Kicking off is a local example of rooftop agriculture. The Rocket, a slim addition to upping Lower Burnside's hip quotient, is a new building by local developer/architect Kevin Cavanaugh. Named for the pseudonym for arugula, The Rocket was featured in The Oregonian for an inventive and simple rooftop garden for growing veggies that are used in the restaurant. Marc Boucher-Colbert and Erin Altz of Edible Skylines used kiddie pools, yep... kiddie pools - for the garden beds.
:: image via OregonLive
Part II: Rooftops offer a lot of potential, but taking it to the next step, how about using the entire building. Vertical farming has been covered here with a past post on L+U. Buzz is going about a 30 story building in Las Vegas aimed at producing food.
Quotes from Next Energy News: Cost effective? "Although the project initial cost is high at $200 million, with annual revenue of $25 million from produce and another $15 million from tourists the 30 story vertical farm would be about as profitable as a casino with operating expenses only being about $6 million a year. Viable? It's suggested that "...There would be about 100 different crops grown ranging from strawberries to lettuce even miniature banana trees could be grown from each floors specially controlled environment."
:: image via Skyscraper Page
The last is, admittedly, a bit crazy. Treehugger outlines the idea of Urban fish farming as as an opportunity for urban areas, in this case using "... urban fish pools, each about the size of a children's pool with higher walls and a roof." Brought up as a response to contaminants in local sushi, this form of aquaculture is adaptable to a variety of spaces and is theoretically a safe environment. A previous Treehugger post shows some more info, as well as this video of the concept:
:: video via Treehugger
No comments:
Post a Comment