Built in one of the busiest areas of Melbourne, this off-grid, three-story home and urban farm produces all of its own food and energy! Let’s take a look.
Image: Future Food System
A Certified Organic Home That Has Its Very Own Ecosystem!
Situated in Melbourne’s Federation Square, the 87 square-metre ‘Future Food System’ is a self-sustaining, zero waste, productive house that provides shelter, produces all of its own food and generates energy! Designer of the home, Joost Bakker, reimagines the way we can live in our cities with his revolutionary home that models a natural ecosystem.
The structure was built to withstand extreme loads, which allows for the home’s soil roof - a feature that creates habitat, provides insulation, and facilitates food production. A roof made from soil? That’s right! The building has organic certification and is the world’s most resilient building made from natural and recyclable materials.
Image: Future Food System
Transforming The Food System As We Know It
Did you know that 58% of the world’s carbon emissions are created by our current food system. Annually, food wastage costs the global economy $940 billion. Soil exploitation has also stripped essential vitamins and minerals from the food we currently eat.
Joost Bakker says that “Our food system is one of the most wasteful, polluting things on the planet – the way we grow our food but also transport and sell it. I wanted to create a house that was a shelter for people but could also grow food and create energy – our cities have so much potential”. Every single corner is involved in growing food, and every available nutrient in the house is harvested to do it! The building cultivates hundreds of different nutritious foods, from bananas to tiger nuts!
Image: Future Food System
From Mushroom Walls To Aquaponics, This Home Has It All
The building features potted gardens, which fill both balconies, growing everything from pumpkins to chickpeas. The house is also running an aquaponics system, and features an edible mushroom wall that’s sustained by humidity from the shower and hot water system! Nothing is wasted. “This concept has the potential to tackle food security, malnourishment and environmental degradation … all whilst turning our urban areas into the most biodiverse on earth.”
The home is powered by a nickel-iron battery wall that provides electricity for the home with Australian solar panels that clad the exterior. Even the kitchen and bathroom wall paneling and joinery are made from sugar gum and a 130-year-old Cypress tree that was struck by lightning and milled for the project! How cool is that?
Joost hopes the ideas here will help to fuel others for the future. “I don’t see that everything we are doing here is the only way to do it, I want it to be a catalyst.”
We are absolutely blown away by the Future Food System! What are your thoughts on the home? Let us know in the comments below!
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