Armando Carbonell, chairman of the department of planning and urban form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Mass., called the idea “very provocative.”But it requires a rigorous economic analysis, he added. “Would a tomato in lower Manhattan be able to outbid an investment banker for space in a high-rise? My bet is that the investment banker will pay more.”
Mr. Carbonell questions if a vertical farm could deliver the energy savings its supporters promise. “There’s embodied energy in the concrete and steel and in construction,” he said, adding that the price of land in the city would still outweigh any savings from not having to transport food from afar. “I believe that this general relationship is going to hold, even as transportation costs go up and carbon costs get incorporated into the economic system.”
This site is worth a gander. It's like Better Homes and Gardens for the new (neo? nouvelle?) bohemian set. is the term bohemian even relevant anymore? It feels a touch like using the word bling or gen x or gander ...might be best to move on. I've got to think on this.
Anyway, the site. It even has Tom Wolfe's place
So there is a big plot of empty land in Canal street in NYC and here is what this Architect group Work AC wants to do:
Awesome. Its probably not going to happen, but it warms my heart that these sorts of things are moving beyond the realm of science fiction pipe dream. ok maybe still a pipe dream. NYT mag calls it the "locavore fantasia".
it would have...
different crops on each floor; land laying fallow would be used for play (putting greens, say). Four large water tanks would collect rainwater for irrigation. “Sculpture structures” commissioned from artists would act as columns supporting the building, which leans back to face the crops toward the sun.
woah man. all here
I could have gone without the done-to-death Apple style reflection in display photo though
