集装箱农场

The urban farm unit by damien chivialle is composed ofa shipping container with a greenhouse built on its open roof -kaaitheater, brussels edition.

The limited space and pollution generated within ourcities do not pose ideal environments in which to engage in agriculturalactivities. Despite this, the demand for obtaining locally grown food isthere. new technologies of cultivation such as hydroponics are now making iteasier to access fresh produce, as they can be applied in situations whereexpansive areas of land are not available. damien chivialle hascreated an open-source model in the form of 'urban farm units' (UFU),which seek to supply urbanites with organic provisions, while minimizing theirtransport in response to these factors.

Designed as a shared garden 'aboveground', the moduleconsists of a shipping container with a greenhouse extension on its roof whichmay be moved and placed anywhere there is space. Its purpose is to be usedto farm produce according to the needs of local residents,as well as enhancethe existing fabric - shared gardens and restaurants - of our boroughs.

The farm-container employs aquaponics - which combinetraditional tools and means of cultivating - with contemporary highperformance. Each of the units is comprised of two cubic meters of water,flowing in a closed circuit in which fish feces are broken down by bacteria ina sewage tank, transformed into minerals which serve as fertilizer for theplants, which they filter - the water returning back to the pool offish. This controlled system is considered to recover methane from thetank to power an alternate generator. In the case of installing severalcontainers, one can imagine filling a bio-gas plant to collect and recycleorganic waste.

Each structure is designed with standard components:hydroponics, an industrial greenhouse, scaffolding, and an open-topcontainer, all of this intended to be scalable and evolutive - adaptableto various situations.

Since 2010, three farms have been built in zurich,berlin and brussels. From now until february 24th, the most recent UFUiteration can be seen at the grote markt (grand market) in levuen, belgium aspart of the artefact festival program.