The Dragonfly: A Giant Vertical Farm for New York City

Inspired by the wings of a dragonfly, this astonishing urban farm concept for New York City's Roosevelt Island is a proposed solution for problems of food scarcity & reconnect consumers with producers. Urban farming is a developing idea amongst savvy citizens today, but in a densely packed borough like Manhattan, where there is not much space for growing plants, growth must come vertically. Consisting of 132 floors and 600 meters high, the Dragonfly can house 28 different fields for the production of fruit, vegetables, grains, meat and dairy. Plus a combination of solar and wind power make Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut's Dragonfly concept 100% self sufficient.

In this jaw dropping building offices, research labs, housing, and communal areas are merged    between orchards, farms, and production rooms. In order to reuse bio waste and get nutrients plant & animal are specially arranged throughout the Dragonfly’s steel and glass set of wings.

The spaces between the wings are designed to take advantage of solar energy by storing warm air in the exo-structure during winter. Cooling in the summer will be facilitated through natural ventilation and evapo-perspiration from the plants.

Outer vertical gardens filter rain water which is then mixed with domestic liquid waste. Together they are treated organically and then used in farms, preserving and distributing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. This urban farm, perhaps more appropriate for Dubai than New York, is intended to be cultivated by its own inhabitants, thus closing the loop of self-sustenance.