As demand for food, energy, and water (F.E.W.) resources increases (along with the global population), ensuring long-term sustainable provision represents a massive challenge—one that is expected to play out more dramatically in urban areas, where 75% of the world’s population will be living by 20501. Existing urban F.E.W. systems are intricately linked with the natural environment and the existing models of consumption. For example, up to 20% of a city’s electricity use is for transporting water, while more than 1,000 cubic meters of water may be consumed to produce 1 MWh of electricity depending on the methods used2. Food consumption contributes up to two-thirds of the water footprint of an urban area, while 35 million tons of food waste go to landfills every year in the U.S. alone, and nutrients from municipal wastewater discharge cause devastating algal blooms, reducing available water resources. Urban F.E.W. systems worldwide are under great physical, economic, and demographical stresses due to continuing population growth and urbanization, climate change, aging of the infrastructure, and extreme weather events.

Our 301 Studio is focused on the design and implementation of urban F.E.W. infrastructures grounded on the integration of contemporary technologies and environmental systems and their adaptation to a specific cultural, social, and material context. Using Rice University’s Martel Residential College in Houston as a testbed—and developed in collaboration with the prestigious engineering firm Arup - the studio explores sustainable design strategies to retrofit existing rooftop areas on residential buildings.