Towers of Food

Mmmm.. the cleanse is over! - Food - Towers of Food. : )

Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, hopes to spread his vision for "vertical farms" -- 30-story towers that could feed thousands of people. He created the concept in 1999 with his graduate students, and it has since captured the imagination of architects and various city planners. The following images are artistic renderings of what some of these farms of the future might look like.

A vertical farm design modeled after the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles features a prominent renewable energy source: a rotating solar panel that, like a sunflower, gyrates to face the sun.
The skyscraper farms would rely solely on renewable energy sources, like the wind turbines in this design.
Despommier, the professor at Columbia University, created the vertical farm concept with 82 graduate students, says that the skyscrapers could protect a city's food supply from floods and droughts, and from pathogens that attack crops.

The Mithun vertical farm design differs from Dr. Despommier's high-rise concept, but has piqued the interest of officials in Portland, Ore. "It was pushing the envelope as to how people might live sustainably in the future," said Bonnie Duncan of Mithun.

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