“Having this farm so portable, we expect we will definitely be able to move it to another space on the [Alexandria Center for Life Science] campus.”

The farm is comprised of roughly 6,000 plants growing in easily transportable black milk crates. There’s eggplant in shades of white and purple, an array of squash, tomatoes, salad greens — even okra, a southern crop rarely seen on farms in the Northeast. The produce regularly sells out in the Riverpark restaurant.

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Photo by Ari Nuzzo.

“Milk crates are a ubiquitous element in every restaurant kitchen and it’s one of those things – they are always around, piles of them. So, to have another use for them, it’s perfect.”

By Sara Jacobson
Core 77
Oct 17, 2011

Excerpt:

No one knows when the economy, and construction, will kick back in. So, the key element of the Riverpark Farm is to be quickly adaptable for tearing down and rebuilding at anytime.

“When we were first talking, I envisioned traditional, big wooden raised beds. I didn’t even actually think about the need to for mobility,” Ortuzar said, talking about the process. “How do you move a big wooden planter when you need to…well you don’t. So that’s why, this.”

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“To build it and to the point of picking the first radish is about $225,000.”

By Noelle Swan
Seedstock
October 14, 2011

Excerpt:

The pair hopes to begin installation in March, 2012 in order to start harvesting tomatoes, leafy greens, cucumbers, herbs and other crops high-value crops suited to rooftop agriculture by late April or early May. Depending on the site selected, it will take anywhere from one week to three or four weeks for Recover Green Roofs, a Somerville, MA-based company that provides “vegetated blankets,” to install the waterproof membranes to protect the roof, various layers of insulation and drainage, and soil medium.

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Plantagon is a vertical greenhouse for the urban farming environment

Plantagon Greenhouse report
July 2011

Excerpt:

2.1 Urban agriculture with economic growth

Today’s greenhouses are situated far outside urban areas. The whole idea behind Plantagon is to place it in urban areas, close to the consumers, which will reduce handling costs by up to 80 percent.
Plantagon estimates that about 40 to 60 percent of an urban consumer’s food budget goes to pay for transportation and storage. Vertical greenhouses can deliver fresh, healthful organic produce directly to the consumer at a lower price.
The concept is simple and appealing in these days of awareness: fresh, ecologi- cal and cheap vegetables. no middle hands, no yesterday’s food.

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The Evolution of Urban Farming

By Evan Meikleham

Excerpts:

Cubic agriculture is defined as the use of a modular growing apparatus that can be stacked vertically or horizontally. Each module is identical, meaning that plants can be grown in any climate-controlled building, regardless of shape, floor plan, or ceiling height. Cubic agriculture has been developed with the increased focus on urban farming initiatives to supply food in large cities. Governments are worried about sustainability of the food supply, as current farming methods are resource-intensive. Cubic agriculture has been raised as an additional solution to issues of sustainability and food safety, food security and traceability.

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Future Lufa Farms greenhouses will measure 80,000-120,000 square feet, and will sit atop LEED-certified industrial buildings. Above, an architect’s concept.

“Projects like those envisioned by Le Groupe Montoni and Lufa Farms, can be an important step to a more energy-effective and food-independent Montreal.”

Sept. 12, 2011, Montreal

Excerpt:

Lufa Farms Inc., creator of the world’s first commercial-scale rooftop greenhouse, yesterday announced a co-operative agreement with green industrial-park specialist Le Groupe Montoni of Laval to develop LEED-certified industrial buildings capable of supporting commercial greenhouses.

The agreement is expected to result in several new rooftop farms in and around Montreal, beginning next year.

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Urban Farming Food Chain Edible Wall

The Urban Farming™ Food Chain Edible Wall project was originally launched in 2008 at four downtown and Skid Row locations in Los Angeles. These are vertical farming gardens – from 24 to 30 feet long x 6 feet high – growing fresh, healthy produce at locations in the Skid Row and downtown areas. We need to replace the existing wall panel system that’s deteriorating at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex (high school) with the new, improved more durable system we’re now using, ASAP!!

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Four videos about urban agriculture in Vancouver by Anja Schuchardt

By Anja Schuchardt
DieBioKuche
Aug 19, 2011

Mehr Gärtner in Großstädten? Der Demonstrationsgarten von “City Farmer” in Vancouver

Pflügen, Pflanzen, Pflücken – was bringt Städter dazu? Michael Levenston über seinen Demonstrationsgarten und die Probleme für Stadtgärtner in Vancouver.

Plowing, growing, picking – what makes townspeople to do this? Michael Levenston tells us about his demonstration garden and the problems which city farmers have in Vancouver.

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Gotham Greens’ greenhouse assistant, Noelle Stanziale. Photo by Celeste Sloman.

40 photos of six roofs by Celeste Sloman

By Celeste Sloman
Village Voice
August 17, 2011

Excerpt:

Throughout the five boroughs, the phenomenon of urban agriculture has greatly developed and spread on the city’s roofs. Rooftop gardening and farming benefits the city not only aesthetically, but environmentally and socially as well. Rooftop gardening provides food, temperature control, recreation, habitats for wildlife, educational opportunities, and hydrological benefits.

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See larger image here.

The ‘Alpha Farm’ project which will seek to transform a disused office block in Wythenshawe into a fully-functioning vertical farm.

Manchester Evening News
Aug 9, 2011

Excerpt:

Manchester could be at the forefront of an ‘agricultural revolution’ if a radical plan to solve the world’s food crisis takes off.

Organisers of Manchester’s International Festival 2013 want to turn a disused tower block in Wythenshawe into Britain’s first ‘vertical farm’.

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Jenn Nelkin, center, the greenhouse director of Gotham Greens in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with its founders, Viraj Puri, left, and Eric Haley. Photo by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times.

Want Fresher Produce? Leave Dirt Behind

By Glenn Collins
New York times
August 2, 2011

Excerpt:

Without question, modern hydroponic outfits display a growing degree of technological sophistication. While 25 employees at Gotham Greens propagate, hand-pick and hand-pack the produce at its 15,000-square-foot space, a rooftop weather station monitors wind, rain, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide and light intensity. This data bonanza serves to regulate irrigation pumps, greenhouse vents, exhaust fans, gable shutters and shade curtains.

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Growing food with a view

It’s always exciting to see a food garden growing in a unique location. Brad’s large deck is six floors up at roof level with a spectacular view of False Creek and downtown Vancouver. A large variety of containers grow herbs, fruit and vegetables, and two compost bins make soil for the garden.

Thiruvananthapuram, formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the “Evergreen city of India”. Photo: Kowdiar Palace, the residence of the Maharajah of Travancore in Trivandrum.

25 grow bags will be given to each household

The New Indian Express
Aug 01, 2011

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Horticulture Mission-Kerala is embarking on an ambitious mission, that of extending vegetable farming to as many households and areas as possible.

The project would see the launch of rooftop vegetable farming in nearly 15,000 households under the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and municipalities under it. It would be formally inaugurated on Tuesday.

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McDonald’s Rooftop Gardens. Graphic by Demian Repucci on OpenIDEO.

Grow Local and Eat Local, City Council Says

By Sydney Ember
New York Times
July 29, 2011

Excerpt:

In an effort to ramp up support for the consumption and production of local food, the City Council passed a package of bills on Thursday to facilitate the building of rooftop greenhouses and free up land for urban gardens.

Under the legislation, a building’s rooftop greenhouse would not be considered an additional story by the Department of Buildings, and would be exempt from height limits, if it occupies less than one-third of the rooftop. The city would also begin compiling a database of property that it owns or leases so that it can better identify unused spaces to be turned into urban gardens.

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At City Farmer, Vancouver, Sean built a sturdy stand to hold our two metal wall panels. Maria shows off some of the edible greens. Photo by Michael Levenston.

Walls are for growing food

For a couple of years we’ve been experimenting with growing in metal, edible wall units. At first we planted them as they sat horizontal on a table and everything grew beautifully. But when we attempted to lift them and attach the soil-filled containers to the fence, they weighed so much that we could barely lift them. That’s when Sean built specially reinforced frames to mount them on.

Once the plants were up and facing the world ‘sideways’ rather than looking up at the sky, they acted strangely and began to bend upwards as if the wind were blowing them from below. We learned that this was caused by gravity and called Gravitropism. (See below.)

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Despite the challenges, vertical farming experiments like this one in Suwon, South Korea, give many hope that vertical farming may still make the transition from the drawing board to reality. Photo by Heinrich Holtgreve.

Vertical Farming; Can Urban Agriculture Feed a Hungry World?

By Fabian Kretschmer and Malte E. Kollenberg
Spiegel Online
July 22, 2011

Excerpt:

One day, Choi Kyu Hong might find himself in a vegetable garden on the 65th floor of a skyscraper. But, so far, his dream of picking fresh vegetables some 200 meters (655 feet) up has only been realized in hundreds of architectural designs.

In real life, the agricultural scientist remains far below such dizzying heights, conducting his work in a nondescript three-story building in the South Korean city of Suwon. The only thing that makes the squat structure stand out is the solar panels on its roof, which provide power for the prototype of a farm Choi is working on. If he and his colleagues succeed, their efforts may change the future of urban farming — and how the world gets its food.

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Gowanus Whole Foods

By Lisa M. Collins
South Brooklyn Post
July 15, 2011

Excerpt:

The grocery store will include a very cool feature: a 20,000 square foot fruit and vegetable farm on the roof, growing food to be sold in the store. The little farm won’t necessarily be “vertical,” but will operate like a traditional greenhouse, he said.

“This is certainly an innovation for us,” Sinatra said. “We talk about local items and limiting our environmental impact as much as possible. You don’t get more local than this.”

The small farm will also work to naturally cool the store.

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