URBAN FARMS BRIDGE WAR-TORN MOSUL

Architect Vincent Callebaut recently unveiled plans to rebuild war-torn Mosul as a sustainable, self-sufficient city. Callebaut’s proposal includes five bridges built with stalactite-inspired housing amid self-sustaining urban farms that run on solar power and advanced hydroponic systems.

After months of intense fighting, the Islamic State was finally pushed out of the Mosul in summer of 2017. The city had been occupied since 2014 and much of the urban areas have been destroyed over the years, including the beloved five bridges that span the Tigris River. Callebaut believes the bridges could be rebuilt as inhabited spaces covered in self-sustaining urban farms.

The architect submitted his design, 5 Farming Bridges, to a competition that sought potential designs and ideas to rebuild the city: “Rebuilding Iraq’s Liberated Areas: Mosul’s Housing”. The proposal features mountainous 3D-printed buildings covered with urban farms that would guarantee food independence while providing excellent thermal insulation.

The buildings on the bridges are inspired by the Islamic Muqarnas – ornamental vaults – and the homes are stacked in a vertically efficient manner. Wind chimneys would be installed in the new urban areas to provide cool natural air circulation using the thermal energy of the rivers. Solar water heaters would provide hot water thanks to hundreds of photovoltaic-clad pergolas.
The bridges’ many farms and orchards would be irrigated with water from the river. Grey water from the communities would be recycled and filtered by the plants in lagoon waterfalls that cascade off the bridges into the river below. Biomass composters would be used to fertilise the various suspended vegetable gardens, creating an amazing, self-sufficient urban oasis. iamge4