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Roof Water-Farm

A n ongoing cooperative research project, ROOF WATER-FARM (RWF) features the combined installation of water recycling technology and building-integrated farming. The focus of this blue-green infrastructure approach is on the reuse of daily water resource flows combined with lightweight water farming such as aquaponics (combined fish and plant farming) and hydroponics (soil-less plant farming such as using nutrient film techniques or NFT).

The project’s test site sits in the historic neighbourhood of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) in 1987 in Kreuzberg, near the former Berlin Wall and today’s Potsdamer Platz. This site has been also a model project of the Experimental Housing and Urban Development (EXWOST) research programme until 2000. Since then, this Berlin inner-city neighbourhood has become an ongoing laboratory.

The project is a showcase of ecological responsibility by its blue-green design philosophy that is practised through:

• the safe and high-quality upcycling of waste water into service water for toilet flushing, household water and irrigation purposes;

• local fertiliser production out of the daily waste/resource flows;

• building-integrated water farming for urban fish and vegetation food production;

• active climate change mitigation through decentralised rainwater management that enhances evaporative plant-driven cooling processes in an urban wetland providing biodiversity and economic benefits.

RWF advocates social accountability via a participatory approach that has resulted in multiple benefits:

• the local community of 250 people, connected to the local water treatment plant, benefits from lower service water prices as well as aesthetically pleasing open spaces and blue-green landscape atmosphere;

• the local community as well as local and international visitors are part of the RWF network by being involved with workshops, guided tours and harvest festivals;

• it is an ongoing real laboratory for diverse groups of people, especially focusing on applied learning and education of students and trainees.

The current and ongoing challenge is to establish applied follow-up projects within real estate developments. This process of upscaling and transferring the positive research results requires a broad and transdisciplinary support of the public authorities involved—from food and water safety departments to the planning and approval stages. Furthermore, it needs additional and direct funding for blue-green project entrepreneurs who could catalyse this kind of climate- and resource-friendly urban development.

Originally published in FuturArc 1Q 2020 issue. Subscribe to the digital edition or hardcopy to read the complete article!

Source: https://www.futurarc.com/commentary/ways-to-upcycle-water-and-waste-in-buildings/

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• December 14, 2023
• Teo
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