How many miles does your lettuce have?

How many miles does your lettuce have? How about your cucumbers, peppers or tomatoes? These may seem like odd questions, but with gas prices rising and world oil production peaking, they are more relevant than ever. Here in Denver, where we typically see 12-15in of precipitation in a year, most of the produce we see can come from thousands of miles away.

English cucumbers from Mexico? Irony aside, the answer is "yes."

Brightfarms, a new company based out of New York City, may have the solution. Specializing in greenhouses, Brightfarms hopes to bring locally grown produce to your local grocery store rooftop . The above ground greenhouses, which could be the size of your local supermarket, will produce all of the staple vegetables you would find in your local store without using any extra land. Lettuce, bell peppers, hot peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, varieties of leafy greens, and multitudes of herbs are all included. The produce is completely organic, can be grown year-round, and will use 95% less water compared with a standard farm. The vegetables will also remain fresher for longer as they do not have to endure vast shipping distances. This will all be done without turning on a fossil-fuel powered engine and therefore, prices will not be tied to world-wide oil prices.

photo credit: http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/topics/food-dining/hyper-local-produce-this-manhattan-company-wants-supermarkets-to-raise-on-the-roof/

Sounds great right? It gets even better...

Brightfarms also aims to build their greenhouses on large-scale housing projects. For example, their Forest Houses garden has added a 10,000 square foot greenhouse to the top of a low-income housing project.  The greenhouse uses leftover heat from the building and collected rainwater to sustain the produce and will provide the annual vegetable needs for over 4500 people. For many low income neighborhoods, especially this one in the South Bronx, high produce prices leaves many without their daily vegetable needs. This project aims to fix this situation by providing fresh and affordable produce to thousands.

   photo credit: http://www.good.is/post/new-company-brings-produce-from-the-roof-to-the-supermarket-aisle/


While they are definitely not the only answer to stabilizing food prices, Brightfarms has created a wonderful business plan and will surely help thousands of people eat healthier. Lets hope the idea catches on and rooftop greenhouses become more common. Then, when you ask yourself "how many miles does this lettuce have?"

... you can answer "ZERO!"



For additional information check out www.brightfarms.com

Check out Venture Architecture's website here

3rd Annual Architecture + Design Film Series

Brothers and sisters in design, try and find some time in your busy schedules this fall for the 3rd Annual Architecture + Design Film Series at the Denver Film Center. The series will run September 8th to October 1st, showing 9 different documentary films on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons at the Center's relatively new digs on Colfax. Single show tickets are available or series passes can be purchased at the Denver Film Society website. In light of the recent controversy over the Harmon Hotel in Las Vegas, one film that may be of particular interest is "How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?" showing on opening night. 

I walked The High Line park and all my office got was this stupid blog post.

While walking The High Line in Manhattan, one of my strolling companions said she was shocked to discover the cost to construct the park. Most sources cite it at about $172 million dollars, with $130 million coming from the city of New York and another $20 million from federal sources. The non-profit Friends of the High Line organization raised an additional $44 million dollars and still encourages supporters of the park to become members or donate to fund its upkeep. The yearly maintenance of the park is estimated at $4.5 million, with $1 million of that coming from the city and the remainder to be contributed by the the Friends of the High Line. Indeed, we saw a swarm of employees or volunteers cleaning the walkway and tending to the plantings. Another in our group criticized the Chelsea neighborhood adjacent to The High Line as "bourge-tasia," only to later admit that, yes, he would love to have one of the stylish modern lofts hovering over the park. 

Say what you like about the cost to build and maintain the park, the gentrifying effect on the neighborhood, the tripping danger of the elegantly raised curbs in the walkway design, or perhaps even incoherence in the plan. So far the park has generated $2 billion in private investment, attracting major architectural talent like Jean Nouvel. An added 2.5 million square feet of condominiums, hotels and office buildings are in the planning stages and that investment number is expected to double. The park is also expected to bring in $900 million in tax revenues.

Good design really is good business. Or as we say at Venture Architecture, "Smart design. Successful venture." The High Line would not be so successful if there were not something uniquely compelling in the design created by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Of the over 4 million visitors to the park, only 30% of them are tourists. Over 150 public events have taken place or are planned for 2011 and 14 works of art have been installed on the park. Ultimately, The High Line has encouraged visitors and neighbors of the park 

to interact with their             

environment in a new way     

...and isn't that worth something?

Sarah Size, Still Life With Landscape (Model for a Habitat)

The Best of Denver

Visiting Denver any time soon? Do you happen to be crazy about architecture? Well you are in luck, the Front Range (Denver/Boulder area) has a wide variety of houses, offices and museums of architectural interest. The link below will give you the names and locations of a dozen of these buildings.

http://www.archdaily.com/119839/architecture-city-guide-denver/



Notably absent from the list is I.M. Pei's NCAR facility in Boulder. This iconic building is visible almost anywhere within the city and the views from the top are fantastic. Follow Table Mesa west and after leaving the neighborhoods, NCAR will be visible to your left. The structure goes in and out of view as the road winds 1000+ feet up the mountainside. If you are up for a challenge, cycling up to NCAR provides and different way to experience the building and you will be treated to a very fun descent!

Charles Haertling was also left off ArchDaily's list. This prolific architect designed mostly in Boulder, but his buildings can be found hidden throughout the region. Maybe his most unique project, the "Mushroom House," can be found in North Boulder. This small house looks like a patch of mushrooms and would be suitable for any Smurf family.

Don't forget to wander the streets of Denver (our headquarters). There are hundreds, if not thousands, of old Victorian homes spread throughout the city. Capitol Hill is a great walking neighborhood where is seems every other building is on Denver's Historic Preservation List. Plus, the weather is usually fantastic!

Golden High School

Here is a nice project located in nearby Golden, CO. There aren't many high schools with better scenery!

 http://www.archdaily.com/157626/golden-high-school-nac-architecture/#more-157626

Good news for real estate in Denver

A recent report from Integrated Asset Services revealed that while the median single-family house price in the metro area around Denver declined compared to  the same period in 2010, "it was up 1.8 percent from the first quarter of this year." Within the city of Denver itself the report showed a spike in prices "both year over year and between quarters." This is especially remarkable in light of statistics from the Colorado Division of Housing showing that foreclosure filings in Colorado declined in the second quarter, dropping almost 30 percent from the same period in 2010. 

Ikea: the tower defense game

Ikea just arrived in Denver with much fanfare and singing of choirs. (Our Senior Project Manager actually knows of a woman who serenaded the grand opening with her Swedish choir.) In honor of this mixed blessing, here's a recent post from apartmenttherapy.com.