AGRI|gen : analysis and design of a parametric modular system for vertical urban agriculture

Abstract

While many studies were done about green facades’ thermal performance, limited studies were done about green facades for productive farming. Most focused only on one facade or building. According to that, this research questioned what the potentials of farming on facades and roofs in an entire neighbourhood are and what could such a farming system looks like, and what it costs. To address these questions, a literature review about urban farming and possible crops was done. A neighbourhood of 22 multi-floor residential buildings in Nablus\Palestine, was chosen as a case study, and two parametric tools, one for analysis (AGRI|gen\Analysis) and another for design (AGRI|gen\design) were developed and implemented. The study found that in the chosen neighbourhood, existing facades can provide about 28,500 m2 of farming area, but only half of the facades and all of the roofs were suitable for daylight-based farming. Tomatoes and cucumbers can be farmed on 25% and 33% of the facades, respectively, to fulfil about 350% and 237% of tomatoes and cucumbers consumption by the same neighbourhood simultaneously. Roofs were found to be more suitable for high DLI-requiring plants like sweet peppers as they can produce more than 315 times the local consumption. In terms of design, a modular adaptive facade system was designed to fit the neighbourhood to enhance the farming possibilities. The facade system needed about 40,824 modular units of which 73.3%, 10.1%, 8.7%, and 8% of them were LED, PV, Sensor, and fan units respectively, with an average system cost of about $55.2\m2 and a total cost of $1.7M. Finally, a comparison between the system and a proposed vertical farm building in the same region was done, and then related recommendations by the researcher were suggested. This research highlights the potential for productive farming on facades and roofs, which could contribute to sustainable and resilient cities.