Project Description
With more than 8 billion people living in an urban environment by 2080 (US census), there will be an enormous strain on the global food production network. In the United States, there is an added problem of an aging population with more than 4 billion people being over the age of 60. All these factors contribute to a building in 2080 taking mental/physical well-being and resource generation as its priority. This building also aims to foster a sense of community for the aging population through Urban farming. The building of the future will have 50% of the square footage to resource generation from growing crops, fruits, and vegetables through hydroponics and traditional mediums. This is particularly hard to achieve in regions of upper North America and Europe which have overcast skies don’t receive high-intensity light to grow fruits and vegetables throughout the year. The solution to this is to use a convex lens to amplify the photon flux density of light to achieve a target range from 300 to 450 Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) throughout the year. The lens unit also has a Dynamic PV cell at its focal point which generates electricity to provide a light source for plant growth at night and illuminate the building. The Photo-voltaic cell is kept at the focal point of the lens, which generates electricity. The plants are kept behind the PV cell at about 1m away from the lens. The plants get an adequate intensity of light of up to 300-450 PPFD for active photosynthesis throughout the day but are kept out of focus to not burn it. The electricity generated by the PV cell is stored and used by the Pink LEDs at night to grow crops thus enabling an entirely self-sufficient indoor urban farm.