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Imagining The Impossible: The Futuristic Designs of Vincent Callebaut
New Atlas takes a look at Vincent Callebaut's most interesting architectural designs.
July 24th, 2018
New Atlas takes a look at Vincent Callebaut's most interesting architectural designs (Credit: Vincent Callebaut Architectures)
Sometimes outlandish, often fantastical, but always compelling, Vincent Callebaut's projects range from realizable ideas like towers covered in greenery to conceptual works depicting a near-future in which architecture, technology, and nature are blended to make cities a more pleasant – and sustainable – place to live.
The Belgian architect heads his firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures in Paris, France. Over the years he has developed a recognizable design language that draws inspiration from nature and makes liberal use of honeycomb patterns and complex geometry. He seems poised for greater prominence now though, as at least two of his projects are due to be built in the next few years.
Let's take a look at some of his most interesting designs.
5 Farming Bridges
Now that the so-called Islamic State has been expelled from Mosul, Iraq, the reconstruction of the city can begin. The 5 Farming Bridges proposal involves rebuilding a like number of bridges destroyed during the fighting and using them as residential units and urban farms. Existing rubble would be used as building material, with flying drones and spider-like robots doing the actual construction.
Manta Ray
The Manta Ray proposal envisions a manta ray-shaped ferry terminal in Seoul, South Korea. The remarkable-looking building would float in place to deal with seasonal flooding and sport a huge roof covered with a solar power array, along with a wind turbine farm. Biodegradable waste and high-tech water turbines would transform the river's kinetic energy into power too – all of which would allow the ferry terminal to power itself and send a surplus to Seoul.
2050 Paris Smart City
Created for a competition seeking ideas to turn the City of Light into a City of Green in the coming decades, 2050 Paris Smart City calls for 15 new sustainable towers to be built on the rooftops of existing buildings on the city's famous Rue De Rivoli. The towers would feature residential units and sport dragonfly-shaped solar panels on their facade, providing all required electricity for the project.
Nautilus Eco-Resort
The Nautilus Eco-Resort is a paradise imagined for the Philippines that would allow well-heeled tourists to vacation without polluting the planet (excepting on the flight there, presumably). The whole thing would be arranged into a shape inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and include a dozen spiral hotel towers that rotate to follow the sun. Nearby, a like number of sea snail-shaped buildings would include exhibition spaces and hotels, while at its center would be a large timber building covered with vegetable gardens and orchards.
Tour & Taxis
Callebaut's Tour & Taxis sees the Belgian architect propose a return to his home country to transform a former industrial area in Brussels into a vibrant sustainable community. The area would comprise three ski jump-shaped high-rises that would be topped by solar panels and covered in greenery. Other notable elements include wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, and the production of fruit and vegetables.
Hyperions
Hyperions consists of a cluster of connected timber towers in New Delhi, India, that are named after, and take design cues from, the world's tallest living tree. It will boast extensive greenery and enable occupants to grow their own vegetables on balconies, as well as the facades, the rooftops, and in specialized greenhouses. The interior is taken up by apartments, student housing, and office space, and it will all be powered by solar panels. According to Callebaut, this one is going to be built and is due to be completed by 2022.
Agora Garden Tower
It can be difficult to imagine how exactly all these renders would translate into brick and mortar buildings, but Taipei's Agora Garden Tower shows the way. Sporting a twisting form inspired by DNA's double helix shape, the building twists 4.5 degrees each floor, turning a total of 90 degrees in all. Once completed, it'll feature 23,000 trees, as well as a rainwater capture system and solar power.
Way To Grow: Urban Farms Are An Amenity At Many Developments
2018 Margaret Jackson, Bisnow Denver
As people increasingly demand to know where their food comes from, more developers are jumping on board to integrate urban farms into their projects.
Courtesy of Tracy Weil
RiNo Art District Creative Director Tracy Weil grows heirloom tomatoes at Farm 39 in RiNo
Take S*Park. Named for its heritage as Sustainability Park, the 99-unit residential project in Denver’s Curtis Park neighborhood includes a 7,200 SF greenhouse with 340 aeroponic towers that will grow leafy greens.
The greenhouse will be operated by Altius Farms, which will offer residents a vegetable subscription program, greenhouse tours and classes and community dinners with Denver celebrity chefs. Altius also will provide neighborhood restaurants with produce from the greenhouse.
Courtesy of Altius Farms
Altius Farms will grow leafy greens on towers like these at Scissortail Farms in Tulsa, Okla.
Altius Farms founder and CEO Sally Herbert said the tower system at S*Park will produce 75,000 pounds of leafy greens a year — the equivalent of 1.5 acres of conventional farming each month. The towers use 10% of the water of a traditional farm and produce 10 times the yield, and the produce is much fresher than what consumers find in grocery stores, she said. Colorado imports 97% of its produce, and after it spends seven to 14 days in transport, between 20% and 40% of it is discarded.
“When restaurateurs receive produce that’s come in from Arizona or California, it’s been harvested early and gets wilty or bruised,” she said. “You have to throw away the crappy stuff.”
NAVA Real Estate Development is taking a different approach at Lakehouse, its 12-story, 196-unit condominium project at Sloan’s Lake. The produce from its second-floor garden will be available only for residents of the 12-story building.
“We are growing a certain amount of vegetables and herbs on-site that will be professionally managed and harvested,” NAVA co-founder and CEO Brian Levittsaid. “We’ll have a harvest room where people can be part of a harvest. There will be opportunities where people can reach over and pick something and put it in their salad. There will be a juicing center and sauna where people can sit and enjoy the juice.”
Bisnow/Margaret Jackson
The greenhouse at S*Park will provide produce to residents and nearby restaurants.
The garden is just one component of NAVA’s efforts to ensure a healthy environment for residents of Lakehouse, which is seeking Well Building certification. It also must meet standards for air and water quality and fitness, among other things.
Urban Ventures has launched a wellness program that includes food production at Aria Denver development. Aria Denver has partnered with Regis University to launch the Cultivate Health program at its development in northwest Denver. Food production, in both gardens and greenhouses in the neighborhood, is just one component of the program, which is designed to support the health and wellness of residents living in the multi-generational, mixed-income community. Its food production partners are UrbiCulture Farms and Groundwork Denver.
Courtesy of Tracy Weil
Farm 39 in RiNo sells about 8,000 tomato plants a year.
Urban farming is a growing trend both in new developments and city neighborhoods.
Artist Tracy Weil, creative director of the RiNo Art District, co-founded Heirloom Tomato Farms with Carolyn Jansen in 2004 when they weren’t able to find the produce they wanted. They started with 175 plants, which they sold and gave to friends. Weil was on the board of The GrowHaus, a nonprofit indoor farm, marketplace and educational center in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. The GrowHaus, based in a historic 20K SF greenhouse, agreed to give him enough space to expand to 1,200 plants.
But then aphids from the herbs in The GrowHaus infested Weil's tomato plants, so he built his own greenhouse — Farm 39 — on an eighth of an acre at 3611 Chestnut Place in RiNo. Jansen started The Sparrow in Capital Hill. The combined farms are known as Heirloom Tomato Farms. Now, people line up every spring to purchase some of the 8,000 plants the two farms grow before they sell out.
“It’s been kind of a nice supplemental income,” he said. “As an artist, I wanted to diversify my income stream.
Stories From Around the Food System
How to go from City Living to Urban Farming in Six Months [Northeastern]
Do you know where your leafy greens come from? If you’re dining at a restaurant in Boston, there’s a good chance the salad greens you’re eating have been grown by two friends inside a small apartment in the city’s South End neighborhood.
Urban Farmers Forced Off Land Find New Ground to Grow [Chicago Tribune]
The wind-whipped rooftop of a converted warehouse in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor might be the last place you'd expect to find fertile farmland, unless you're Jen Rosenthal, founder and owner of Planted Chicago.
Urban Agriculture Could Transform Food Security [SciDev.net]
Using science, technology and innovation (STI) could help promote the use of urban agriculture to sustain food and nutrition security in African cities, experts say.
Helping the Homeless Through Farm-to-Table Training [Great Big Story]
There’s a San Francisco garden growing more than just produce. In a city plagued by homelessness, the Farming Hope Initiative offers urban farming and cooking training to those without a place to live.
The Water Wars of Arizona [New York Times]
Attracted by lax regulations, industrial agriculture has descended on a remote valley, depleting its aquifer — leaving many residents with no water at all.
Weird New Fruits Could Hit Aisles Soon Thanks to Gene Editing [Guardian]
Smooth or hairy, pungent or tasteless, deep-hued or bright: new versions of old fruits could be hitting the produce aisles as plant experts embrace cutting-edge technology, scientists say.
Giant Indoor Vertical Farm Launches Just East of Las Vegas [CNBC]
An indoor vertical farm that uses 90 percent less water than conventional growers is about to launch in Las Vegas and will be able to supply nearly 9,500 servings of leafy green salads per day to casinos and local restaurant chains.
Meriden Aquaponics Scores $500K for New Haven Expansion [Hartford Business]
Meriden-based Trifecta Ecosystems, an aquaponics technology company and indoor farm, has received a $500,000 investment to grow its aquatic systems in the New Haven region.
Dubai Will Be Home To the World’s Biggest Vertical Farm [Smithsonian]
An indoor megafarm might be the best way for the United Arab Emirates—a country that imports an estimated 85 percent of its food—to attempt to feed itself
Vacant But Not Empty: New Hope Lingers As Abandoned Buildings Go Green In US Cities
Vacant But Not Empty: New Hope Lingers As Abandoned Buildings Go Green In US Cities
The idea is simple and inexpensive and with a little bit of creativity, these ghost towns can be turned into pushy green recreational areas.
By: Ambili S
Jun 9, 2018
US FlagReuters
- Empty houses and buildings abandoned across the US cities are not new, especially in legacy cities like Detroit and Cleveland, where the clusters of vacant buildings have reached "epidemic levels."
In a survey conducted by US Census Bureau, the number of vacant properties grew from 3.7 million in 2005 to 5.8 million in 2016. In addition, cities like Gary, Detroit, and Flint tops the list.
So why are these properties empty? Though it is difficult to jolt down one particular problem as the cause, an array of issues—right from property taxes to speculative real estate market to changing land policies to diminishing industrial growth—have contributed to this scenario.
A slew of other surveys in the past few years have further made the shocking revelation on this issue. According to City Survey, Gary, Indiana's Parcel Survey found more than 25,000 vacant homes that comprise more than 40 percent of the city's parcels. While in Philadelphia, the numbers rose to 40,000 empty lots. In another study by the local NGO, Detroit Future City, the city had more than 120,000 vacant buildings in 2017.
While the growing vacant buildings are definitely an eyesore for the citizens, other public safety hazards like crime management activities are also a cause for concern. UW–Madison Geography Department graduate student Elsa Noterman has conducted an in-depth analysis of the conflicts, causes, and histories of these deserted properties.
The research strongly affirms that the banks, which sell or allow the ownership of the vacant lots, have failed to hear different voices while confirming the land titling process. It has also raised different viewpoints of the urban community development process and urges officials to consider going beyond the market value to explore the real usage of abandoned spaces.
Setting such views apart, a small neighborhood in Philadelphia has gone in a different direction and tasted success. The local community has converted one of these neglected properties into a community garden for its residents. However, the site was lost against a developer recently, who purchased the land before the urban farmers could obtain the title. Similarly, midwestern steel town Gary, Indiana is also making a slow comeback with various community-based redevelopment activities.
Many cities and local nonprofits are turning to greener ideas to make the maximum use of these buildings—urban farms, pocket parks, and community gardens top the list. With a little support from the local authorities, these forgotten towns can be converted into community green spots, suggests the research report.
It may succeed elsewhere as the idea is simple and inexpensive. With a little bit of creativity, these ghost towns can soon be turned into pushy green recreational areas.
Successful Crowdfunding For Plantagon’s City Farm
Successful Crowdfunding For Plantagon’s City Farm
2nd March 2018
Plantagon's Urban Greenhouse
Plantagon launches its first City Farm in the Swedish capital Stockholm following a successful crowdfunding campaign. It will be the first of ten city farm units to be built by 2020.
Under the iconic Dagens Nyheter Tower building (DN-Skrapan), up to 30 metric tonnes of high quality food will be produced yearly – from a location previously being used as a newspaper archive.
The City Farm project – underground farming in cities – kicked off in January 2018 with a crowdfunding campaign at FundedByMe, and we succeeded beyond our target by raising SEK 4.4m (~€435,000) from 559 investors, reaching 119% of our financing goal.
The first facility is now in operation and will be followed by ten more before 2020.
“The reason for the crowdfunding campaign was that we believe people who care about the future of cities, food production and the health of our planet should be given the opportunity to be a part of the solution,” says Owe Pettersson, CEO of Plantagon International.
“To us, it is important to create and expand together, showing that we are a movement for healthy sustainable food. Together, we can make a difference and we are very happy that the campaign succeeded and for the great response!”
70% of the crop produced in the City Farm will be herbs and spices and 30% will be especially nutritious vegetables, like different cabbage and salad varieties. The harvest will be sold to local grocery stores, restaurants and through our own shop in the same building as our City Farm. Our produce will be distributed and sold within 900 meters of the farm, thus minimizing transportation.
Creating a sustainable business
CEO Owe Pettersson
We aim to start up two new City Farms during 2018, with more to follow in 2019-2020. Our first City Farm is placed under a large office building, DN-Skrapan. By capturing the heat from the LED lights that helps the plants grow – heat that normally would have to be vented out and require air conditioning to keep ideal conditions for the plants – we can send it into the heat system for the building to keep it warm through the winter, making a “win-win” situation where we supply heat instead of paying rent.
Plants need carbon dioxide to grow and where traditional greenhouses burns fuels to provide it, we use the carbon dioxide from human exhalation in the offices that we send to the farm, and fresh oxygen from the plants is sent back to office workers.
Large-scale underground urban cultivation means that real estate companies will be able to charge more for premises that otherwise would not generate particularly high income, and could add a ‘green’ profile to their property portfolio.
The Plantagon City Farm saves 99% of water consumption compared with traditional agriculture, and carbon dioxide emissions are reduced to almost zero, while 70% of the energy used is reused. By saving and reusing resources, production costs are reduced so that the price of food becomes affordable.
A response to the needs of the future
According to UN estimates, about 70-80% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. Already 80% of the world’s agricultural land is in use. As more and more people move to ever-expanding cities, production will be driven by what we need to eat, but move further and further away from us. The result will be longer transport times, increased dependence on fossil-based fertilizers and more high-intensity farming on the limited farmland that remains.
Plantagon® City Farm Stockholm is a response to the need for new solutions for sustainable food production that can provide a growing urban population with food while maximizing the use of the existing spaces. Cultivation takes place in a controlled environment, without pesticides and herbicides. The farms are run by Plantagon Production Sweden AB, a subsidiary of Plantagon International AB.
City Farm: vertical farming combined with office space
Sustainability strategist Sepehr Mousavi
A new type of greenhouse for vertical farming; an international Centre of Excellence for Urban Agriculture; a demo-plant for Swedish clean-tech and a climate-smart way to use excess heating and CO2 from industries. That is what we are working on in the city of Linköping, Sweden: a 17-story office building combined with a greenhouse.
Two-thirds of the building will be office space that can be rented, and, as in the City Farm, heat from the greenhouse will warm up the building during winter. The plan is to open it in 2020 or 2021. Plantagon is also planning a similar solution for Singapore, where the lack of land for farming means that most of the food is imported from other countries. Plantagon has, since its very first day, been working from a global perspective, where the construction of our intangible assets such as patents, industrial designs, and trademarks is very important. On the other hand, we are building our future business model on the license revenues from the technology that we are now developing.
Plantagon aims to be the world’s best developer of smart food systems for the city. R&D and the resulting technological innovations are the principal factors for Plantagon International’s business success.
Plantagon International’s innovation strategy involves benefiting from technological innovations by using the full range of intellectual property rights in the development of urban agriculture globally.
Special Report Author Details
Author: Owe Pettersson, Sepehr Mousavi
Organisation: Plantagon International
Telephone: +46(0)8-410 165 60
Email: owe.pettersson@plantagon.com
Email: Sepehr.mousavi@plantagon.com
Website: Visit Website
Website: Visit Website
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