vertical farming

We've seen vertical farming concepts before, but the Clepsydra merges an entirely new building type with an urban greenhouse. We know the benefits of vertical farms include the ability to produce great amounts of food in a small land area.

Also the food is closest to the people who eat it, minimizing the need for transportation, refrigeration, packaging and other energy-intensive activities. Bruno Vigano and Florencia Costa have designed the Clepsydra with these thoughts in mind, and created what they call an accessory building, which can be added to existing structures.

The farm of the future is not a farm. It's a building. Thirty stories of hydroponics and chicken coops, running on wind power and recycled city wastewater. Nothing else would guarantee a steady food supply in these times of climate change, drought,

deforestation, topsoil depletion and pesticide-polluted runoff. Dr. Dickson Despommier at Columbia University believes his Vertical Farm Project is the solution to these problems, and will be profitable to boot.