Dickson Despommier

For our fifth installment of six architectural projects dedicated to vertical farming, renewable energies, and the construction of a better, greener 21st century, s.a.johnson discusses the work of microbiologist and esteemed professor of environmental health at Columbia University Dickson Despommier.

Of all the active participants in the vertical farming movement, Dickson Despommier is considered by many to be the most important proponent. As a microbiologist and esteemed professor of environmental health at Columbia University, his research is proving the feasibility of vertical farming while his leadership over student projects is creating architectural precedent for hopeful future implementation.

Despommier is also the founder of VerticalFarm.com, a site created for hosting and posting new information about academic and professional explorations into urban farming, primarily in the form of towers. The site provides an increasingly complex set of essays, designs, news, links, and presentations related to the concepts Despommier is pontificating. Promoting sustainable urban environments and returning the many lands that have been turned into agricultural endeavors back to their native states is an important goal of Despommier, having changed his research interests to focus entirely on this issue.

The systems developed by Despommier are among the most ambitious to date. His towers aim for complete self-sustainability while offsetting the building’s energy use and cost of maintaining hydroponic systems. Popular Science magazine did an article and interview with Despommier which provides some insight into his efforts: “Vertical-axis wind turbines are potentially 50% more efficient and produce energy from the building’s rooftop. LED bulbs are set to light plants at specific wavelengths favored by differing species. Burning methane from 100 tons of sewage produces as many as 19 megawatts of electricity. Systems in each growing room will monitor humidity, temperature and nutrient distribution.”

Popular Science Interview

Colbert Report Interview

The images used in this post are from “The Living Skyscraper: Farming the Urban Skyline” project which was designed by Blake Kurasek, a graduate student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.