Rooftop commons
Every roof is a field. Grain, beans and a bench in the shade of a solar canopy.
foodshade
Sheet A.01 living systems, urban design
Grow a city that feeds itself
Solar punk street plans, modular towers and roofs that behave like meadows. Tap the plot to build a block, then drag the sun and watch it answer.
- Grow decks
- 0
- Solar sails
- 0
- Wind stacks
- 0
- Sun on sails
- 0%
An illustrative toy, not a forecast.
02 / Districts
District collage
quiet maximalist, Lisbon. Three kinds of street we keep coming back to.
Canal streets
Cool water runs the median. Bikes get the sun lane. Cars get the occasional errand.
watertransit
Repair yards
Open workshops on every third block. Tools on the wall and tea on the stove.
craftrepair
03 / Modules
The modular kit
The same four parts you just built with. They snap into blocks the way a garden snaps into season.
Grow deck
Soil trays with greywater loops and a view of the next block.
Solar sail
Wing panels that track the sun and feed the lift shaft.
Wind stack
Slim chimneys that pull a breeze through the whole tower.
Market slab
Shared kitchens and tool libraries on the ground floor.
04 / Site sheet
A typical block, on paper
- Roof area planted
- 60%
- Streets given to bikes and shade
- 2 of 3
- Walk to a creek or canal
- 8 min
- Workshops per district
- 4
Sample figures for a demo block, not a real project.
05 / Process
How a district plan grows
Walk the site
We map sun, wind, water and the routes people already take before drawing a line.
Sketch with neighbours
Open evenings with paper models, so the people who live there shape the block.
Model the day
Shadow studies for every season, so shade lands on streets and light lands on roofs.
Plant the first block
A pilot street goes in first. We measure, adjust, then grow the rest.
06 / Field note
What neighbours said
"They brought paper towers to our street meeting. By the end of the night the kids had planted a roof farm on the bus depot."
07 / Questions
Before we start
Do you work on existing neighbourhoods?
Mostly. Retrofits are where the gains are: roofs, parking and wide streets waiting for a second life.
Who do you work with?
Councils, housing co-ops, developers and community groups. Often a mix of all four on one block.
What does a first project look like?
A site walk, a sun and water study, and one pilot street that can be built quickly and measured.
Can you work remotely?
Early studies can be remote. Workshops with residents always happen on site.
08 / Contact
Bring us a block
Tell us about the street, the roofs and the people. We reply with a first sketch of questions.
Tomás FerreiraUrban ecologist and designer
Desk in Lisbon
Desk in Lisbon