5. Community Garden and Housing

USC: Fall 2022

Fare Nixon

The site the class was working with was once a Oil Extraction Location, situated off of Jefferson near USC.

Throughout the semester the class was tasked with using different types of remediation for the soil to be better than base level remediation standards.

Holding an impromptu Community Engagement allowed for me to learn more about the community members wants in regards to the question I proposed in regards to a community garden and community kitchen.

Finally creating a planting plan and Harvest Calendar allowed for me to create programmatic recipe gathering plans.

The site is located on a previous Oil Dilling Site, which lead to research on the ways of re-mediating the soil. Given the hopes for the site the safest form of remediation that will last for generations is a combination of Thermal In-Situ Remediation and Phyto Remediation. Thermal In-Situ Remediation allows for 100’ deep remediation that can break down the residual chemical toxins in the soil

Thermal Remediation Diagram

Sketch Vegetation Design

Crop Planting Plan

Housing Typology

Oil Well Testing

Vegetable Beds and Cooking Area

Harvest Gathering table and Main Path

Community engagement allowed for me to collect recipes from people. While talking with people they were excited to share recipes but also expressed how they would love a community garden that they could learn to cook together or to share recipes and create a network.

I created a crop harvest calender to help understand when pants are at peak yield or when to anticipate the right time to harvest.

It can help guide residents and community members that are beginning to learn how to grow crops when to expect to harvest.

Crop Harvest Seasonality Calender

These two plans help to demonstrate where specific ingredients are located to make a recipe that has been shared by community members.

The plan on the left shows one of the many paths that can be taken to collect the ingredients to make Nopales. All the plants are highlighted to show the location of all the ingredients, as well as the many stops that can be made while gathering the ingredients. The plan on the right show the extra optional ingredients that can be collected to add more to the Nopales Recipe.