Oasis Tower: Dubai's vertical farm

Dubai's Oasis Tower

There are many problems with living in the desert; lack of fertile soil for farming, arid temperatures and sand getting into food when eating outside. However according to EcoFriend, Rahul Surin of Synthesis Design Studio has come up with a solution for the first two problems - a high-tech, vertical farm in the heart of Dubai.

Situated in Zabeel Park, the Oasis Tower would be a solution to the lack of farming land and a bold step in the embracing of inner-city, multi-storey farming. Currently, the food industry is one of the largest polluters on the planet, with the Earth's ever-growing population demanding more food than we can provided.

By importing food from all over the world, certain products can be transported so far that they generate their own weight in CO2 during their journey. That is where multi-farming comes in, especially in areas where large-scale farming isn't an option, such as the Middle East.

Farms of the future

Multi-storey farms, such as the Oasis Tower, have been devised as a way to minimise land use, reduce emissions from transport and make regions self-sustainable. In recent years, floods, droughts, wildfires and pollution have devastated traditional harvests and in many cases, it is expected to get worse. India's agricultural output for example, is predicted to diminished by 30 percent by the end of the century due to changing rain patterns. Not just that, but mankind is rapidly running out of land to grow crops due to a rapidly growing population. According to the United Nations, the amount of arable land per person decreased from about an acre in 1970 to roughly half an acre in 2000 and is projected to decline to about a third of an acre by 2050.

For these reasons, inner-city farming makes sense. It would see possibly-uninhabited high storey buildings turned into high-rise meadows using the latest hydroponic and aeroponic technologies to cultivate crops. It is also hoped that by using water-and-nutrient solutions or nutrient-laced mist, the entire production would be soil free, therefore enabling the projects to use 90 percent less water than conventional farming.

A vertical farm would also behave like a functional ecosystem, in which waste was recycled and the water used in hydroponics and aeroponics was recaptured by de-humidification and used over and over again. This in turn would lead to less pollution as the CO2 of major cities were absorbed by the abundance of plant-life being grown.

In Dubai's case, it is hoped that the Oasis Tower would be able to grow enough food to feed up to 40,000 people whilst also providing sustainable housing for residents.

The Oasis Tower's design

In keeping with the farm's purpose, the Oasis Tower has been designed to be as sustainable as possible. The tower would also be powered by vertical axis wind turbines placed in between the floors of the central tower, while the outside of the building would be layered with a solar coating as a secondary means of power.

Meanwhile, any waste water would be treated and reused, whilst a methane digester utilizes the waste created on-site to generate even more power for the building. 

It is a fantastic design and with the constant need for food and energy, it is hoped that the Dubai government will see the benefit.

Relevant articles:

Is Dubai's construction sector recovering? | Dubai's 014 building | Burj Khalifa observation deck is closed

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: