Hong Kong relies on over 90% imported fresh produce, creating severe food supply vulnerability, while high-rise commercial buildings consume massive electricity and generate substantial carbon emissions. This interdisciplinary project develops an integrated building facade ecosystem combining Façade-Integrated Photovoltaics (FIPV), Vertical Greenery Systems (VGS), and modular vertical edible crop layers to address food security, renewable energy generation, urban cooling, and stormwater management simultaneously.
Built upon ECF-funded integrated facade design frameworks, the system creates a circular urban farming infrastructure:
FIPV panels generate on-site clean energy to power hydroponic/aeroponic grow lights, environmental sensors and automated irrigation;
Multi-layer vertical greenery delivers passive microclimate cooling, thermal insulation and rainwater retention to cut building energy load;
Subtropical-adapted leafy greens, herbs and fruiting crops are cultivated via recirculating rainwater irrigation to enable local urban food production;
Modular facade panel prototypes are designed with unified structural, piping and sensing subsystems for mass deployment on Hong Kong high-rises.
Students will build a pilot-scale physical facade module, run energy-yield and crop-growth simulation, and measure real-world performance metrics including food output, power generation, cooling efficiency and stormwater retention capacity. The outcome provides a replicable low-carbon urban farming solution for dense Hong Kong residential and commercial towers.