Archinect - News

The new face of dystopian architecture is… China’s massive high-rise pig farm

2023-02-12T08:00:00-05:00

Inside the edifice, which resembles the monolithic housing blocks seen across China and stands as tall as the London tower that houses Big Ben, the pigs are monitored on high-definition cameras by uniformed technicians in a NASA-like command center. Each floor operates like a self-contained farm for the different stages of a young pig’s life: an area for pregnant pigs, a room for farrowing piglets, spots for nursing and space for fattening the hogs.

A 26-story structure is, of course, the world’s tallest free-standing pig farm, according to the Times. It will be joined by a twin hog-raising center in October. The draconian forms are evocative of the measures required by China’s status as the world’s largest consumer of pork products and gaps in food production that must be hastily accounted for through such construction. (Not to instantiate that Western methods of agricultural production can't be equally heinous and unsavory by their own merits.)

As Orwell wrote, pigs are the cleverest of animals.

Modular Cricket Pod Lets You Create An Urban Insect Farm

2016-05-02T18:40:00-04:00

Walking up to the Cricket Shelter—a new tent-like structure sitting on a dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard—it might not immediately be obvious that it's full of bugs. But inside pods lining the walls, the prototype is raising 22,000 crickets. Why? To eat, of course.

Terreform ONE has been working on combining food and shelter to solve the United Nations challenge on world hunger.

Rooftop farms combine the rural and urban in future cities

2014-05-20T13:43:00-04:00

As fossil fuels become more expensive and the number of urban dwellers continues to rise, urban farming will help feed the population without increasing the cost and pollution of food transport. [...] The rise in rooftop farming isn't limited to commercial operations. "Rooftop farming and gardening has become extremely diverse, and in that sense a more 'normal' presence in cities"

MVRDV Completes the Glass Farm

2013-01-18T14:42:00-05:00

MVRDV just completed the Glass Farm, a multi-purpose building in the village square of Schijndel, the Netherlands. The exterior is printed glass with a collage of typical local farms; a monument to the past but 1.6 times larger than life. The architects see this concept as a possible contemporary response to retro-architecture whilst respecting the public's wish for vernacular authenticity.

Abandoned Farm House Turned Into Life-Size Dollhouse

2012-06-29T12:07:00-04:00

This is an abandoned farm house that artist Heather Benning turned into a human-sized dollhouse (provided a human-sized dollhouse is just a regular house with no wall on one side).

The Decorated Shed - A Farm Goes From Crops to Candelabras

2011-06-11T10:36:10-04:00

AT the Farm, iron chairs wear mink coats, candelabras sprout from picnic tables and crystals hang from the trees. Despite these bedazzlements, the property — 150 rolling acres 15 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh — is not exactly Pennsylvania’s version of the Petit Hameau.