Growroom is a prototype for food-producing architecture in our cities - Treehugger

Growroom is a prototype for food-producing architecture in our cities - Treehugger - Knowing that our current food production system is largely unsustainable thanks to its dependence on fossil fuels, affordable, abundant and locally grown food is something that we will surely need in the future as major cities around the world continue to grow. But urban land comes at a premium, and unless you're starting up large-scale rooftop urban farms, what can the little guy do to start growing some food?

One could put up some window farms, or get into some plug-and-play hydroponics kits. Or, as Danish group Space10 and architects Mads-Ulrik Husum & Sine Lindholm suggest, we could build some food-producing architecture for our cities. Growroom is their prototype for such an urban agricultural intervention, recently showcased at the CHART ART FAIR in Copenhagen.

The spherical structure consists of a metal framework that holds wooden planter boxes full of herbs and other edible plants. The interior of the Growroom also conveniently doubles as a cozy outdoor lounge, allowing it to blend in usefully in a private garden, or installing a series of them in a public space.

Space10 notes that we live in a time of technological advancements that makes it ripe for a revolution in small-scale urban farming:

Urban farming is one of much great food producing architecture initiatives that tackle some of the above problems in today’s food production. With advances in accessible equipment, it enables the many people to become small-scale farmers and grow food that tastes better, is healthier, more nutritional and doesn’t put massive pressure on our dwindling supplies of fresh water nor our environment.

There's no information on what's the potential annual yield of one Growroom, but the team says that the point of urban-ag architecture like this is to bring nature back into our cities, provide extra food that is nutritious and locally grown, as well as inspiring people to grow their own food. While one or two of these food-growing interventions may not make a huge difference, if deployed on a massive scale, it may very well make a positive impact. Moreover at Space10.

[Via: Inhabitat]