What Does Agritecture Mean?
Agritecture is a blending of the terms agriculture and architecture. Agritecture is the process of infusing agriculture into a built environment to maximize plant growth using the benefits of density indoors and microclimates outdoors. Consequently, the process of agritecture brings food production into otherwise agriculturally overlooked urban areas.
Essentially, agritecture aims to improve sustainability in cities through the production of a basic human need – food. You can see examples of agritecture in airports, which have installed indoor gardens in their buildings, as well as rooftop gardens, which have integrated the building's design with a functional green roof. Agritecture commonly makes use of hydroponics systems, living walls, and vertical gardens to maximize space. It is a term that was firm popularized by the founder of a Brooklyn-based urban agriculture firm by the same name.
Maximum Yield Explains Agritecture
With an increase in population and urbanization, and the need for infrastructural development to house these needs, architecture surrounds us. The increase in population also calls for an increase in food. So, this is where agriculture and all it entails – cultivating soil, producing crops, raising feeding, breeding livestock, and so on – needs to be efficient.
Since architecture is the space people live in, it influences our behavior and feelings. Accordingly, architecture can do the same with agriculture, if not more. This idea paved way for agritecture.
Agritecture is built on the fundamental idea that each living space must be equipped with a farming medium that covers from 50% to 80% of the occupants requirements of vegetation.
Accordingly, there are a variety of designs that are possible to implement the applications of hydroponic farming systems into existing and also new structures, the most popular being vertical gardens and living walls. Through the use of agritecture, people can now cultivate crops and grow food in urban areas. Furthermore, with agritecture, building designs are integrating water collection and energy production agriculture systems from the initial building phase.
