High-Rise Aquaponics

Kent State University College of Architecture and Environmental Design

Design Studio VIII: Integrated Design Competition, Spring 2010

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Project Introduction:



High-Rise Aquaponics is the symbol of Baltimore’s movement towards a sustainable future. While the Pratt Street Re-Development is fixing an existing problem, this facility will begin to shift the public’s focus on a quick-approaching problem – food. This building will serve as a mixed-use prototype of the vertical farm proposed by faculty and students at Columbia University, among others. According to the Popular Science article “The Vertical Framer,” with a population of 6.7 billion people the land used for agriculture is 41 percent of the earths’ land mass. By the year 2050 the earths’ population is expected to be 9.2 billion and the majority of these people will live in cities. One of the best ways to sequester carbon is to plant trees, but if we continue to increase the amount of farmland we have by cutting down trees then we will be doing more harm to our environment, in a time when we need to think about how we can restore and reinvigorate the natural environment. In addition to halting the destructive of habits associated with the spread of agricultural land, if cities can produce enough food to sustain the lively hoods of its inhabitants than Dr. Dickson Despommier believes that “allowing forests to regrow where crops are now cultivated... would reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at least as much as more-efficient energy consumption.” There are other benefits to growing food in the city you live in as well. Some of the benefits associated with growing crops inside a building include the controlled environment. This year much of the south has experienced record temperature lows; according to a USA today report, record lows in Florida have endangered fruit and vegetable crops. By growing crops inside these changes in environmental conditions do not have an effect. Another benefit is that there are no diseases transferred from animal waste to the crops through improper treatment. It is because of these reasons that a portion of this building will be a vertical farm. It will not be on the same scale as that proposed by Dr. Dickson Despommier, instead it is intended to act as a test case to test the validity of the concept, and move the idea one step closer to worldwide implementation.

This facility will be the home of a joint venture of commercial, research, development, manufacturing, and government entities involved with vertical farming and food distribution. NASA, the UN, Columbia University, Whole Foods, and Valcent Technologies are all plausible tenants to cohabitate within the facility. The 10 floors of office space will be dedicated to supporting the 10 floors of vertical farm at the top of the building. The two ground floors will be where the public can taste and experience what is being created in the upper floors of the building. On the ground floor will be a variation of a Farmer’s Market that will be operated by Whole Foods, as well as a Café serving the North Plaza. The second floor will contain an upscale organic restaurant. These three entities will be selling the fruits, vegetables, and fish that are grown in the vertical farm within the building. Excess produce will be transported and sold at other local markets of the Baltimore Public Markets Corporation such as Lexington Market, as well as at local Whole Foods stores. In turn, the building will not only be supporting its own internal needs, but the needs of the surrounding city.

Software Used on Project:

AutoCAD 2009, 2010

Adobe InDesign CS4

Adobe Illustrator CS4

Microsoft Excell



Equipment Used on Project:

Laser Cutter