FEASIBILITY OF SELF- SUFFICIENCY FARMING ON HDB FACADE IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Singapore food security and increasing global demand for food is rising at a rate we cannot sustain in future and additional means of farming have to be explored in order to feed this demand. Singapore as an urban developed city is used to explore the potential or urban farming in high rise buildings. This thesis attempts to determine if tropical crops can be farmed on a plug-in unit retro-fitted on the façade of HDB to feed the demand of leafy vegetables in Singapore. A series of plug-in farming system was designed as a means of bringing food production into the built using various parameters to determine the design performance. Three HDB typologies were used to examine the potential and limitation of various plug-in devices. The design of the window unit is founded in precedent research on methods of plant growth in urban environments and systems for growing food in small and efficient ways. The results proofed that it is possible to create an ideal plant growth environment within a building assembly for use as a food production method for building inhabitants. Recommendations are suggest for future development of Housing that wish to incorporated urban farming components into the design.