Project Description: (version française ci-dessous)

The two Harvest Green projects submitted to the Formshift competition by Romses Architects represent the application of a consistent, holistic approach to a more sustainable Vancouver, using different building blocks for varying site conditions. The projects both use modules that can be “stacked, mirrored, rotated vertically, and sited in multiple configurations and sizes to create a dynamic, and varied built-form experience.” The number of productive surfaces is maximized through the use of photovoltaic arrays on rooftops and walls as well as trellises, living walls and green roofs.

The first entry, Harvest Green 01, which won an honourable mention for a mixed-use primary site along a major arterial street with rapid transit, proposed a high-tech, mixed-use, vertical farm which offers a considerable level of food productivity in an inner-city site integrated with other green technologies.

Harvest Green 02 was the winning entry for small, secondary, residential sites in established, lower density, neighbourhoods, near public transit. This project represents a subtler and perhaps more readily achievable approach to urban densification. The Architects propose that by allocating a rear portion of Vancouver’s lots for a variety of productive new uses, the backyards of the city can become far more of a resource for the city. Drawing inspiration from the traditional Chinese Hutong mixed-use developments and the newly approved Vancouver bylaws that create greater potential for laneway housing, Harvest Green 02 proposes the gradual introduction of a new web of food and local energy production overlaying existing residential neighbourhoods. The laneways become “green energy and food conduits” feeding and fuelling the city in increasingly sustainable ways while subtly increasing urban density.

Given the renewed interest in intensification of existing urban areas and the need for new sources of energy and food production, this proposal is an interesting model for further exploration and has generated interest in Vancouver and in other locations such as in China. By utilising existing infrastructure and space, taking a gentle and subtle approach, such projects could set in motion a gradual transformation of older, lower density residential neighbourhoods.