An Eco Farm Podium in Hong Kong

Statement

The food supply in the world is being so tight in this these years by the raise of population and the expansion of the urban development. The highly developed city has imported lot of food from other cities or countries. However, it will not be able to feed a projected population of nine billion by 2050. Besides, the food transportation in the world causes a huge among of carbon footprint.

The world is looking for the method to solve the problem of the food supplying, and balancing the development between the agriculture and the urban city. Reference from Winy Maas discusses in the plan:

“We dream of making green cities. City that is literally green as well as ecological. A city that produces food and energy, cleans its own water, recycles waste and holds a great biodiversity. A city which might even be autarkic: A symbiotic world of people, plants and animals.”

Hong Kong has produced 48.7% of vegetables locally in 1968 and was down to 2.3% last year. This result is reflecting the city of capitalism, the free market development causing everyone looking the maximum profit of their own resources and property. It drives today’s 90% of the total food supply in Hong Kong is imported food, thus the food is become expensive and hard to afford especially the low income labors.

By those reasons, Hong Kong needs an eco-farm podium in the open space of the town center to produce its own food products to reduce the rate of imported food, and balancing the atmosphere of the high density city, being a city that can be self-sustained in food resources.

More often, it can reeducate the people that the use of food and decrease the amount of wasted food. Rethinking the relationship between the agriculture and architecture, how the eco farm benefit the urban city besides producing food.

Description of project intended to test the thesis statement

This eco farm will aim to hang over the leftover space in Hong Kong, such as the top of pedestrian road and highway or the space between buildings.

The farm should have its own eco system to maintain itself, mainly on vegetable planting.It requires for natural sun light, good air quality and water, and they all can be provided in the urban city in the future. Beside the natural sun light, the light reflect from the curtain wall is one of the main lighting sources as well.

Food as the products will supply its own city, to release the rate of import food.  While the ‘products’ are producing locally, it will be relatively cheaper and affordable. The needs of ‘farmer’ to work at there can able to create the employment.

Furthermore, this farm inside the city has formed an urban garden and an educational path. That’s providing a new public space in the high density city, and releasing the fully packed pedestrian flow. Moreover, the farm is also a huge shelter in the urban city that can block most of the sunlight and lower the temperature on the street.

Outline of research/design method

The eco farm proposal will base on a series of practical information, such as the whole process of running an eco-farm and producing the vegetables; what does an eco-farm need? What kinds of vegetables are suitable to be planted in Hong Kong? The amounts of food that can be produced per year.

Besides, it needs an analysis of the streetscape in Hong Kong to look for a suitable site and the technology that used in the urban farm, or other projects that suitable to use in this urban farm.

By the result of those researches, it will be explored a few questions, how does the technology be part of an architecture? What kind of new landscape we create in Hong Kong? How does the agriculture and the urban city change?

Annotated bibliography/precedents

MVRDV, Floriade 2022

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/05/floriade-2022-by-mvrdv/

T?F, Pig City

http://www.thewhyfactory.com/?page=project&project=33&type=future

T?F, Food City

http://www.thewhyfactory.com/?page=project&project=46&type=future

WORKac, Locavore Fantasia

http://work.ac/locavore-fantasia/

Luciesadakova Interiors, Multileveled Vertical Urban Allotments

http://www.luciesadakova.com/portfolio/1-project/

Michaela Dejdarova and Michal Votruba, A vertical farm in Prague

http://www.growtheplanet.com/en/better_world/article/231/vertical-farm-in-prague-designed-by-dejdarova-and-votruba

The New York Times, Urban Farming, a Bit Closer to the Sun

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/dining/17roof.html?_r=2&