agritecture

what is agritecture, food deserts in America, Sustainable America, biomimicry, indoor farming

what is agritecture?

Agritecture is a catchy new name for the intersection of architecture and agriculture which is being seen most prominently in the emerging urban farming movement. Henry Gordon-Smith, a graduate student in sustainability management at Columbia University, coined this unique word through his blog, Agritecture, where it’s defined as buildings that grow food or building-integrated agriculture (BIA).

what is urban farming?

Urban farming is gaining ground in cities around the world. It's a fluid term that means different things to different people in different landscapes. Ultimately, it is a means of engaging with growing food and the broader food systems utilized in an urban setting.

food deserts in america

In a recent post, Gordon-Smith highlighted the reality of food deserts in America.

A food desert is loosely defined as a area where there is not ready access to fresh fruits, vegetables and other elements of a healthy diet (i.e. no grocery stores). Typically these areas are low-income, but that is not always the case.

When thinking about where high-density urban farms might go, the folks at Agri-tecture see this map as a blueprint for change. “Improving the available fresh food in the urban food deserts across this country would be a good place to prioritize site selection for hydroponic and aeroponic farms. Distribution must be improved to build resilient food security,” he wrote.

sustainable america

Sustainable America aims to increase food availability in America by 50% by 2030. One of the important ways we plan to do this is through supporting efforts to increase and diversify the production of food in America. Urban farming is a great way to do that.

We’ve seen a number of innovative ideas cropping up, like farming in shipping containers, an old meatpacking plant in Chicago transformed into a vertical farm, and the award-winning Swedish design for a high-rise multipurpose greenhouse in the middle of Stockholm. All of these exciting concepts may be leading the way toward an urban farming explosion that will help to ease the strain on our food supply in ever-expanding urban centers across the country.

Sustainable America is an environmental 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to make the nation’s food and fuel systems more efficient and resilient. Through broad public education we work to reduce oil usage and increase food availability in the United States.

Sustainable America was founded by Nick Tiller in 2012. During his career as a hedge fund portfolio manager in the energy and agriculture sectors, Nick became increasingly concerned about the vulnerable state of our food and fuel systems. Nick founded Sustainable America to focus national attention on these intertwined issues.

"We believe that attainable behavioral changes, like turning off our engines instead of idling, buying hybrid cars, supporting local food sources, and reducing food waste are critical to building sustainable fuel and food systems. We also believe in the power of entrepreneurs and markets to effect positive change. "

agritecture for tomorrow's future

Architecture is everywhere around us, if you wander into the wild you will find spaces that have been built by nature in a functional and sustainable way. Simply walking around a city we will find so many different kinds of man-made structures. Architecture has many meanings, some define it as an art, others say it is the planning of useful and enjoyable spaces for human beings. You can give it your own interpretation. Since the spaces we live in influence our behavior and feelings, architecture plays a major role in all of our lives, but have you ever considered how it effects, interacts or could mimic the natural world?

Architecture goes beyond a simple profession or career, it is part of human nature and it has helped define our cultures throughout history. Today it is an area of opportunity. Architecture can help us solve problems in cities and rural areas, improve our quality of life, and take care of our planet by carefully managing natural resources.

what is biomimicry?

Biomimicry is the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes.

hexagro urban farms

Hexagro Urban Farming is a software and hardware product-service platform to increase the accessibility of indoor farming technologies. This project started after it was presented as a Product Design thesis in Costa Rica where it gained a special mention thanks to its Biomimicry approach.

Using the Biomimicry method, Nature was the main source of inspiration for creating a solution that could offer a high-yield with efficient use of space while adapting to different indoor environments.

As part of Hexagro’s social mission, our know-how and automation technologies are being licensed to a social project in Colombia called Siembra Vertical that aims to provide low-cost and high-yield aeroponic solutions for traditional farmers trying to overcome climate change, soil degradation and the consequences of large-scale urbanization.

issues of traditional farming today

Comprising almost a third of greenhouse gas emissions and having an equally prominent role in pollution of soils, fresh water, coastal ecosystems, and food chains in general, agriculture is, alongside industry and electricity/heat production, one of the three biggest anthropogenic causes of breaching the planetary boundaries.

Most of the problems in agriculture, like soil degradation and diminishing (necessary) biodiversity, are caused by unfit uses of existing technologies and approaches mimicking the agriculturally-relevant functioning natural ecosystems seem necessary for appropriate organization of our toxic and entropic agro-technologies. Our thesis is that eco-curative and sustainable uses of agro-technology require a paradigm shift from the chemical model of agro-systems to the ecological system-design model of agriculture.

Indoor Farming: Future Takes Root In Abandoned Buildings, Warehouses, Empty Lots & High Rises

In a 90,000-square-foot warehouse not far from Chicago’s Midway Airport, the future of urban farming has taken root. Long shelves thick with fresh herbs and salad greens sit beneath hundreds of fluorescent grow lights. There are planters of basil, watercress and kale stacked in neat rows reaching the ceiling, afloat in a nutrient-rich stream of water fed by large blue tanks filled with tilapia. It’s an eerily beautiful scene, interrupted only by the occasional worker driving an aerial lift through the aisles, stopping to pluck handfuls of greens ready to be packaged and distributed throughout the city.

As the demand for fresh, locally grown food has increased among urban consumers, businesses like FarmedHere, which runs the Chicago warehouse, have stepped in to compete with conventional farms. Using advanced hydroponic and aquaponic methods, they’re growing fruits and vegetables year-round in facilities that are often in the same neighborhood as the restaurants and retailers they supply. Proponents like to call it ultra-local farming.

the difficulties of maintaining sustainability

Here Holdings, the parent company of FarmedHere, cited high labor and energy costs and increasing competition in the Chicago market as the reason they decided to cease operations. The business was founded in 2011 in Bedford Park and was quickly touting itself as America’s largest indoor farm.

Certainly, at $23 million for a 90,000 sq.-ft. warehouse with five layers of growing beds, the square-foot cost was through the roof compared to greenhouse production. Pair that with the cost of operating the lights and the aquaponics system that provided nutrients to the crop, and you can see that it’s an expensive way to grow greens and herbs.

Current CEO Nate Laurell told the Tribune, “The more I learned about the reality of farming, it led to a change of strategy. We continue to be big believers in the (local food) space.”

agritecture in the art world and beyond

Roca London Gallery‘s 2019 spring exhibit London 2026: Recipes for Building a Food Capital explores the question “Can ‘agritecture’ make cities self-sufficient?” Curated by Department 22, this fascinating exhibit imagines architecture morphing into agritecture over the next decade in order to feed London’s ever-growing population – projected to pass the 10 million mark in 2026. The exhibit runs through May 18th, and admission is free.

Of the exhibit’s 25 projects – most at the prototype stage, a few at the implementation stage – my favorite is Power Plant by Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel, whom I’ve written about previously. Using transparent solar glass to power her proposed rooftop greenhouses, van Aubel envisions a future in which urban residents can harvest both food and clean electricity by maximizing the use of under-utilized rooftops on existing infrastructure.

But agritecture is not limited to green roofs and hydroponic rooftop greenhouses. Think urban insect farms and floating dairy farms. Think edible walls and living bricks that are “fed” with grey water. Think balconies filled with suspended orchards. Think commercial vertical farms inside converted warehouses or underground in abandoned WW2 bomb shelters. Think edible schoolyards and agrihoods dedicated to soil-based community gardens. Think regenerative agriculture and food systems more broadly.

in conclusion

The concept of combining agriculture and architecture is not new: Babylon’s fabled Hanging Gardens are believed to have been built between 8th-6th century BCE somewhere in south-central Mesopotamia. Today, in the context of climate change, agritecture refers to an architectural renaissance that could transform cities from consumers into producers by dramatically increasing local food production – notably fresh fruits, herbs, vegetables and insects – in order to feed rapidly growing urban and peri-urban populations. Note that grains and pulses such as maize, rice, wheat, soy, lentils and quinoa would still have to be produced on farms outside of urban centers. Nevertheless, cities that embrace urban agriculture will be more resilient in the Anthropocene to food shortages and global warming than cities that don’t.

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