Self-sufficient Exchange (2025) by Zhiwen Guan is a utopian urban intervention proposing a self-sufficient, communal food-exchange system to address the inequalities and ecological harms of industrialized monoculture agriculture.
Situated in Manhattan’s Financial District, the project reimagines high-rise architecture as a framework for sustainable, equitable food production and distribution. Responding to the environmental damage caused by mass-produced food—contamination from pesticides, soil degradation—the tower leverages modular, gridded units to integrate hydroponic farming, residential spaces, and communal exchange hubs.
Unlike traditional horizontal farming, the vertical system prioritizes urban adaptability, stacking productive landscapes within the city. Modular clusters act as self-sufficient neighborhoods where residents cultivate diverse crops, fostering both food justice and ecological resilience, and offering a prototype for cities to reconcile density with sustainability.
