Navy Yard Community Farm

The regional strategy proposes the development of vertical farms, rooftop farms, and traditional farms, as well as markets, food halls, and food labs in areas highlighted in gold. Preexisting dry docks highlighted in red are to be developed into fisheries and oyster farms. These areas sit in the middle of the area most in need of intervention. The area in blue, which already receives the most pedestrian traffic, will be turned into public access path to draw the public into the Navy Yard.

The key architectural intervention in the Brooklyn Navy Yard is the Vertical Farm. In the summer, a building in the Navy Yard will experience a 200° arc of useful light around its southern face. At its highest point, the sun will reach an altitude of 77°above the horizon. Sun path can be used to shape the farming area (blue) per floor of the Vertical Farm, which can then be staggered when stacking to allow solar penetration to all floors throughout the year.

Inside the Vertical Farm, rotating plant racks filled with fruit and vegetables line the exterior of the building in an arc to be exposed to sunlight. Stacked hydroponic racks using more controlled artificial lighting sit behind the rotating racks, offset in rows toward the center of the building. The Vertical Farm is designed to harness the power of a gravity fed watering system, with water flowing from the floors above to the ones below and from one rack to the next.Community spaces like markets, kitchens, labs, and educational areas are located toward the back of the building. The core concept behind the building is the lack of separation between the food production area and the community space. The public is encouraged to engage with the process itself.

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