BE Lab -Vertical Farming & Sustainable Systems Design

college of built environments' interdisciplinary design studio at the university of washington



Branden Born, Associate Professor of Urban Planning

Gundula Proksch, Assistant Professor of Architecture

Ken Yocom, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture






In the United States, it is estimated that about 30% of the agricultural output originates within or on the edges of metropolitan areas. In response, a field of research and practice has emerged that focuses on the productive effectiveness of urban agricultural practices locally, regionally, and globally. In fact, locally, Seattle just declared 2010 "The Year of Urban Agriculture."


Using multidisciplinary skills from both undergraduate and graduate levels, this BE Lab is building upon these urban initiatives and their interrelated goals by developing strategies for integrating agricultural practices into the built environment. In particular, into the sustainable design of a large urban site containing multi-story residential buildings. Working at multiple scales, we are examining and synthesizing the intersections between socially equitable urban agricultural strategies with "high tech"/state of the art sustainable building systems.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Community capital

On Wednesday, Lynne Manzo, a professor from the department of Landscape Architecture, spoke to our class. She is an expert on the human experience of public housing redevelopment. Through her research she has interviewed residents at High Point, Park Lake Homes, and is currently working on a project with the Bremerton Housing Authority. Her research found that although there is a very negative perception of public housing, the sense of community and mutual support present in some public housing would be "the envy of any middle class community".

For this project we have been asked to focus on urban agriculture at Yesler Terrace. There is the possibility that this focus could diminish the focus on the social aspects of this site and even worse that we could be experimenting on the poor. On the other hand- How can sensitivity to the community push our design of the urban agriculture? After all, urban agriculture is an active component of the community at Yesler Terrace today. Lynne asked us to think about "how we can minimize the disruption to the residents" at Yesler Terrace. Hopefully, our schemes will represent opportunities to carry over the sense of community which exists and offer a place for "more healthy living" that is exciting to the residents.

For more information on the community advisory board go to:

http://www.seattlehousing.org/redevelopment/yesler-terrace/committee/
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMarch 4, 2010 at 11:50 AM

    "I can't think of any technology that addresses more urgent issues than Valcent's vertical farming system", says Robert F Kennedy Jr http://bit.ly/cPb00g

    ReplyDelete

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