Grow/House: A research paper about the integration of urban farming in a co-housing complex

Research: Transportation of food, meat consumption, land use for agriculture, and food waste significantly impact our environment and climate change. This paper proposes a co-housing community that produces its own food on-site in Amsterdam. A plant-based diet is taken as the basis for crop selection. Different urban farming methods are described, and the most efficient ones are chosen for growing crops in the proposed building. The impact of this is analysed in terms of land use, CO2 emissions, Water use, Energy demand and Architectural, Social and Educational impact. The proposal positively affects all of the mentioned subjects except for energy use. The use of energy is increased by 7%. That can be compensated by sustainably harvesting energy. The proposed community can have a positive environmental effect and could become a new main housing typology.Design: Globally we will face water and food stress. The agricultural industries contribute 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions. 4 sub categories of these emissions are land use, meat and dairy consumption, transport and supply chain, and crop production. Besides this, food waste contributes significantly. I therefore propose to eliminate the supply chain by designing a building that produces food and houses the people that consume it. The design consists of a Plant Factory, 4 glasshouses and 100 housing units that house about 200 people. The building is self-sufficient in water, food and almost self-sufficient in energy consumption. Shared spaces are added to provide residents with a space for gathering, and learning about food production, consumption and preparation. A market and educational center are added on the ground- and first floor so that the building can become an attractor for neighbors. Here they can also learn about the value of food, and how to become self-sustaining too. Lastly, the green roof is added for additional leisure activities as well as learning about healthy and sustainable food growth practices.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Science