Vertical Farm Beijing Is Striking In Its Glass And Steel Facade

Vertical Farm Beijing, by van Bergen Kolpa Architects, “gives a striking, architectural appearance to horticulture within the city.” It is a magnificent building of steel and glass, consisting of a slender steel structure that stands out against the Beijing sky via a series of transparent bay windows.

During the day, these windows allow refraction-free glimpses inside and out. The entrance side of the building particularly looks special with its expressive, faceted facade in transparent glass. Meanwhile, at night the 3,500 m2 transparent building serves as a beacon in the city as it glows with a mesmerizing color from the various LED lights used to grow the various plants inside. 

van Bergen Kolpa Architects built Vertical Farm Beijing for AgriGarden and on the campus of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS). It is the prominent entrance to the campus’ research facilities, overlooking the city and the ring road in downtown Beijing. It also presents China’s inaugural innovation center dedicated to urban food production. 

The structure provides a solution to the production of green and healthy food in and around the city in the form of stacked horticulture on a compact footprint. This is spread over the three floors of the building, including in the monumental entrance hall which is surrounded by an array of vertical cultivation methods.

Vertical Farm Beijing also has an educational routing that guides visitors through open-ground fruit and berry trees, an automated vertical lettuce cultivation, through fruits growing under LED light, and to a rooftop greenhouse growing tomatoes and cucumbers under sunlight. 

Aside from efficient urban food production, the building also focused on sustainability. Residual water from plant irrigation is recycled and reused. Vertical Farm Beijing also relied on natural ventilation and evaporation for the building’s climate control and cooling. Likewise, passive heat extraction from the sun and residual heat obtained from LED lighting contribute to the heating system. 

Images courtesy of van Bergen Kolpa Architects