“Our most important task at the present moment is to build castles in the air..” 
—Lewis Mumford, The story of Utopias, 1922

left: Charles Darwin with a green beard / right: Sir Patrick Geddes with green beard. © Michael Sorkin

Modern society suffers from a lack of intimacy with its food. We have seen 20th -century city planning disregard the importance of food and farming, and urban development has virtually eliminated agriculture in our cities. Vertical urban farming is no longer a new idea; its many benefits to the local economy, health, and sustainability are well-known. However, making agricultural skyscrapers costs a tremendous amount of money and don’t have a significant ripple effect to each individual. Our proposal, modular vertical farming, has greater meaning in that it is closer to man’s scale and to everyday life for people in the city. Also, a modular farming wall can be applied to a wide range of scales, from one window in a house to a fifteen -stor y building façade. Anyone who wants to go green in their house can develop their own systems for growing food.

This project considers the existing façade as the potential site to address the challenge. It aims to fix the façade of building by installing a modular farming wall. This would solve the economic and environmental crisis that modern city encounters through food cycling and greening the city.

A modular farming wall has an ecological, economic, and social effect.

Social and cultural environment
People watch how the food that you eat grows. It allows people to trust what they eat.
People on both sides of a farming wall can have locally grown organic food, exchange their knowledge of cultivation, and communicate more openly. It would reinvigorate neighboring streets with community activity.

Economic value
Today’s food trade requires a transportation infrastructure to accommodate the vast distances between food cultivation and consumption points because the city does not have a food production setting. A modular farming wall that contains all food cycles (production – distribution – consumption – recycling) can be installed in every city. It reduces the distance of distribution. People eat, directly, the food for every meal from the modular farming wall in their kitchen. Food exchange or distribution happens on every block near or at street level. Cutting the distance of distribution has economic interests. It reduces the use of food packaging as well as time and energy for transporting. Because it makes people use less material and fuel, economic value connects to ecological issues.

Sustainability

This modular farming structure uses rainwater for irrigation. There are units for storage of water after rain is collect ed and purified . Scraps of food are deposited into a recycling unit, creating nutritious fertilizer. Water is added and the liquid fertilizer is delivered to each vegetation unit via a drip system. As the plants grow, modular bins are easily removed for harvesting and repotting.

What if fruit can grow from the building façade?

Modular farming wall would link the concept of urbanism with nature. It improves the image of an urban environment .

Elevation compositions of modular farming walls are not always same. People who use the modules can change the composition according to their preferences .