Brightfarms systems - new york, ny

Location: 211 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017

Project Description: Brightfarms is a leader in rooftop greenhouses and building integrated agriculture. Modern agriculture is the largest consumer of land and water on the planet. The “rooftop farm” concept allows for sustainable and healthy growth of food for local distributors. Farms are built on rooftops near distribution centers allowing for minimal carbon footprint to transport the food in addition to using existing building waste energy to sustain the farm environment.
 
Challenges: Existing rooftops usually contain many existing engineering systems which must be accounted for when building a new farm including:

• Existing rooftop units and fans: Relocating is expensive and problematic
• Existing vent piping: In most cases, the farm will cover these vents
• Existing roof drainage: In most cases, the farm structure will cover existing roof drains. Relocating drains is an issue since the new location may not be the low point of the roof.

• Develop concepts for relocating existing rooftop units (Concepts include moving units to top of new structures and extending ductwork through the farm. Additional concept developed for leaving units in place and building farm on a platform which will allow airflow through it’s bottom base for heat rejection on the units)
• Extend existing plumbing vent piping through the farm space to the top of the new structure.
• Design of a trench drain system has been proposed to collect rain water at the base of where the new structure attaches to the existing roof to eliminate the need for relocating existing roof drains and possibly re-pitching roof.