E/Ye Design (Ellinger Yehia Architects, LLC), founded in 2002 by Associate Professor of Architecture Jefferson Ellinger and Nona Yehia, has designed one of the first vertical greenhouses in the United States. The 13,500-square foot “Vertical Harvest” greenhouse, currently under construction in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has an innovative three-story design that will allow the production equivalent of a five-acre farm. Construction is scheduled to be complete in January 2016.
The greenhouse sits on a small 150-by-30-foot plot of public land next to a parking garage. Its unique three-floor design uses a conveyor belt system to rotate the plants and maximize sun exposure, increasing the number of plants that can be grown. A hydroponic greenhouse, it will operate year-round and produce tomatoes, herbs, and microgreens.
Vertical farming has been gaining popularity since the 2010 publication of “The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century,” and there are now more than 20 vertical farming projects under way in the United States. But many of those farms rely solely on artificial lighting, rather than natural sunlight, to nourish the crops. While Vertical Harvest of Jackson Hole will use some artificial lighting, the primary light source will be the sun.
The E/Ye Design project has received broad media attention, including articles in The Atlantic’s “CityLab” and inclusion in the Daily Secret’s “The 8 Wonders of the Design World.”
In his research, teaching and professional design work, Ellinger specializes in sustainable design technique as applied to the discipline of architecture. E/Ye Design projects investigate the intersection of architecture, landscape and sustainability through an understanding of the interrelationships among form, material and flow.