Timothy Kim

ARCH-4980.4 | Ted Ngai, Lecturer

URBAN FARMING WITH HOME APPLIANCES

TIMOTHY KIM

Converting existing vertical infrastructure as a vertical farming and developing effective farming practices through revolutionary home appliance designs.

Seoul’s population has been decreasing since the high living cost force family to move out and live in suburban areas. However, the number of households has increased since young people continue to migrate to the city for job opportunities and many other reasons. Seoul faces a high demand for small-scale housing units that are affordable for the economically unstable workforce. High density housing is the necessary model for Seoul due to the limited area that is surrounded by mountains.

Instead of taking down already existing high rise buildings, the project proposes to convert those buildings as infrastructure for new housing and vertical farming. The project is not a simple renovation project. The project examines the idea of home appliance. Many homeowners purchase home appliances to improve their life style. Since the post-war era, the evolution of home appliance advanced the development of portable and “plug-in” architecture. While most home appliance and portable architecture feature global design that can be placed anywhere around the world, the project aims to develop a new design for home appliance that is site specific and optimizes the local environment.

By revolutionarily changing the concept of home appliance, the new home appliances will require less energy, thus they will be more efficient. Many innovative design solutions are derived from traditional technologies that optimize solar, wind, geothermal, and many other renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the secondary function of the new home appliances is to support urban farming. Korean culture used to be known as permaculture that aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs that are virtually self-sustaining. By converting vertical spaces of high rise buildings with help with the new home appliances, sustainable life style can be achieved.

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