This tree-shaped vertical farm can provide 24 acres of crops to the surrounding city

The Urban Sky Farm is built like a tree, covered in decks where the leaves would be.   On these decks are plants, crops and even space for trees.  The entire building was conceptualized to create a huge growing space for crops, providing 24 acres of food to the surrounding city while beautifying the area.

Many vertical farms look like boxy buildings or warehouses.  The Urban Sky Farm, however, nails aesthetics to the wall in its awesomeness.

"Our version of the vertical farm was intended to become an independent, open-to-air structure which would be purely focusing on farming activities and sustainable functions such as generating renewable energy and performing air, and water filtration," say architects Steve Lee and See Yoon Park.

In the center, mimicking the trunk, is an indoor, hydroponic farm for greens that utilizes solar panels and wind turbines on the roof.  In addition to these sustainable energy sources, the building is designed to capture and filter rainwater, using it to feed the plants.  The water is then returned to a nearby stream.

The architects envision the project in the middle of downtown Seoul, South Korea. "It seemed to be an ideal place to test out our prototype since the specific area is very dense and highly active and has been suffering for a long time by all sorts of environmental problems resulting from rapid urbanization," say Lee and Park.

"With the support of hydroponic farming technology, the space could efficiently host more than 5,000 fruit trees," the architects explain. "Vertical farming is more than an issue of economical feasibility, since it can provide more trees than average urban parks, helping resolve urban environmental issues such as air pollution, water run-off and heat island effects, and bringing back balance to the urban ecology."

This awesome building also doubles as a community gardens, park space, and farmers market, supplying legit fruit and vegetables to a city that needs to cut the cost of produce.  Currently, apples can cost upwards of $20!

"We believe there will be more attention and discussions of vertical farms as the 2015 Milan Expo approaches, and we hope the Urban Skyfarm can become part of the discussion as a prototype proposal," say Lee and Park. "Vertical farming really is not only a great solution to future food shortage problems but a great strategy to address many environmental problems resulting from urbanization."