CANTINE ZERO

A Typological Prototype for Integrated Urban Food Infrastructure

CANTINE ZERO is an autonomous architectural prototype that integrates food production, energy systems, and gastronomy within a single compact urban structure. Conceived as a hybrid between vertical farm and chef-led restaurant, the project proposes a new typology in which architecture actively produces sustenance rather than merely hosting consumption.

Developed on a footprint of approximately 81 m² and expanded vertically to achieve nearly 800 m² of cultivation area, the building operates as a high-efficiency agro-urban system. A 12-meter-high, ventilated greenhouse structure enables year-round hydroponic cultivation under controlled climatic conditions. The restaurant, located directly beneath the cultivation levels, functions with a reservation-based lunch service, offering menus determined by the daily harvest. The building is designed to operate off-grid through integrated photovoltaic systems, battery storage, and seasonal thermal accumulation, eliminating reliance on external energy infrastructure.

CANTINE ZERO is not a technological accessory added to a conventional restaurant; it is a redefinition of the restaurant typology itself. In doing so, it directly aligns with the three pillars of Paskalev Visionary Workshop (PVW).

Food Production and Habitation

CANTINE ZERO embodies the principle of “Distance Zero” by collapsing the spatial separation between production and consumption. The traditional food chain—cultivation, storage, transportation, distribution—is replaced by vertical proximity. Food is harvested hours before service, eliminating logistics, reducing waste, and redefining freshness as a spatial condition rather than a marketing claim.

The project demonstrates how food production can be reintegrated into dense urban fabric without horizontal land expansion. It transforms the building into a productive organism and repositions gastronomy as a form of urban agriculture.

Infrastructure and Architecture

In conventional urban systems, energy, food supply, and environmental control operate as externalized infrastructures. CANTINE ZERO internalizes these systems within architectural form. Energy is generated on-site through photovoltaic arrays and stored through battery and seasonal thermal systems. Water and nutrients circulate within closed hydroponic loops. Climatic control is embedded into the greenhouse envelope.

Thus, infrastructure ceases to be invisible and external; it becomes spatial, legible, and integral to architectural expression. The building functions as an infrastructural condenser, merging environmental systems and public program into a single coherent entity.

Nature and Urban Life

Rather than positioning nature as decorative or peripheral, CANTINE ZERO embeds productive ecology within the urban core. The vertical greenhouse is not a symbolic green façade but a functioning ecosystem. By stacking cultivation layers within a compact footprint, the project reconciles density with productivity.

This model suggests a new urban morphology in which buildings contribute directly to food resilience and environmental balance. It redefines sustainability as a typological condition, not a technological add-on.