Canopea Home is a Solar-Powered Urban Habitat with a Vertical Farm by Rhône-Alpes for the European Solar Decathlon

While most of the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/inhabitat-is-looking-for-photographers-for-the-2012-european-solar-decathlon-in-madrid/">Solar Decathlon Europe 2012</a> projects we have featured so far focused on just one 75 square meter solar-powered dwelling, <a href="http://www.solardecathlon.fr/?page_id=164&amp;lang=en">Canopea</a> comprises a collective of small buildings that form a healthy green habitat in dense urban settings. Team Rhône-Alpes only built one prototype for the <a href="http://www.sdeurope.org/?page_id=779&amp;lang=en">collegiate design competition</a> that will be open to the public in Madrid beginning 14 September, 2012, but they will also introduce a concept that includes 69 of these compact solar-powered dwellings organized around a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/plantagon-breaks-ground-on-its-first-plantscraper-vertical-farm-in-sweden/">unifying vertical farm</a>.

Canopea is an urban habitat made up of several nano towers

The nanotowers are no taller than 10 stories

This image depicts the construction process of one 75 square meter of the unit

The Canopea has a roof of photovoltaic panels

Wood is the main material of choice for the team from France

All of the nanotowers are connected to a smart energy management program

Each story is its own house with 360 degree views of the surrounding city

69 dwellings come in three different sizes

A vertical garden provides a crucial collection to nature

The Canopea harvests solar energy like the tree canopy of a forest

This is definitely one of the most complex designs we have seen to date for the SDE 2012 competition

We're looking forward to seeing this ambitious urban intervention in person!