OVERVIEW

The very foundation of the human transformation of Earth can be traced back to the beginning of farming - which compelled our nomadic ancestors to settle. As the human population rapidly approaches the 8 billion mark, agriculture returns to be one of the key issues of territorial development and its infrastructure boldly shapes immense surfaces of our planet. Management of agricultural territories is going to be one of the crucial battlefields for securing a sustainable existence on planet Earth.

Not only agriculture is growing, it’s also changing at incredible speed. Gone are the idyllic vistas of the rural landscape, replaced by infinite planes of high-tech greenhouses tended by remote-controlled drones.

The urgent needs of efficient agriculture are threatening the ecological balance of the entire planet. Simultaneously, those same territories are becoming more and more inaccessible to humans themselves - fenced off like hi-tech factories. Therefore, the current design of high-productive farms is not only depleting biological diversity, but also depriving us of the enjoyment of the landscape.

Can we imagine highly efficient infrastructure which also provides amenable spaces for visitors? Can multiple species coexist in harmony on an intensely farmed territory?

CHALLENGE

Under these conceptual premises we ask you to design a holistic proposal for a “farm” as a unit of territorial transformation. This may comprise enclosed structures for humans, machines, plants and animals, production of energy and spaces for storage, as well as the overall organization of open land.