Thammasat University in Bangkok, considered one of the oldest in Thailand, has gained recent fame: Asia’s largest urban rooftop farm.
The 7,000-square-meter space mimics rice terraces within the north of the country and will help reduce a number of the effects of climate change, resembling frequent flooding, said Kotchakorn Voraakhom, the landscape architect behind the project Bangkok post office.
“We tend to distinguish between buildings and green spaces, but green spaces can be part of building designs in cities like Bangkok, which has little green space,” said Ms. Kotchakorn, chief executive and founding father of Landprocess.
With her company Land processVoraakhom designed a brand new green roof on the Rangsit campus of Thammasat University, about 40 km north of central Bangkok. Bangkok is incredibly vulnerable to catastrophic flooding – in accordance with the World Bank, almost 40 percent of the river delta city could possibly be flooded annually by 2030, a situation made much worse by paved surfaces and intensifying rainy seasons.
The facility features a flood water management system in addition to Asia’s largest organic rooftop farm. “We combined the principles of modern landscape architecture with traditional agricultural knowledge to create a Swiss army knife of environmental solutions that integrate water management, green energy, green public space and more,” says Ms. Kotchakorn SHAKE.
Thammasat University’s rooftop farm in Rangsit, about 40 km from central Bangkok, is open to anyone who desires to grow rice, vegetables and herbs, said Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, deputy vector on the university.
“Thailand is an agricultural society, but in cities we’re cut off from the source of our food. Thanks to rooftop farms, we may improve food security in cities,” he said.
With greater than two-thirds of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050, in accordance with the United Nations, urban agriculture could possibly be crucial.
As climate threats increase, rooftop farms will now not be a novelty, said Ms. Kotchakorn, who was named in last month’s Time magazine’s inaugural “100 Next” list of rising stars..
“The opportunities to create new green spaces in cities are limited,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Urban rooftop farms are an easy and effective climate solution and should be the norm.”
