Self-sustaining Vertical Farm Model

I am both designing and creating a "pod" like contraption in which can create its own produce, lower CO2 emissons, be sefl-sustaining, save world hunger, even act as a tourist atraction and help heal the planet with more greenery/ foliage.

For this, I have used:

Pencil/ ruler/ compass.

saw/ power drill/ stanley knife/ glue gun/ sand paper

plastic straw/ old water clear jug/ fake(or real if you want to try and make it realy work) plants/ foam boards/ wooden dowels/ clear acrylic sheets.

CAD= Onshape

I first started by searching up world problems and souloutions, and I came accross vertical farmimg which is quite interesting in how it can tackle all these problems in one building but i wanted to make it accessable to all people judging by the fact that it is quite expensive to set up. So first I started by creating designs and searched up how this whole idea works (to the best of my ability):

-Aeroponic/ Hydroponic plants are used as they do not require soil to grow in, but their roots are submerged almost in the water.

-Vertical wind turbine pulls in air ( CO2 mainly) into the pod, whilst being powered by huge solar panels on the sides.

-Rain water is collected via a funnel into a pipeline to the water resovoir.

-This rain water is then pumped up by the water pumps powered by the solar panels.

-Rain water is then sprayed into the plants via the water pump up the pipeline.

-Special lights meet the needs of a plant and give light energy to it so that it can carry out photosynthesis and then... GROW big so we can harvest it.

After this I realised that this one creation can tackle multiple problems all simultainously (5 to be exact) which is a realy good base for this project.

(the first 2 attached pictures, I have aquired from the internet and are not mine- please note that it is only for research purposes and I am not taking it for my own)

I then started thinking of how I would almost replicate it for both a huge city and mainly a home/ village, and then I started stating how it can help the world, be feasable and overall a good investment, I added all the required machinery like a fan, solar panels, etc. However, I then continued adding my own touch almost with like a top solar panel instead of them on the sides and an entire lift system.

I started by creating a VERY brief CAD model using Onshape as my CAD, I did this by starting with a sketch of 1 half of the whole "POD" and then revolving it all round at a 180 degrees- this is so that you can see the piping and flooring on the inside istead of just a full replica of my actual old water jug, which would be the case at a revoloutionn of 360 degrees.

Sadly Onshape is not compatible with the embed url feature so i have just put the link below for you to vi:

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/9a76be9341fef60e60bc116b/w/20e845f193fa7423dc8e5925/e/35335d4539c7205b78d102a3?renderMode=0&uiState=6a26f32eaec4130e12ccd6b6

-I started by using that old water jug which i have been writing up about all this time and saw of the bottom, then drill a hole through the centre with a power drill- base done.

-I used a stanley knife and compass to measure/ cut out the size of the flooring in circles on a foam board and sanded them down to desired smoothness, I would then proceed by drilling the holes for the straw to fit in with the power drill- flooring/ (start of the piping) done.

-Then I used a hot glue gun to then glue some fake plants on to the floors in different patterns for some diversity- plants completed.

-Next, I assembeld all of the parts together by sliding/ gluing the straw/ pipe, foam circles/ floors in ascending order, and turned that sawed off bottom of the water jug upside down and use that as a ready made water resovoir.

-To create the fan, I drew 2 D shapes with longer/sharp points and then used a stanley knife to cut these and a dowel of desired length, then sanded them down with the sand paper. Then to assemble the fan I glue gun'd the D's on either side in an X shape.

-I slid a longer dowel rod down the pipeline/ straw and then sile the fan/ dowel rod ontop of that rod so that the fan can be free spinning and almost functional.

-Then on the top, I used a stanley knife to cut out the solar panels on the foam board and then glue gun'd them onto a circular ring to the top of the pod as I belived that the solar panels would absorb more sunlight if they were actually facing the suns directions from all angles.

-Lastly I thought, why not add a lift to the side so that if the POD is at its maximum size then people can access it at such high altitudes- to create this, I cut out a L shape of foam and then created a base for the lift which acted as a base for the whole model itself, then continued to use clear acrylic panels to give the impression of a glass elevator (it also does slide up and down through its elevator shaft).

I realy think that in the end, it turned out to my liking as it looks aesthetically modern and stunning. It unsuprisingly looks like a farmimg "pod"- which is its main purpose, it can serve as a source of flora/greenery, tourist attraction which can increase the GNI of a country helping stabalize the economy, a self- sustainable farming unit to help tackle hunger/ food shortages, greenery has proved research in helping clear the mind of those at stress which is most of the world so this great beacon of green can help tackle that aswell, and lastly serve as an air purifier almost as it would be utilizing the CO2 in the atmosphere and converting it back into breathable clean air. And mainly although it is not functional (apart from the fan), it is a great model of architecture and engineering that I hope to see being accomplished in "MY DREAM OF A BETTER WORLD".