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a + r Architekten – a f a s i a

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Meet New York's Cutting Edge Mushroom Cultivators

With their world-first technology and democratic approach, New York mushroom cultivators, Smallhold, are putting farming in the hands of anyone, everywhere.

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Vertical Farming Company 'Bowery' Raises $90 Million In New Funding Round

Bowery plans to use this new funding across three main areas: building out operations, expanding products and partnerships, and growing their team.

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FRANCE’S ‘BIO-DOME’-LIKE TROPICAL GREENHOUSE WILL BE THE LARGEST ON THE PLANET

CONTENT SOURCED FROM BGR

Remember Bio-Dome? Of course you do! It’s that classic 90s flick where Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin got into a whole heap of trouble by getting locked inside a huge scientific enclosure meant to mimic nature in its pristine, untouched majesty. Hijinks ensued and laughs were had by all, but the concept of a gigantic greenhouse is very much a reality, and a small town in France is about to get the largest one on the planet.

“Tropicalia” is a single-domed tropical greenhouse being built near northern France’s Opal Coast. It will span over 215,000 square feet and be covered by a massive, air-filled plastic barrier to protect it from the outside world. Inside, lush vegetation will dominate the ground and visitors will travel along a walking path that measures nearly three-quarters of a mile long.

Tropicalia will be a marriage of science and business. The facility will serve scientists in various research efforts, and staff will be on hand to ensure the flora and fauna are living their best lives. At the same time, the building will host tourists who can dine at its upscale restaurant and stay in the built-in hotel.

“This unique place will contain a diverse range of fauna and flora, butterflies, exotic flowers, hummingbirds, waterfalls, aquarium basins, fish, turtles, caimans and more,” its creators explain “Beyond the eminently exotic interior world, the sensation of complete immersion is made possible with the innovative architectural approach.”

The fact that it is being built in northern France, which regularly dips near the freezing point in the winter, highlights the technical achievement that the structure will be once completed. Walking from a frosty parking lot to a tropical jungle in a matter of minutes will definitely be an interesting experience for visitors.

The current timeline of the project sees construction beginning in 2019 and being wrapped up by 2021. The company behind the affair, Coldefy & Associates, estimates that up to half a million people will take the trip to Tropicalia every year, and if the facility turns out as nice as the concept renders suggest, that’s not hard to believe.

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Why New Zealand Needs Vertical Farms

New Zealand has a strong field agriculture industry, but don’t its cities deserve farms too?

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Amsterdam Startup ‘Hrbs’ Pushes the Limit for Locally Grown Produce

Not exactly an urban farm, Hrbs is a service model that brings living plants right to the consumer where they continue to grow until harvest.

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DESIGNS FOR THE WORLD'S FIRST AQUAPONIC HOTEL

CONTENT SOURCED FROM BUSINESS INSIDER

The annual Radical Innovation Award competition always features elaborate and imaginative hotel designs, including water-powered resorts on mountaintops and rooms in flying glass pods.

This year, one of the finalists created a hotel design centered on aquaponics - a system that combines raising fish and cultivating plants in water. 

Excretions from the fish can increase the toxicity of the water, but this water is fed to the plant system, where bacteria turn the by-products intro nutrients for the plants. The water is purified by the time it returns to the aquatic system at the end of the closed cycle.

Varinot & Varinot Architectes, a firm based in France, wants to apply this closed loop model to hotels by recycling rainwater throughout the building. The circulation would provide water to aquariums, flowers, and vertical produce farms within the hotel.

Have a look at their unique designs:

A rooftop restaurant would serve local food, and breeding tanks on different floors would feature sturgeons, crawfish, tilapia, trout, and more. 

The hotel's vertical cultures would include mushrooms, tomatoes, eggplant, melons, lettuce, strawberries, and grapes.

From homemade caviar to vegetable salads and crawfish dishes, the architects say the hotel's production of fish and produce could each feed 60 people per day.

The architects' proposal calls for a modular design that could adapt to different skylines around the world. It could be a smaller building in Paris or a tall tower in New York, for example.

Check out more stories like this on our blog!