Many new mixed-use developments are beginning to use food as a luring, featured amenity. Farm-to-table restaurants and organic gardens are beginning to replace past amenities such as golf courses, but this has primarily been for more rural, or at least, suburban, developments.
While the farm-to-table restaurants are beginning to pop up in more neighborhoods across dense cities, and rooftop urban farms are growing in popularity, space in urban landscapes is still at a premium. But, as inhabitat.com reports, the Danish group Space10, in association with architects Mads-Ulrik Husum and Sine Lindholm have developed a prototype that could help people in urban areas produce more of their own food while also providing a return to nature for cities.
Their prototype, Growroom, was recently showcased at the Chart Art Fair in Copenhagen as a piece of agricultural architecture. Growroom is a spherical structure made of metal framework that holds planter boxes. By dividing the sphere into overlapping slices, in ensures water and light can reach all of the vegetation.
Additionally, the sphere can double as a public space for individuals to take a seat and escape the sun or the rain (the overlapping slices allow the plants to get rain and sun, but shield the individuals within).
Growroom is not a solution that will allow cities to grow all of their own food, but that was never the goal of the project. “With the Growroom, we want to spark conversations about how we can bring nature back into our cities, grow our own food, and tackle the rapidly increasing demand for significantly more food in the future,” Space10 writes on their website.
For even more information on the Growroom, click here.
Related Stories
| May 2, 2012
Building Team completes two additions at UCLA
New student housing buildings are part of UCLA’s Northwest Campus Student Housing In-Fill Project.
| May 2, 2012
Public housing can incorporate sustainable design
Sustainable design achievable without having to add significant cost; owner and residents reap benefits
| May 1, 2012
Construction is underway on MLK ambulatory care center in L.A.
Featuring a variety of sustainable features, the new facility is designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification.
| Apr 30, 2012
Summit Design + Build completes build-out for Office Concepts
The project is seeking LEED ID Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
| Apr 27, 2012
GreenExpo365.com to offer webinars on EPA’s WaterSense Program
Architects and builders interested in developing water-efficient buildings invited to attend free sessions featuring experts discussing water-efficient building practices.
| Apr 27, 2012
Hampton Bays Middle School winner of the first National Green Ribbon Schools Program
School was the first LEED-certified public school in the state of New York.
| Apr 26, 2012
USGBC announces inaugural Green Apple Day of Service
On Sept. 29, 2012, participants from all over the world will volunteer to make the schools and campuses in their communities healthier and more sustainable.
| Apr 26, 2012
Orange County, Fla. high school receives NAIOP “Public Development of the Year” award
School replacement designed by SchenkelShultz Architecture and constructed by Williams Co.
| Apr 25, 2012
Bubble skyscraper design aims to purify drinking water
The Freshwater Skyscraper will address the issue of increasing water scarcity through a process known as transpiration