Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Einstein

December 2011 I made the first designs for the creation of an Urban ArtFarm.
The Urban ArtFarm (2012) is an extension of the existing edible rooftop garden (2009). The 2 intensive rooftopgardens are situated on top of adjacent parking lots and are physically connected. The edible rooftop garden is specialised in mediterrean and medicinal plants, herbs and flowers – all with an important nectar/pollen value.
The Urban ArtFarm focuses mostly on fruits and vegetables. Both gardens are set up along the principles of permaculture. They both host several bee colonies, and are very friendly to other pollinating insects and birds. In both gardens we work with recuperation of rainwater and we make our own compost. We will set up alternative energy systems with solarpanels to power the waterpumps. The beehives are monitored with custom-made, low cost technology.

Design for a new 1000m2 rooftop garden in the center of Brussels. On the roof, we will grow fruits and vegetables for the hungry city.

These pictures show a glimpse from the first build-up phase, on the concrete rooftop of ‘parking Dansaert2’ in Brussel’s city center.

More and more people are living in the cities. We have to search for new modes of living, new sustainable ways of food production. Therefore we are researching how to make a network of cultivated, intensive city rooftopgardens and grow food for the neighbourhood.
In the Urban ArtFarm project we want to blend nature, culture and technology. We will explore how to set up a middle sized rooftopgarden with recycled materials, and with the help of DIY digital tools we will study the biotic and abiotec elements of the rooftop ecosystem: the growth, blossoming and decay of plants while they are submitted to the natural elements as wind, rain, snow, etc.

more info in the connected opengreens database: http://opengreens.okno.be/garden_timeline.php?id=28