It is my intention to plan for the types of activity carried out by future inhabitants of vertical farms. Through a twenty-six storey high building,a conceptual farm with housing for the producers, situated amongst dense urban fabric of Baltimore Maryland, architecture is explored. Utilizing form, order and space, architecture has a responsibility to construct the interalia or main theatre of human function. The architect has a fiduciary responsible to determine the design and purpose of the stage, setting limits on the types of drama that the inhabitants play. From spacious rural cultivator with evocative farmhouses, to confined urban neo-farmer, the stage for dwelling is extremely critical to determine. These displaced farmers do not perform all typical city functions, but they are confined as city dwellers. For them, it remains critical to be connected with nature and neighbor. Urban farmers need housing that enhances their quality of life. Rather than imposing regulated apartment space for one inhabitant, the city comes forth to them in a different light, with many open neighborhood spaces for interaction and farm activity within a merging dual structure. The dialog the two concepts (city dwelling and farming) play as they join, dwell on a relationship of graphic tools such as rotation, scale, thickness and transparency. Further opportunity exists to investigate the act of labor(natural) and work (physical) of the urban neo-farmer, in a tall building in an effort to provide insight to their human condition. One activity that is part of being an urban neo-farmer may be the practice of cleaning off boots and placing them in lockers before returning home after a long work day. / Master of Architecture

\"Vertical Farms\" (Fazendas verticais), conceito formado por meio de estudos científicos em microbiologia e segurança alimentar no final da década de 1990, são representadas pelo cultivo intenso e protegido de hortaliças, árvores frutíferas e piscicultura. Reconhecendo que o tema abandona a abordagem experimental/ teórica e, em 2010, passa a repercutir com a implantação desse novo modelo de produção agrícola urbana pelo mundo, este estudo identifica a oportunidade de implementação da tecnologia no país e aproxima o mercado imobiliário da produção agrícola. A motivação deste estudo foi de fomentar o mercado de fazendas urbanas verticais, visando à melhoria do abastecimento de hortaliças e o controle das externalidades negativas ambientais do atual meio de produção agrícola, monocultura em larga escala e distribuição em longos trajetos, praticado para abastecimento metropolitano. Os objetivos gerais desta dissertação são: (i) prospectar como este tipo de tecnologia pode ser inserido no contexto urbano brasileiro; e (ii) definir parâmetros para escolher a melhor alternativa, usando o protótipo do mercado da cidade de Belém-PA. O objetivo específico é apresentar características e indicadores de forma a validar ou negar a validade do investimento em real estate. Este estudo aborda a inovação da Vertical Farm por meio da seguinte metodologia: (i) entendimento do mercado; (ii) análise de modelos de negócios das cinco alternativas reconhecidas em âmbito mundial, com enfoque no empreendedor imobiliário; (iii) identificação de parâmetros para elaboração de protótipo de empreendimento imobiliário, mais adequado para desenvolvimento deste negócio no Brasil; e (iv) simulações financeiras de três protótipos, traçando diretrizes comparativas para implementação no mercado imobiliário. Por fim, apresenta como resultado a análise individual de três protótipos e análise comparativa com enfoque no mercado imobiliário. / \"Vertical Farms\", a concept formed through scientific studies in microbiology and food security in the late 1990s, are represented by the intense and protected cultivation of vegetables, fruit trees and fish farming. Recognizing that the theme leaves the experimental / theoretical approach and, in 2010, this new model of urban agricultural production is being implemented in the world, the study identifies the opportunity to implement this technology in the country and brings the real estate market closer to agricultural production. The motivation of this study was to promote the market of vertical urban farms, aiming at the improvement of the supply of vegetables and the control of the negative environmental externalities of the current means of agricultural production, monoculture in large scale and distribution in long routes, practiced for metropolitan supply. The general objectives of this dissertation are: (i) to investigate how this type of technology can be inserted in the Brazilian urban context and (ii) to define parameters to choose the best alternative, using the market prototype of the city of Belém-PA. The specific objective is to present characteristics and indicators in order to validate or deny the validity of the investment in real estate. This study addresses the innovation of Vertical Farm through the following methodology: (i) understanding of the market, (ii) analysis of business models of the five globally recognized alternatives, focusing on the real estate entrepreneur, (iii) identification of parameters for elaboration of a real estate project prototype, most suitable for the development of this business in Brazil, and, after (iv) financial simulations of three prototypes, outlines comparative guidelines for implementation in the real estate market. Finally, it presents as a result the individual analysis of three prototypes and comparative analysis with focus on the real estate market.

Between 1960 and 2000, Detroit experienced a 43% population drop. Of Detroit’s 138 square miles, 20 are reported to be vacant. Yet the city is more populous and more dense than Memphis, Denver, Portland, or Atlanta. How can Detroit’s abundant available land and buildings be transformed into an asset that serves the over 700,000 residents of the city? How does vacant landscape become productive, enabling Detroit to “right-size” without resident relocation and additional urban erasure? Built in 1903 by Albert Kahn for the Packard Automotive Company, the Packard Plant is a Detroit landmark. Kahn, “The Builder of Detroit,” revolutionized American industrial design with Packard #10. Now, the plant is famous for being one of the world’s largest ruins and the adjacent neighborhood nearly vacant. Packard Farms is an adaptive reuse project that utilizes vacancy at the ground level for bioremediation and fuel crops while using vertical farming techniques within the building. Packard Farms capitalizes on Michigan green energy initiaties and the growing urban farming movement to create a largely self-sustaining building and community. / acase@tulane.edu

The specific aim of this study was to advance the development of the Minimally Structured & Modular Vertical Farm (MSM-VF), an original concept developed at The University of Arizona, by designing a specific modular unit made of a transparent-walled modified standard shipping container for use in climate locations represented by Los Angeles and New York City. The conclusions of the study included: (1) A workable range of temperatures (15 to 30°C) for cultivating tomato in Los Angeles and New York City could be achieved in a transparent-walled MSM-VF shipping-container modular unit by using a cover material of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system with an airspeed of 2 m/s, inlet angle at 60° and outlet position located at the top of the back wall; (2) A workable range of temperatures (15 to 27°C) for cultivating lettuce in Los Angeles and New York City could be achieved by using a cover material of LDPE and an HVAC system with an air speed of 4m/s, inlet angle at 60° and outlet position located at the bottom of the back wall; (3) The annual energy demands of the plastic-walled MSM-VF shipping-container modular unit were far less than those for the opaque-walled control plant-factory unit in all cases, except in the one case of growing tomato in New York City. Still, in this one exception, the annual energy demand of growing tomato in New York City in the plastic-walled MSM-VF shipping-container modular unit of 557.65 kWh/m² (versus 325.34 kWh/m² for the opaque-walled control plant-factory unit) was significantly lower than that of 711.91 kWh/m², which was the average for 164 greenhouses occupying a total of 16444 m² operated by the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (CUAES) in the state of New York (CUAES Greenhouses); and, (4) The annual energy demands of the plastic-walled MSM-VF shipping-container modular unit were either significantly lower or for one case approximately the same (773.84 kWh/m²) as that of the 711.91 kWh/m² for the New York greenhouses. By contrast, the annual energy demands of the opaque-walled control plant-factory unit significantly exceeded that of the 711.91 kWh/m² for the New York greenhouses by 170% for Los Angeles and by 126% for New York City, both for growing lettuce. The foregoing results provided significant and reasonable basis for the practicability of Minimally Structured & Modular Vertical Farms made of plastic-walled shipping-container modular units in Los Angeles and New York City as well as in many other mega-cities around the world with similar climates.

In North America, industrial agriculture has led to cheap abundant food while separating direct links between the city and countryside. This thesis attempts to use architecture to reconnect people in Manhattan, New York City, with food production and serve as a model for sustainability. The thesis analyzes Manhattan’s food network, and seeks a site which has the potential for several factors: site accessibility, renewable resources, solar exposure, and integration into the community. These factors serve as the basis in which to build a hybrid prototype that is able to expose people to the process of food production through a combination of traditional outdoor farming methods and indoor hydroponics in the form of a vertical farm. Farmers and customers can be seen together as one entity instead of two disconnected dependencies. The reintegration of food production into the city can be seen as a re-alliance of the country and the city.

\"Vertical Farms\" (Fazendas verticais), conceito formado por meio de estudos científicos em microbiologia e segurança alimentar no final da década de 1990, são representadas pelo cultivo intenso e protegido de hortaliças, árvores frutíferas e piscicultura. Reconhecendo que o tema abandona a abordagem experimental/ teórica e, em 2010, passa a repercutir com a implantação desse novo modelo de produção agrícola urbana pelo mundo, este estudo identifica a oportunidade de implementação da tecnologia no país e aproxima o mercado imobiliário da produção agrícola. A motivação deste estudo foi de fomentar o mercado de fazendas urbanas verticais, visando à melhoria do abastecimento de hortaliças e o controle das externalidades negativas ambientais do atual meio de produção agrícola, monocultura em larga escala e distribuição em longos trajetos, praticado para abastecimento metropolitano. Os objetivos gerais desta dissertação são: (i) prospectar como este tipo de tecnologia pode ser inserido no contexto urbano brasileiro; e (ii) definir parâmetros para escolher a melhor alternativa, usando o protótipo do mercado da cidade de Belém-PA. O objetivo específico é apresentar características e indicadores de forma a validar ou negar a validade do investimento em real estate. Este estudo aborda a inovação da Vertical Farm por meio da seguinte metodologia: (i) entendimento do mercado; (ii) análise de modelos de negócios das cinco alternativas reconhecidas em âmbito mundial, com enfoque no empreendedor imobiliário; (iii) identificação de parâmetros para elaboração de protótipo de empreendimento imobiliário, mais adequado para desenvolvimento deste negócio no Brasil; e (iv) simulações financeiras de três protótipos, traçando diretrizes comparativas para implementação no mercado imobiliário. Por fim, apresenta como resultado a análise individual de três protótipos e análise comparativa com enfoque no mercado imobiliário. / \"Vertical Farms\", a concept formed through scientific studies in microbiology and food security in the late 1990s, are represented by the intense and protected cultivation of vegetables, fruit trees and fish farming. Recognizing that the theme leaves the experimental / theoretical approach and, in 2010, this new model of urban agricultural production is being implemented in the world, the study identifies the opportunity to implement this technology in the country and brings the real estate market closer to agricultural production. The motivation of this study was to promote the market of vertical urban farms, aiming at the improvement of the supply of vegetables and the control of the negative environmental externalities of the current means of agricultural production, monoculture in large scale and distribution in long routes, practiced for metropolitan supply. The general objectives of this dissertation are: (i) to investigate how this type of technology can be inserted in the Brazilian urban context and (ii) to define parameters to choose the best alternative, using the market prototype of the city of Belém-PA. The specific objective is to present characteristics and indicators in order to validate or deny the validity of the investment in real estate. This study addresses the innovation of Vertical Farm through the following methodology: (i) understanding of the market, (ii) analysis of business models of the five globally recognized alternatives, focusing on the real estate entrepreneur, (iii) identification of parameters for elaboration of a real estate project prototype, most suitable for the development of this business in Brazil, and, after (iv) financial simulations of three prototypes, outlines comparative guidelines for implementation in the real estate market. Finally, it presents as a result the individual analysis of three prototypes and comparative analysis with focus on the real estate market.

This work concerns a new concept of vertical farms that can be installed in orbital stations and future lunar settlements in order to produce fresh food for astronauts. The main novelty of this kind of greenhouse lies in the possibility of continuously adapting the volume assigned to each crop to the level of plant growth by automatically moving the shelves, thus allowing to grow a greater number of crops per unit of volume than existing solutions based on vertical farms with fixed shelves. The main results on the production yield estimation of this structure, compared to conventional vertical farms, are presented together with the prospect of future research work.

The thesis analyzes Baltimore City's food network, and seeks a site which has the potential for several factors: site accessibility, renewable resources, solar exposure, and connecting the community. These factors serve as the basis in which to build a hybrid prototype that is able to expose people to the process of food production through a combination of traditional outdoor farming methods and indoor hydroponics in the form of a vertical farm. / Master of Architecture

Vertical farms, vertical, a word describing the essence of the meaning of this type of cultivation. So why are we building vertical farms in sheet metal halls and using only the potential of racks stacked on top of each other? Let's use the potential of this technology and the great adaptability of plants to the new environment and create a new food source operating locally and in continuous operation. Not only would this benefit from the availability of local and foreign food regardless of the season or the changing climate, but the changes it would bring to the economic gap would have a major impact on reducing intercontinental and intracontinental traffic. This would reduce carbon emissions and reduce agricultural areas that could replace forests that are more environmentally friendly.

In my master’s thesis I focus on some of the challenges we will face in this century. I would like to investigate whether new lanscape, new building typology (vertical farm) and new methods of agriculture (permaculture, hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic systems, meat in vitro, and NASA research) could be the answer to questions concerning sustainable development, urban population increase, cities food supply, consumption habits of people, climate changes, CO2 emissions, ecological footprint and biocapacity.