Monday, June 2, 2008

I just adore a penthouse view

Blurring the line between city and Green Acres, Seattle architecture firm Mithun has come up with this concept for a high-rise urban farm:


Read the rest of the story about 'growing' interest in urban agriculture.

5 comments:

  1. Archived Comment by Jami on June 2, 2008 at 3:20pm

    This is a great concept. It could also be a great tax break recommendation, for uses in the private sector in the future. I love how they added the "American Gothic" painting to the third floor concrete beam.

    I recall reading stories when I was a girl in which the artist would draw grass growing on top of houses, (like a sod roof I suppose), and in some of the silly stories they'd even have a cow or goat atop the house to eat the grass. I always thought it could work, using the space we already have to create gardens. Glad to see someone came up with a more practical idea. Living in the Pacific North West we have an abundance of rain to recycle.

    Building the future today to better even yesterday, always a good thing.

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  2. Archived Comment by Mr_Grant on June 2, 2008 at 3:47pm

    It occurs to me there will be an added cost: purchase of the air rights across the street. Otherwise another building could cut off your crops' sunlight.

    There is also a site dedicated to promoting the general concept: verticalfarm.com

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  3. Archived Comment by Jami on June 2, 2008 at 3:58pm

    Or renting space on the outside of the building across the street for solar panels or some type of mirror system. (Yes, I make this up as I go). If we can start bio-spheres and food source ideas for space stations and even other planets, we can surely sort out what will get it done here on Earth where we have everything we need to do it already in our laps. I have great faith. Also, in the drawing above I see what look like Fir trees, I could be wrong. What about growing small fruit trees in those areas instead?

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  4. Archived Comment by Mr_Grant on June 2, 2008 at 4:15pm

    re Fruit trees: the comment thread with the article mentions you can't have fruiting trees where the public walks because they might slip on fallen fruit

    Since the text lists maples and native oaks, I'm guessing fir trees are what Mithun had in the rendering program!

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  5. Archived Comment by Jami on June 2, 2008 at 4:23pm

    Ah yes, the future will also have lawsuits. I should of read all of the text. I guess what I had in mind were small citrus trees in large planters, or small cherry trees growing inside or on the ledges. Lawsuits are such a dark cloud on creativity. (This makes me think of a banana peel slip in a cartoon). Fir trees could pose a legal issue if they blow over during a windstorm too though.

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