OUT / in / FRONTlandscape leading

The Landscape Architecture Professional Advisory Council (PAC)

UrbanAgriculture

SolutionsBiohabitats

LANDO AND ASSOCIATES

landscape architecture

Perspective: Looking NW in Summer

[NPK]housePOLYCARBONATE GLAZING (6:12 PITCH ELIMINATES CONDENSATION)

SOLAR COLLECTORS

LOUVER (AIR INTAKE)

RAINWATER FIRST FLUSH DEVICE

SECURITY FENCE ALLOWS DOOR TO SHADE IN SUMMER

STRAW BLANKET FOR SEASONAL SHADING 1

5

4

3

2

6

A MODULAR GREENHOUSE TO MEET

THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

The goal of [NPK]house is to achieve an extended 3-season harvest with in-ground plantings that meet the Living Building Challenge. The winning designed by Lando and Associates, landscape architecture for the International living Future Institute 2013 competition, the [NPK]house is fund raising for development sites in Snohomish County, Washington.

The green house is a unique culmination of proven technologies (solar, compost and heating) and ‘natural building’ greenhouse designs developed over the past 30 years from Rutgers University, The New Alchemy and rural China. The integrated systems have been advanced with the use of modern equipment, facilities engineering and cutting-edge production methods.

The greenhouse anticipates that the program and living building challenge goals will be exceeded and it will be able to achieve a full-time, 4-season plant production with a regular addition of 1000 yd3 compostable biomass to add latent heat back into our soil heat bank. Key to this success is a vessel composting system which is a continually rotating cylinder that circulates biomass and quickly turns it into compost. Although the vessel composter produces heat which is transferred to the ground, the real reward of the system is achieved by capturing the composting by-products of: water vapor, carbon dioxide and nitrite.

By adding a composting vessel to the system, we process the estimated 150 tons of biomass that the facility will likely produce in one year, and inject this heat, water, carbon dioxide and eventually nitrogen back into the food producing soil. The greenhouse applies heat to the root systems from the warm greenhouse air and the vessel composter, and once this air meets the cooler soil, it condensates and starts the dramatic exchange of water, carbon and nitrite into essential growing ingredients.

More significantly, by capturing the compost’s water through vapor, we calculate that our greenhouse would retain adequate moisture level in the soil to eliminate irrigation for certain crops. If this is achieved, our greenhouse could maintain water independence and increase production levels and floor space by 35%! This estimate is critical because water is commonly the greatest limitation for the greenhouse.

We are currently capturing 100% of the rainfall off of the 3000 ft2 roof and transferring it to cisterns. The water is then distributed as a non-potable supply to the plants by a drip irrigation system.

Our toileting system includes a waterless composting toilet and urine collection system. Composting huminure will not be re-introduced into the greenhouse, but would likely be utilized somewhere near-by as allowed by the local jurisdiction. Our composting toilet will divert urine into storage containers to be properly aged and then mixed as fertilizer and applied into our subsurface irrigation system. By incorporating these waterless solutions, our water use is greatly reduced and it allows our building to be water independent.

2

2

19

20

5

22 24

16

13

15

12

Perspective: Looking SW in Summer

DOOR ACTS AS SHADING AND COOL AIR INTAKE DURING THE SUMMER

NATURAL VENTILATION

HORTICULTURAL 'CRAWLER' PREVENTS INJURY, 135% GREATER YIELD DUE TO

HARVESTING EFFIENCY AND THE ELIMINATION OF WALKING ALLEYS. REDUCED

INJURIES AND STRESS ALSO INCREASES YIELD FROM A HEALTHY AND HAPPY

LABOR FORCE.

'PUBLIC' URINAL TO INCREASE URINE FERTILIZER CAPACITY

SHOU-SUGI BAN (CHARRED WOOD) SIDING 7

11

10

9

8

SECTION: NET-ZERO NUTRIENTS

SECTION: NET-ZERO ENERGY / WATER

23

WARM AIR IS COLLECTED IN THE RIDGELINE OF THE [NPK]HOUSE AND SLOWLY

CIRCULATED BELOW PLANTINGS BEDS INTO 6” OF WASHED AGGREGATE

THROUGH A LARGE MANIFOLD COMPOSED OF CULTECH FSCX2 CHAMBERS.

A VESSEL COMPOSTING UNIT WILL CONTRIBUTE CONTINUAL WARM AIR LATENT

WITH CO2, NITRITES, AND WATER VAPOR TO THE BELOW GRADE MANIFOLD.

THE MANIFOLD OF STORMTECH A-200 WILL PROVIDE A CRITICAL AIR/HEAT

TRANSFER RELEASING THE HEAT FROM THE [NPK]HOUSE IN THE FORM OF WATER

CONDENSATION. THE CONDENSATE WILL PROVIDE CONSTANT MOISTURE TO

THE SOIL IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING THE CATALYST FOR CARBON RELEASE AND

NITRITE-TO-NITRATE CHEMICAL TRANSFER FOR PLANT AND SOIL HEALTH.

AIR IS RECIRCULATED BACK TO THE GREENHOUSE RIDGE TO RESTART THE PROCESS.

SOLAR COLLECTORS (PV AND HYDRO) ON ROOFTOP (NOT SHOWN)18

22

21

20

19

NATURAL VENTITLATION WILL COOL THE GREENHOUSE BY UTILIZING THE STACK

EFFECT AND AIDED BY AIR INTAKE FANS DURING PEAK SEASONAL TEMPERATURES.

URINE IS STORED BELOW GROUND IN ONE OF FOUR 6” DIAMETER HDPE PIPES.

EACH STORAGE PIPE IS USED QUARTERLY IN A ROTATING FASHION.

FOLLOWING SIX MONTHS OF STORAGE, THE URINE IS CONSIDERED STERILE AND

ABLE TO BE USED AS LIQUID FERTILIZER FOR THE [NPK]HOUSE CROPS, MIXING

WATER TO URINE IN A 6:1 RATIO.

A HAND PUMP IS USED TO TRANSFER STERILE URINE TO A 55-GALLON MIXING TANK.

AN OPTIONAL PUBLIC URINAL HAS BEEN PROPOSED TO INCREASE COLLECTION OF

THIS VALUABLE RESOURCE. THE PUBLIC URINAL WOULD DRAIN INTO THE EXISTING

COLLECTION SYSTEM. (NOT SHOWN IN DIAGRAM).

COMPOSTING TOILET DIVERTS URINE FROM A TEMPORARY STORAGE

COMPARTMENT TO AN ADJACENT COMPOSTING MAINTENANCE VAULT.

12

16

15

14

13

CISTERNS DOUBLE AS FOOTINGS AND ARE TOPPED / FACED FOR

FOOD PRODUCTION17

THE CLAY PLASTER WALL ABSORBS HEAT FROM WINTER SUN’S LOW

SUN ANGLE TO HELP DECREASE THE DEMAND FOR SOALR & PV

HEATING DURING THE WINTER

24

10

17

11

10

2

8 7 7

9

6 11

73

1

2

5

4

POLYCARBONATE GLAZING

2

SHOU-SUGI BAN (CHARRED WOOD) SIDING

7

STRAW BLANKET FOR SHADING

1

HORTICULTURAL CRAWLER

10

HORTICULTURAL CRAWLER

10

EARTHEN PLASTER WALL

24

AIT TRANSFER CHAMBERS

21

NATURAL VINING PLANT PRODUCTION

17

SOIL BASED LIVING WALL

17

21

18

23

23

5

175

RAINWATER IS COLLECTED FROM ROOF AND PV PANELS,

FILERED THROUGH LARGE PARTICULATE FILTERS AND STORED

IN CITERSNS. WATER IS DISTRIBUTED BY PEX TUBING AND

IRRIGATION HDPE DRIP TAPE. POTABLE WATER IS FILTERED

AND UV TREATED

5

17

3

2