Thomas Chung, Associate Professor of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has created an amazing project, “Floating Fields,” as a demonstration of a concept of aquaponics and algae cultivation, water filtering, and sustainable food production.
Chung installed this project at the Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) in Shenzhen site at the Dacheng Flour Mills, and it received the Biennale Organizing Committee Award.
This site, which once relied on fish ponds and water-based commerce, was left abandoned.
More About Floating Fields:
- Chung created open-air shallow rectangular partitions, some were used for growing fields and others were filled with water.
- The old waterway which was running along the former factory dormitory was transformed into a series of filtering ponds.
- Micro-algae and other water-cleansing plants are cultivated and harvested to enhance water purification and produce fish food.
- Chung made use of crushed and recycled parts of the concrete rubble to fill pathways between pods, platforms, and the seating structure.
- At Floating Fields, each pond can have two-way nutrient provision, waste water recycling, crop production, water purification, and landscape features.
- Floating Fields organized a Planting Festival, which gave an opportunity to over 100 city kids and their families to sow their own floating plots, catch fish and learn about duck, silkworm, and algae life-cycles.
