June 22, 2020

'Floating' chicken farm to be set up in Rotterdam, Netherlands

An innovative design of a 'floating' chicken and cress farm, which will be built alongside an existing waterborne dairy farm in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has been unveiled by an architecture studio, Dezeen reported.

Goldsmith's design, called the Floating Farm Poultry, is an evolution of the company's floating dairy farm and shares several similar ideas for city-based farming which is very accessible for consumers.

"(The farm) aims to produce, package and distribute a wide variety of agricultural goods from inside the city, close to consumers," said Wesley Leeman, co-founder of Goldsmith.

The farm could house 7,000 hens that will be arranged vertically, with two storeys above the water's surface and one below within the concrete pontoons.

Chickens would be housed on the top floor, while the LED-powered cress farm would be located in the submerged basement and processing areas for eggs and cress in the floor between.

According to Leeman, the floating farm will be an opposite to traditional farms that are "larger, mostly mono-functional, horizontal structures outside the city - all for economic reasons." He explained the facility will "combine various functions - chickens and a cress farm with processing and packaging - in a relatively small volume, inside the city."

Animal welfare has been prioritised in the design of the farm. The area that would hold the chickens is covered in a translucent polycarbonate skin with triangular glass windows to give the animals natural light. It is topped with a steel frame supporting photovoltaic (PV) panels that will provide power for the farm and shade for the chickens.

"The 'day areas' are designed as completely translucent so, although indoors, the chickens live in a much more pleasant space than most traditional farms that have only 3% daylight and simulate day/night time with lamps," Leeman explained. "Next to that, they have a view through a series of triangular windows in the facade, and get shelter from the sun – very important – from the PV panels above the roof that work as a sun screen."

Goldsmith designed Floating Farm Poultry for the Floating Farm Holding company, which already operates the floating dairy farm in the Merwehaven harbour area of Rotterdam.

The company intends to build the chicken farm alongside the existing building as part of a planned floating "foodstrip".

- Dezeen