The Buzz Building
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Project by: Belatchew Arkitekter Labs
Challenge: Can we make cities self-sufficient in protein production through urban insect cultivation? Project description: We have reached the stage where farming can’t keep up with our global food needs, in particular our increasing demand for meat. The livestock industry uses 70% of the world’s agricultural land and accounts for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. Enormous tracts of rainforest are destroyed annually to cultivate soya to feed cattle and poultry. The Buzz Building proposes an alternative source of protein for city dwellers. Already eaten by over 2 billion people on a regular basis, insects are both high in protein and eat the by-products of agriculture that are currently discarded. They yield 9 times as much protein as cattle, for the same amount of feed. 1kg of cricket meat requires much less energy to produce and almost no water (1kg beef requires 2193 litres water) and can be cultivated at a much higher density than conventional livestock, with 80kg of cricket meat being generated per m 2 . Crickets are high in protein, low in fat and a great source of minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids. However, currently there is a lack of infrastructure for insect production. The Buzz Building concept uses roundabouts in Stockholm and Taipei to house buildings for the mating, hatching, maturing, harvesting and processing of enough crickets to satisfy the protein needs of each city, using over 60,000 tonnes of food waste from the city to feed them. |
Project phase: Design
Location: Vanadisplan, Stockholm, Sweden |
