Sky Vegetables

Have you noticed sometimes how you have to spend a good amount of time squeezing the smallest bits of information out of some sites...? I'm not sure how this is. One example of this is the site for Sky Vegetables, and the companion blog site which seems nigh impossible to extract even the slightest bit of useful info... due to it's new-ness and flashness... although some gleanings that made it worth the trip...


:: image via Sky Vegetables

There is one nice flash overview showing some components of integrated rooftop strategies, such as wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, composting, greenhouses, and solar panels, with some brief description of each.




:: screen shots via Sky Vegetables

A nice element on the blog side, was some photos of Eli Zabar's rooftop greenhouses in NYC, which are renowned for being one of the best productive roofs in the country. From Sky Rooftop: "...Eli Zabar deserves the revenues and the bragging rights; he provides organic produce that is fresher and more local than perhaps any grocery store in New York. I was surprised to find out that Zabar’s actually operates two rooftop greenhouses. In addition to the rooftop of his grocery store, The Vinegar Factory, he has a rooftop greenhouse on his warehouse across the street. The greenhouses grow a variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs. This includes raspberries, strawberries, a variety of greens and herbs, tomatoes, peppers and even dates. A big kudos to Eli for his vision and progressive thinking, proving fresh produce from the roof can be sold commercially and for a profit."

:: images via Sky Rooftop

Another interesting side trip led me to Dr. Job Ebenezer, who is the innovator behind the 'wading pool' garden - featured on local project here in Portland at the Rocket. Ebenezer experimented with Wading pools atop the Evangelical Lutheran Church in downtown Chicago as a model for urban agriculture. And this was 15 years ago... so this stuff ain't new. Ebenezer also discusses gardening with feed sacks, and used tires... you name it. This rooftop pioneer doesn't show up on any of the latest articles on urban rooftop ag...

:: image via Container Gardens

From Container Gardens: "Dr. Ebenezer set about to prove the feasibility of growing vegetables in plastic wading pools. The demonstration garden has proved to be highly successful. In 1997, gardeners harvested 984 pounds of vegetables from 38 pools in an area measuring 1,625 square feet. One pool alone yielded an average of 22.5 pounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini and a variety of greens. This is equivalent to about 26,800 pounds. per acre, which far exceeds that of commercial yields in the state of Wisconsin and even the national 1996 average yields."

:: image via Sky Rooftop

Another pic showing Ebenezer in situ, who focuses this work on technology transfer for feeding the poor through a non-profit group... All this, somehow makes the Rocket, just a little bit less cool... :)

:: image via Technology for the Poor

Digging in with SO-IL

This one caught my attention today by combining the love of urban agriculture and rooftop gardening in one visually stimulating package. Spotted via Dezeen: "Brooklyn architects Solid Objectives - Idenburg Liu (SO-IL) have designed a rooftop landscape of allotments to showcase green roof technologies on an industrial building in Queens, New York City."




:: images via Dezeen

The work was commissioned by green roof manufacturer, Garden City Roofs. A little more detail from Dezeen: "Roofs are underused in New York City. Garden City Roofs, a startup company headed by Beth Lieberman, caters to a growing need for technical expertise and access to green roof systems. Garden City Roofs is converting the unused roof of a large industrial building into a showroom and knowledge-center for green roof systems. SO-IL has been asked to evaluate access, layout the roof systems and hard-scapes and design a sales- and learning center on the roof."




:: images via Dezeen

A favorite image of mine, evoking some of the swoopy artistry of a Thomas Church sketch from the 1950's replete with egg-like sun...

:: image via Dezeen

It's interesting to see the 'object' that appears on the roof... The reason? Not sure. The purpose. Um, use the word Truncated Octohedron? Turns out it's a "...structure will be a showcase of materials that are either completely biodegradable or recyclable."






:: images via Dezeen

More like architects that couldn't resist the urge to plop some structure on top of a structure in order to give it resonance as a 'project'. You'll see the hexagonal patterns applied on the farming production surface as well, which work well for nested spaces with interior pathways - a good garden layout. Probably the least successful part of all of this is the bad acronymic name, which I first thought was just random, then realized spelled an elongated SO-IL... uh, ok... well cool project anyway. :)

What I did on my Summer Vacation...

Summer is a great time to think - specifically in Oregon where August and September are typically the prime season and weather for outdoor activity, as well as conducive to the more cerebral... so what have I been doing? Well primarily watching the Beijing Olympics, working too much and too long, finishing a Fellowship application that (knock on wood) will lead to a good amount of travel related to green walls, preparing for a class that I am co-teaching in the fall at Portland State University - and generally enjoying summer. Thus a little lull in blogging. I have been keeping up with the other blogs entries - which seem to slow as well during summer (with some exceptions) - and will pick up again soon (or in September, post-Labor Day vacation) with some catchup!


:: Early Version of Olympic Forest Park - image via Garden Visit

The end of summer has also offered the opportunity for the less cerebral - going to some perennial favorite late summer activities - namely that of the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby. Half hipster hangout - half excuse to drink PBR in the park - it's one of those anti-corporate Portland events that makes the city so unique and fun (read: the anti-flugtag) Below is not a shot from '08, but a favorite from a few years back below - guess you can never escape the office:


:: Office Cubicle - image via Portland Ground

Another diversion this week was a trip up to Auburn, Washington (in the vicinity of Seattle) to go see the Radiohead show in support of the fabulous album In Rainbows. The verdict: show=amazing; venue=so/so; parking and traffic=hellish. We were back in the lawn and rain and it was still amazing - but the photos were a bit abstract - so I found a nice one of something up front - that showed the band and the eco-friendly LED lighting:


:: image via Flickr - atease

While Radiohead attempts to present tours with a green agenda, the location of the White River Amphitheater was dubious in many regards... namely being pretty much car only access. We parked in the free lot - and upon finishing the show at 11:30ish, didn't actually leave the venue until 1:30 - so imagine if you will conservatively 5000 cars idling and creeping around in a concentrated space for about 2 hours - lets imagine . No wonder people were getting a little testy. Here's the scene in a more serene photo.


:: image via Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce

The experience of collectively Flugtag, Soapbox Derby, and Radiohead made me start to think about the viability of large-events - both from a social and environmental perspective. I'm definitely a fan of live-music, but there is definitely as scale issue regarding what is acceptable to appreciate a concert or venue. A small bar is great - but how many of your favorite (undiscovered) bands will be found there? So in the age of mega-concerts, festivals with 100k people in attendance, or even a large-scale event in downtown (obama visit?, flugtag?) is it realistic within the fabric of our cities and outlying areas to accomodate - in a meaningful way. Throw in security issues - such as those faced in Beijing or upcoming in 2012 in London - in multiple venues in an international spotlight - and the logisitics become mind-boggling.

While the grand-scale issues of traffic can't be solved simply at a venue like the White River Amphitheatre, the small-scale designs of parking, traffic, and overflow parking were abyssmal. This led to gridlock that was totally unnecessary and avoidable. As we inhabit, temporarily, these spaces for events - what role does design play in these processes... definitely something that fits into the transportation dynamics and evolutionary adaptation necessary from a Landscape Urbanist perspective... thoughts?