“We can not overestimate the transformative power of food

and agriculture. A sustainable agri-food system can be har-

nessed to realize enormous benefits to BC community ob-
jectives such as improving BC health, strengthening local
economies, and reducing climate emissions. Planning
communities in BC around food to create sustainable food
and agriculture systems is not only possible, it is essential.
“Foregrounding” food across this province is one of the top
priorities for BC in the 21st century.”
Mark Holland and Janine de la Salle,
“12 Big Ideas to Shape B.C.’s Resilient Future”, Vancouver Sun

Harvest Green Project explores the notion of the ‘fore-

grounding’ of a new agri-food system in and around the strategic
urban location of an arterial transit hub. To a certain extent, we
have seen 20th century town planning disregard the importance of
food and farming, and urban development has virtually eliminated
agriculture in our cities. By 2050, there will be globally an addi-
tional 3 billion people to feed, and traditional farming simply can
not sustain this increase in population. Therefore, incorporating
urban farming prominently into the fabric of the city, and in a syner-
gistic mixed-use development integrated with transit, is a way to
re-assert the cultural and environmental importance of locally pro-
duced food to the health and sustainability of the city and its resi-
dents.

The concept of the “vertical farm” is not new. No new mechanics or

science is needed - the technology exists today. Dr. Dickson De-
spommier, an environmental health scientist at Columbia Univer-
sity, is currently exploring this concept in cities such as New York
and Shanghai. His work reveals that for every one acre of indoor
farming, four to six acres of outdoor land can be saved. It is also
well recognized that traditional commercial farming is currently in
a crisis situation. For example, due to the effects of climate
change, farmers are unable to continue to grow the same crops.
Furthermore, massive flooding, protracted droughts, class 4-5 hur-
ricanes take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valu-
able crops. The over-use of pesticides has also rendered much of
the world’s farmland soils infertile.

If successfully implemented, projects like the Harvest Green Proj-

ect can offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production
of a safe and varied food supply, year round crop production, and
the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for
large-scale traditional horizontal farming.

Vertical Farming (VF) Benefits:

• No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests

• All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers

• VF virtually eliminates environmentally damaging agricultural runoff by recycling black water

• VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services

• VF converts black/gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration

• VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals

• VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)

• VF enables better control over the quality of food

• VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers

• VF creates new employment opportunities

• All food is produced locally - close to where it is consumed

VERTICAL GARDENS WIND TURBINES SOLAR PANELS HYDROPONIC CAROUSELS

 Urban Design
The urban design strategies for the proposal are predicated on the
view that urban food and energy harvesting needs to be “fore-
grounded’ into strategic and highly visible locations in the city, such as WIND FARM
transit hubs along arterials. The “Harvest Tower” will act as a landmark RAINWATER
CISTERN
vertical marker for the development and surrounding neighborhood,
while the commercial/office podium roots the development to the sur-
rounding arterial streetwall context. The podium mass will float above
and ‘umbrella’ a large sunken rain garden transit station. The station VERTICAL
GARDEN
doubles as a roof rainwater bio-filtration facility for the building, allow-
RAINWATER
ing the transit users a poetic experience of some of the environmental INTERLOCKING CISTERN
“HARVEST” TUBE
strategies of the project.
ROOF GARDEN

Food, Energy and Water Harvesting LIVE-WORK

The concept of “harvest” is explored in the project through the vertical LOFT TUBE

farming of vegetables, herbs, fruits, fish, egg laying chickens, and a

HYDROPONIC VEGETABLE
boutique goat and sheep dairy facility. In addition, renewable energy FARMING
will be harvested via green building design elements harnessing geo-
‘AQUAPONIC’ FISH BIRD HABITAT
thermal, wind and solar power. The buildings have photovoltaic glaz- FARMING ROOF GARDEN

ing and incorporate small and large-scale wind turbines to turn the
CHICKEN BOUTIQUE DIARY
structure into solar and wind-farm infrastructure. In addition, vertical FARMING FACILITY
farming potentially adds energy back to the grid via methane genera-
tion from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals. Further-
LIVESTOCK ‘HARVEST TOWER’
more, a large rainwater cistern terminates the top of the “Harvest ‘GRAZING PLANE’ RESTAURANT

Tower” providing on-site irrigation for the numerous indoor and out-
door crops and roof gardens. PLANT SEED LAB/
EDUCATION CENTER

Programmatic Synergy
While the Harvest Green Project supports the City mandate for com-
pact mixed-use communities in and around transit hubs, it further en- SUPERMARKET
ORGANIC FOODS
hances the mixed-use programming to include urban farming as a re- STORE

affirmation of the importance of the connection of food to our culture

and daily life. In addition to food and energy harvesting, the proposal
purposefully incorporates program uses for residential, transit, a large
farmers market and supermarket, office and agricultural research and SHARED CAR
TRANSIT STATION
educational facilities, and food related retail/hospitality. The result will P CO-OP PARKING

be a highly dynamic synergy of uses that compliment and support

each other. P UNDERGROUND
PARKING
TRANSIT LINE
Transit and Food Systems
The transit station component of the Harvest Green Project is essential
to the overall programmatic synergy of uses within the project. The
feasibility and concept of urban farming, and the elimination of high
carbon emitting traditional food transportation, will only be achieved
through strategically locating these new uses in and around transit
nodes. By capitalizing on the daily public transit patterns of people
who are commuting and linking those patterns to where food is pro-
duced, delivered and received, we can then begin to foster more sus-
tainable practices within the current food system and industry.

SUNKEN RAINGARDEN TRANSIT STATION ROOFTOP GRAZING FIELD/

BIRD HABITAT

GREEN ENERGY/URBAN FARMING WEB

(SEE FORMSHIFT SECONDARY SUBMISSION)

“City governments have an important role to play to make

urban agriculture a reality. Through such means as tax relief,
equity partnerships, access to free land, supportive zoning
changes, relaxation of by-law restrictions, etc., as well as
assuming responsibility for collateral side issues such as
poverty reduction and social equity, city governments can
set the stage for demonstration projects that would be
needed to prove the conceptual and technical feasibility of
vertical farming.

Just as many cities are now acting to facilitate waste-to-

energy demonstration projects…..so too will adjustments be
required to bring a full scale demonstration vertical farm
project into being. The City of Vancouver has taken an
important first step in promoting urban agriculture. Though
not on the scale of high rise farms”….Globe-Net, July 22,
2008