Vertical Farm Institute

The Vertical Farm Institute (vfi) is a private research company based in Vienna, Austria, dedicated to developing new building typologies for urban vertical food production. It describes itself as a widely varied multidisciplinary team embedded in an international network around food production, bringing together architects, building engineers, plant physiologists, operators, suppliers and academia. The institute's stated mission is to develop architectural and urban solutions that enable year-round food production, treating the vertical farm building itself as a structural element of the urban ecosystem. In the vfi's own framing, a vertical farm is a controlled-environment-agriculture (CEA) related building typology whose functions and programme primarily focus on the urban food supply chain. The institute argues that contextualising this into architectural building typologies is essential, because a building is by definition the aesthetic and spatial organisation of functional and programmatic entities. This enables a critical analysis of the food supply chain and its material and energy streams, and the implementation of its structural entities into an existing building or urban district. Closing energy and resource streams thereby becomes a planning task, and principles or goals of the circular economy are assigned to design development in subsequent planning phases. The organisation began in 2016, initially organised as an association, and reports rapid growth of members. It works through feasibility studies, advising real estate developers, building owners and architects on implementing urban indoor food production entities in the heart of the city. It is a partner in several national and international research projects investigating implementation strategies to increase urban food production, including the EU Horizon 2020 project euPOLIS, for which it developed a remote-controlled demonstrator for indoor food production in full growth. Alongside research, the vfi develops dissemination and demonstration products. These include ALINA, described as a sculpture and mixed crop rotation system for museums, schools and lobbies, with variants such as PRIMALINEA (a dissemination sculpture for museums in Vienna, Dortmund and Granada) and an office-selection testing facility and quality-of-work enhancer. The institute also maintains an archive relating to the historic Ruthner Tower and 1970s irrigation practice, and engages in photosynthesis rate measurement as an indicator of carbon sequestration and plant energy. Its project portfolio includes VITALITY CITY, whose knowledge is presented as globally applicable and contributing to international efforts to mitigate climate change and build climate-resilient urban environments.

The Vertical Farm Institute began in 2016, initially organised as an association, according to its own account. It reports rapid growth of members from the outset. From this starting point it developed into a private research company fully dedicated to developing new building typologies for urban vertical food production, based in Vienna, Austria. The institute built its identity around a multidisciplinary approach. Its team and network span architects, building engineers, plant physiologists, operators, suppliers and academia, a spectrum of knowledge it considers essential to develop and implement building typologies for resilient cities. Its mission is to develop architectural and urban solutions to enable year-round food production. A central conceptual contribution of the vfi is its definition of the vertical farm as a CEA-related building typology whose functions and programme primarily focus on the urban food supply chain, with the building itself seen as a structural element of the urban ecosystem. The institute emphasises contextualisation to architectural building typologies, arguing that a building is by definition the aesthetic and spatial organisation of functional and programmatic entities. This framing allows a critical analysis of the food supply chain and its material and energy streams, and the implementation of its structural entities into an existing building or urban district. Closing energy and resource streams thereby becomes a planning task, and principles or goals of the circular economy are assigned to design development in subsequent planning phases. Over time the vfi became a partner in several national and international research projects investigating implementation strategies to increase urban food production. Among these is the EU Horizon 2020 project euPOLIS, for which the institute produced a remote-controlled demonstrator for indoor-food production in full growth. Its project portfolio also includes VITALITY CITY, whose generated knowledge is presented as globally applicable and as contributing to international efforts to mitigate climate change and to deliver a sustainable, climate-resilient future for urban environments. Alongside research and consulting, the institute developed dissemination and demonstration formats. ALINA is described as a sculpture and mixed crop rotation system for museums, schools and lobbies, with variants including PRIMALINEA, a dissemination sculpture for museums in Vienna, Dortmund and Granada, and an office-selection testing facility and quality-of-work enhancer. The vfi also maintains an archive relating to the historic Ruthner Tower and 1970s irrigation practice, and offers photosynthesis rate measurement, which it describes as one of the most important indicators for the sequestration of carbon and thus the energy of plants. In practical advisory work, the vfi conducts vertical farming feasibility studies, advising real estate developers, building owners and architects on implementing urban indoor food production entities in the heart of the city. Its public communications continue to present new projects and research outputs, such as the VITALITY CITY material dated November 2025.

• 2025

  VITALITY CITY project material is published on the institute's website (dated November 2025).

• 2016

  The Vertical Farm Institute is founded, initially organised as an association.

• The institute develops into a private research company dedicated to new building typologies for urban vertical food production in Vienna.

• vfi becomes a partner in national and international research projects on urban food production, including the EU Horizon 2020 project euPOLIS.

• ALINA dissemination formats are developed, including PRIMALINEA for museums in Vienna, Dortmund and Granada.

A private, multidisciplinary research institute positioning vertical farming as a new architectural building typology integrated into the urban ecosystem and circular economy.

• Vertical farming feasibility studies

  Advisory services for real estate developers, building owners and architects to implement urban indoor food production entities in the heart of the city.

• ALINA

  A sculpture and mixed crop rotation system for museums, schools and lobbies.

• PRIMALINEA

  A dissemination sculpture for museums in Vienna, Dortmund and Granada.

• Office selection testing facility

  A testing facility and quality-of-work enhancer.

• Photosynthesis rate measurement

  Measurement of photosynthesis rate as an indicator for carbon sequestration and plant energy.

• Ruthner Tower archive

  An archive relating to the historic Ruthner Tower and 1970s irrigation practice.

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2. 2About - Vertical Farm Instituteverticalfarminstitute.com
3. 3Vertical Farm Institute - Wikidatawikidata.org