Students of the SAES Master’s Degree enter the second round of the Urban Greenhouse Challenge
The Team Bagua, consisting of five students of the ICTA-UAB Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability, is one of the top-20 teams to enter the second round of the Urban Greenhouse Challenge, an International competition organized by the Wageningen University & Research. The SosteniPra group, led by Xavier Gabarrell and formed by researchers Perla Zambrano, Joan Muñoz, Alexandra Peña and Susana Toboso, has been assessing the Team Bagua for the last six months.
In Urban Greenhouse Challenge, multidisciplinary student teams are challenged to bring professional food production (back) into urban neighbourhoods integrating social, economic, environmental and technical aspects in one coherent concept. This edition invited students to design an iconic and circular urban greenhouse to be based in the city of Dongguan, which is part of the Greater Bay Area in China, one of the world’s major metropoles.
The Selection Committee assessed the 53 teams participating in the first round according to criteria such as the relevance and attractiveness of the proposed program in relation to main conclusions of the context analysis and assignment, or the appropriateness of the choices regarding food production system, circularity, constructions system, business model and social interactions. The top-20 teams selected are spread over four continents and more than 8 countries.
At the end of February, the representatives of the top-20 teams will travel to China in order to visit the site and collect data, to get feedback from experts, and to explore the local context.
The members of the Spanish team are Alejandro Rueda, Rachel Wilbertz, Olivia Manzart, Sofie De Brabander, Nicole Rodas and Ruijie Shi.
With climate change and global change becoming significantly important, urban farming offers an innovative way to address one of the large carbon emissions sectors, agriculture, while offering a viable adaptation system for food production. Through studying sustainability, they are looking forward to applying their interdisciplinary approach and knowledge into practice through urban farming.
Through innovation, they want to create a project that is sustainable, feasible and has low energy demands through the integration of the architecture and the inner system.
The proposal submitted by the Spanish team Bagua aspires to honour ancient Chinese philosophies while including modern innovation with their urban greenhouse design. Bagua refers to the identically named symbol used in Taoist philosophy. Consequently, the building is designed according to the Taoist philosophy, and includes and connects the different aspects of the Bagua. According to Taoist philosophy, in this world all things exist with their inseparable opposite. Therefore, the design of the building as well as its functions will aim to combine different opposites and try to enable an undisturbed flow between them. The concept is multi-functional, flexible and adaptive in order to meet changing community and crop production needs.
Bagua aims to meet the growing demands of locally produced food by producing nutritious food in a sustainable way. Beyond food production, the goal of Bagua is to build strong, connected and healthy communities. Bagua will strengthen and bring back Chinese traditional agriculture into the urban environment through connecting the local community to where their food comes from.
What are the main functions of the building?
First of all, Bagua is intended to provide fresh, healthy and nutritious food to the city dwellers and tourists. There will be the possibility to enjoy the freshly produced food at the 0km restaurant and tea house. The food will also be sold in the onsite market, to local restaurants and companies in Dongguan and delivered at home. Secondly, there will be a health center in which both traditional Chinese medicine (traditional Chinese herbs and teas grown in the greenhouse) and healthy activities will be offered to address health issues in the local community. Activities will focus on both physical and mental health, for example yoga, relaxation sessions and horticultural therapy. Thirdly, Bagua will contribute to building healthy communities by providing educational workshops to visitors, surrounding companies and universities. The workshops will focus on nutrition, cooking, gardening, composting and farming. The farm will also provide multi-functional spaces to be rented out for local businesses, art and music projects. Community cohesion will be improved through these different activities organized and the presence of community spaces and a community garden. Finally, Bagua will be a place to unwind and enjoy the surroundings, be connected to nature as well as to fellow visitors.