Dragonfly – the high-tech vertical farm for space-starved metros
The concept of urban farming has taken the shape of the wings of a dragonfly in the Roosevelt Island in New York City. The initiative aims at relieving shortage of food as well as “reconnecting” consumers with producers.
Dragonfly Vertical Farm in New York
While the idea of urban farming is catching up with urban residents around the world, in a crowded city like Manhattan, the “farm” has got to be vertical. Hence the Dragonfly, designed by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut.
The Dragonfly, spread over 132 floors and 600 vertical meters, can accommodate 28 different agricultural fields for producing fruits, vegetables, grains, meat and dairy. While its power needs are met 100% by a combination of solar power and wind power generators.
Farming of plants and animals are done throughout the Dragonfly’s steel-and-glass set of wings in order to maintain suitable levels of soil nutrients and to reuse bio-waste.
The highly innovative superstructure also houses offices, research laboratories, residences and communal areas that are scattered between orchards, farms, and production rooms.
The spaces between the Dragonfly’s wings have been designed in such a way as to make the maximum use of solar energy by accumulating warm air in the exo-structure in the winter. In the summer, cooling is done through natural ventilation and evapo-perspiration from the plants.
Vertical gardens on the exterior filter rain water, which is then mixed with domestic liquid waste. Thereafter, the mixture is treated organically before being re-circulated for using in farms and for conserving and distributing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
If this sort of farm is suitable for and successful in a city like New York, should it not be more appropriate for a desert city like Dubai? [via Inhabitat]
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