FEB 22

Vertical gardens were part of the design for the original Freedom Tower planned for Ground Zero in NYC. The upper floors were to contain an "international" garden, with plants from all over thr world. The structure was elegant and inspiring, echoing the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. But the plants would have been baked.

You could not grow food crops in the example building in the photo. Each floor shades the one below it. Other than mushrooms, you can't grow food crops in the shade. In addition, phototropism would cause the growing plants to lean toward what light is available, weakening their growth and shading their neighbors. It would need high-intensity artificial lighting to supplement the little natural light leaking through. Not a "green" solution.

These look like they would have a lot of potential. Efficient water usage and recovery and also they could be built closer to major cities so our food would get less mileage. I wish I was a millionaire so I could have one built now :)

Xris, I believe the light would be refracted throughout the tower. Not just entering the exterior windows.

@Xris: The dish on top of the tower collects light and ships it to all the different levels of the tower through fiber optic cables.

The biggest problem with the design is simply how much it'll cost to build. Farm land, on the whole, is very cheap, and until that changes, there will be no impetus to build these towers.

could something like this save Africa? Hear me out and I am not saying it is feasible now or ever, but there are unique problem in Africa that these would help alleviate. drought is a major factor. These could more efficiently use water by not letting it evaporate, collecting rain water and possibly helping to filtrate well water to make cleaner drinking water. Also with GW rain is gonna start coming down in major storms all at once instead of over time, these might help with holding some of that water for later use. Just some thoughts off the top of my head.

Wow, just from an aesthetic point of view, I have to say this puppy is a winner. Let's face it, though I wouldn't kick a solar panel off my roof, in main they are not exactly enhancements to the beauty of a residence. I guess because the building itself is round, or because of the industrial resonance, the dish on top actually looks good!

With the non-stop growing population, cost be damned, these things will be made. Inflation will incur, there will be more mouths to feed and less land to use. This is going to hapen, whether it looks like or not.

Surround these by heliostat-shielded apartments and these would make okay neighbors! Overall losses in normal architectural glass would need lowering. Plenty of details (other than that the east side seems to be immediately rotten with algae) remain that don't show in the photo to manage heat, water and safety; fix the capital's looks; and not least manage incipient mold and insects.

Of course the best part are the shade columns full of bees and trained birds (.....) providing the closest layer of shade to the neighbors. Takeout containers would need to be reused and more airtight...careful about hors d'oevures on the patio, you'll crash the columns!

Wrong shape for wind loads too: Unless they're rotary vanes also (and then; float seals, bearing, power and feedthrough novelty), sorry; too much wind wash for anything to live in. As for the plate on top...Starlight Express (and JSR:Final Stage) was awful.

Vertical farming seems a beautiful refuge for small vegetarians. I can hardly imagine the hormone laced meat eaters of current day America, ready to breed at twelve years old for the girls and "ready for the oil wars" aggressive, over sexed boys, peacefully picking lettuce leaves or weeding carrot patches! Perhaps some small bodied orientals, accustomed to fine fingered work can fit in such a commune, but your average 260+ pound, high fat, high corn fructose syrup fed Yank and his same size bride cannot survive on such meager offerings! They need fields full of over-fed cattle and pigs, stuffed with oil based fertilizer grown corn, ready for slaughter year round! They will have to go into Iran and steal the oil just to be fed in the years to come! It is not by accident that they prefer SUV's they need them to cart their fat asses about! the Chinese, on the other hand, are about to teach America how to win a war without a shot fired, they will simply screw America in the financial world, and they are just about in position to do it now! Run to the country-side and learn survival living from the few folks in the know, and watch the fun when the recycled manure hits the fan! The (GRD) great republican depression is going to be a rough ride !