Avon Food Lab Francesca Beltrame Design studio 4.2 2019
Acknowledgments
I want to thank very much Jayne Barlow for always keeping me inspired and believing in the ideas that represent my passion for architecture. I would also want to thank all my architecture friends for their great moral support and intellectual engagement throughout our studies together.
AGENDA CHAPTER 1 - AUTUMN / GERMINATION 1.0 Future Food systems 1.2 Circular economy 1.3 Vernacular growing systems 1.4 Sustainable food processes 1.5 Urban Agriculture in Bath
CHAPTER 2 - WINTER / GROWTH 2.1 Place 2.2 Program 2.3 Client 2.4 Guest
MANIFESTATION CHAPTER 3 - SPRING / FLOWERING 3.1 Walled Garden 3.2 Productive landscape 3.3 Photosynthesis / Bioclimatic design
CHAPTER 4 - SUMMER / HARVEST 4.1 Roots 4.2 Stem 4.3 Branches 4.5 Leaves
CHAPTER 5 - REFLECTIONS 5.1 Design Journey 5.2 Critical Reflections 5.3 Farewell
CHAPTER 1 -AUTUMN / GERMINATION
1.0 Future Food systems 1.2 Circular economy 1.3 Vernacular growing systems 1.4 Sustainable food processes
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1.0 FUTURE FOOD SYSTEMS
Most of us believe that its our transport or energy choices that cause the most harm to the environment. Whereas it’s our food system that creates the biggest impact. We need to change our way of life
from EGO
to ECO
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1.2 CIRCULAR ECONOMY
“Architecture becomes part of a discourse that makes no distinction between objects and products, buildings and landscape, sea and mountain, but which understands reality, and therefore the architectural project, as performing particles, thus entering into an empathetic understanding of a society in which human beings and Nature speak a common language, that of Particles Architecture.� Enric Ruiz Geli, ElBulli foundation site, Cloud 9 3D scan of data of the landscape of the site
Enric Ruiz Geli, It’s all about Particles, thesis, (2012)
To live in true environmental sustainability, our life style has to be retaught and a research into vernacular traditions and natural processes can give us clues for inspiring new societal arrangements that take into account every processes of our reality (photosynthesis, digestion, economy). Our survival instincts makes us food gathering communities therefore it is rooted in this arrangement that the possible solution to the contemporary food and climate crisis could be resolved. To sustain our finite resources we need to reduce the energy consumption of our activities and create an architecture that enables and supports these aims. Circular economy
Circular ecology
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1.3 VERNACULAR GROWING SYSTEMS
Elements of sustainable design are integral to vernacular architecture that have evolved over time using local materials and technology emerging from ambient natural and cultural environment creating optimum relationships between people and their place. Water meadows are simple landscape designs left to be populated by wild species, the pattern it created on the landscape demonstrates how passive design enriches our land. Similarly, heat wall in walled gardens recreate microclimates without disturbing the exsisting climate but simply experimenting the potential of emulating natural processes.
Water meadows
Heat wall agriculture
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1.4 SUSTAINABLE FOOD PROCESSES
All our reality is filtered through processes. Photosynthesis is the natural process that enables our life on earth. It is by investigating in different processes for foods that more local and seasonal eating habits and products can be rediscovered. “Diversified diets not only improve human health but benefit the environment through diversified production systems that encourage wildlife and more sustainable use of resources.� Peter Gregory, Research Advisor, Crops For the Future Fermentation, drying and preserving foods is changing the molecular composition of a raw materials into many more by products with different texture, smells and tastes. These practices have the potential to expand the possibilities of aliments of our daily life to be more local and seasonal. For instance, a fermented aliment harvested in summer can be later consumed in autumn with different texture, taste and smell properties instead of having that same product fresh but imported (high carbon footprint).
Architecture for food: Traditional smoke house
Drying fruits
Fermenting orange
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CHAPTER 2 - WINTER / GROWTH
2.1 Place 2.2 Grain 2.3 Neighbors 2.4 Clients and Funding 2.5 Users 2.6 Program
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6092
km
5821
km
k 4381
km 4604
m
km 3271
km 2975
km 3142
km
km 2359
km 2504 m k 2456
km 2070
2191
1610
km
E
Productive landscapes constellation: Mapping existing allotments in Bath 1:35000
km 1703
km
S
km 1910 m k 1859
1160
km 1340
m 729 k
10
m 865 k
408 km
W
N
2.1 PLACE
Site Plan 1:5000 5117 m2 of land 11
2.2 GRAIN
The site is located on the junction between Upper bristol road and Windsor Bridge. It is south facing and open to the river therefore it is in itself a very productive micro climate. In it’s current state it is dense in vegetation therefore the photosynthesis process is inherently part of the grain and particularity of the site.
Pedestrian access from river front
View from Windsor Bridge
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2.3 NEIGHBORS
Conversation with members of The Bath Organic Group during a site visit During a site visit I had the chance to speak about the benefits and potential of urban farming with members of the BOG in the neighboring allotment. Catherine, one of the volunteers working that day explained to me her passion for growing her own food and her disappointment in younger generations for their lack of involvement in such activities resulting in unhealthy eating habits. Our conversation during the tour she gave me around the site reinforced my interest in this kind of practice and conviction that Bath needs a place to celebrate and experiment further the potential of allotments and urban farming.
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2.4 CLIENT AND FUNDING
Clients The Bertinet Kitchen together with the Bath organic society are the clients of the Food Lab. Their collaboration will be a way of bringing two very different communities together through their shared passion for locally sourced food (Bath Organic Society) and slow food (traditional cooking). Therefore their collaboration will enable the Food Lab to specialize in Eco Gastronomy.
Funding through Bursaries The Food Lab will request funding for horticultural education and the development of the community gardening to the Royal Horticultural Society which offer Bursaries through private donation to promote gardening in the UK. The Food lab will also apply for subsidies and grants at the Government funding, which also offer guidance to growers in the fruit and vegetable sector.
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2.5 USERS
USER GROUP 1 & 2 / Guest Use the products of the Food Lab during workshops or attend for dining experience
USER GROUP 3 / Community Use the products from their own Allotments or urban farming during workshops
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2.6 PROGRAM
Producing
Processing
Composting
Consuming
PRODUCING
CONSUMING
1 GREEN HOUSE
3 SMOKE HOUSE
Level 1 Laboratory shop Hydroponics area Dutch Bucket system area Nursery workstation Toilets and storage Master Gardeners home (manager) 1.1 RAISED BEDS Water and composting station 1.2 FORAGING POCKETS
Level 1 Preparation kitchen counter Dining area Level -1 Hanging and Smoking area
PROCESSING
2 LABORATORY (Kitchens to prepare different processed products sold in the shop and used in the restaurant) Level 1 Baking and levitation Lab Preserving Lab Drying Lab Level -1 Fermentation Lab Services/Plant room/dark room storage
The Food Lab is a Laboratory that adopts the management of a circular economy in order to create a community based on a sustainable food systems. The project is therefore a mix-use Learning and Leisure facility. The Food Lab’s agenda is to create Awareness and Knowledge for the community of Bath through Production.
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4 EXTERNAL RESTAURANT Level 1 External Dining area (private) Preparation kitchen counter Level -1 External Dining area (public) Preparation kitchen counter
5 INTERNAL RESTAURANT Level 1 Preparation kitchen Wet area for cleaning Service toilets and storage Dining area Level -1 Cooking workshop
NUTRITION FACTS Areas per programs 5117 m2 Food Lab site
3382 m2 Garden Growing
525 m2 Green house Growing 102 m2 Hydroponic for 1 household=2.4 persons 1049 m2 Hydroponics =10 households 1049/525=2,001 Rows of hydroponics tubes worth 525m2 area
1210 m2 Building area 95 m2 Master Garden Home 350 m2 Laboratory 60 m2 Smoke House 200 m2 Dining external 160 m2 Dining internal 45 m2 Fish market 300 m2 Kitchen
Asparagus.......................
34
Beetroot........................
27
Broccoli.........................
34
Brussels sprouts................
34
Cabbage white..................
55
Cabbage red.....................
41
Carrots..........................
68
Celery...........................
14
Cauliflower.....................
27
Corn.............................
34
Courgette.......................
21
Cucumber......................
34
Fennel...........................
14
French beans...................
68
Garlic...........................
7
Leek.............................
14
Onion ..........................
55
Parsnip..........................
14
Peas .............................
21
Potatoes ........................
229
Radish ..........................
14
Round lettuce .................
68
Spinach ........................
21
Spring onion ...................
7
Squash ..........................
14
Swede ..........................
21
Tomatoes .......................
34
Turnips..........................
27
TOTAL ......................1049 m2
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CHAPTER 3 - SPRING / FLOWERING
3.1 Missing piece 3.2 Walled Garden 3.3 Productive landscape 3.4 Photosynthesis
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Evening in the water meadows
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3.1 MISSING PIECE
A-Connecting communities
The city of Bath has a strong allotment tradition, and its focusing in this feature that the Food Lab finds its place, as the connecting point of these communities, where the knowledge and pleasure of urban farming is shared and expanded.
Site section 1:2500
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Site 1:2000
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3.1 WALLED GARDEN
Green House Master gardener home
Entrance courtyard
Labs Shop and reception
Germination Nursery
Guest Toilets
Plant room and storage
Hydroponics Tomatoes culture Dutch bucket system
Drip system Hydroponics
Staff Toilets and storage
Food Laboratories Baking and levitation Lab
Cleaning station
Restaurant Interior Dining
Exterior Dining
Preparation Kitchen Preserving workshop
Exterior kitchen
Smoke house
Staff meeting table
Drying workshop
Fermentationworkshop
Preparation Kitchen 2
Cooking workshop Fish Market
BB
0 1
Street level plan 1:350 24
5
10
A-Hierarchy
Fermentation Storage
Plant room MVHR system
Fish Market
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Smoke house
Cooking workshop
River level plan 1:350
Plant room MVHR system
Smoke house storage and wet area
Storage exterior pergola
Plant room MVHR system
Plant room MVHR system
Fermentationworkshop Preparation Kitchen 2
Accommodating processes Extending the seasons Recreating an environment
The Support structures The Green House The Wall
Model 1. View over the site 2. View next to the green house
1
2 26
Model 1. Approach from the river 2. View from the facing river bank 3. Elevation roofs
1
3
2 27
B-The wall
The Food Lab’s architecture is a contemporary iteration of the traditional walled garden. This typology allows to protect the extremely fertile piece of land (due to its adjacency to the river) from the busy street while occupying the street as a monumental painting with views into the garden.
Protect
Inspire
“Is the presence of human beings on the planet sustainable?” Joaquin Vaqueros Palacio, The beauty of the Huge. Hydroelectric plant windows in Asturia, Spain
Composition
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B-Flows and movements
The walled garden has one main entrance to the private part of the program from Upper Bristol road.
Arrival
Staff route
The second access is the extension of the cycling path into a passerelle over the meadows that blur the edge between the river and the plot.
Guest route
People flow
The internal circulation of guest and staff will happen mainly within the landscape of raised beds, from the street downwards to the river side.
Timber frames primary structure
1
Plant flow
The nursing of crops is provided with a pulley system that overlays with the paths in between the raised beds to created a more direct movement of raw materials around the whole garden, to avoid taking away land from the plants.
Private 1 Domestic
Public
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C- In conversation with the river
The support structures of the walled garden are the eating or learning programs that support the production.
Produce
The activities are divided into different building to create a network of interactions and programs such as in a village. The composition is fragmented to include the landscape and the river in the architecture by creating in between spaces.
Process
“The formula architecture + landscape generally makes people think of a building which is located within specific surroundings. I have deliberately decided that I wish to treat both as equally important,” Junya Ishigami, Another Scale of Architecture, Kyoto, Seigensha Art Publishing, 2008 The roofs‘s double slope: they are designed to slope down with the topography and 18 degrees sideways to strategically cast shadows where needed for more fragile crops. (e.g. plants that need grow in shadow).
Blend with river
Light and shadow
1
2 30
3
Day as a Visitor in summer (Tuesday-Saturday)
Morning harverst workshop Morning Workshop in the Laboratory Lunch in the Exterior dining pavilion Evening Cooking class in the kitchen Dinner in the Interior dining pavilion
1:200 Short section 1. Restaurant Kitchen 2. Interior Dining 3. Exterior Dining 4. Smoke House 5. Laboratory
4
5 31
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Appoach from the facing river side
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B- Master Gardener
2F
The Food Lab will have one permanent inhabitant that will be the Master gardener. He will act as a manager and keeper of the land thus his home is placed as an object inside a separated piece of the green house to offer him his own orchard and privacy. The Master managers house will require north light for his bedroom and studio to avoid overheating and excessive glaze from the direct south light.
1F
Location GF
Division
1:500 House plan
House within a house
Light analysis
1:200 North-South Section
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B- The Production Laboratory
The Laboratory will produce the products later sold in the green house shop to support part of the Food Lab’s economy. The layout is an open space that transitions from areas of process to another. All the processes relate to the ethos of the Food Lab’s agenda: developing sustainable and healthier foods .
1 Baking
1
2 Preserving
2
3 Drying
3
4
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4 Fermenting
B- The Production Laboratory
Green House
Entrance courtyard
Labs Shop and reception
Germination Nursery
Guest Toilets
Plant room and storage
Hydroponics Tomatoes culture Dutch bucket system
Master gardener home
The layout of the Laboratory is done in sequence of processes as seen previously. Therefore the architecture operated in the principles of a servant serve layout. The main facilities for processing food happen in a corridor between the wall and the served spaces.
Drip system Hydroponics
Staff Toilets and storage
Food Laboratories Baking and levitation Lab
Cleaning station
Restaurant Interior Dining
Exterior Dining
Preparation Kitchen Preserving workshop
Exterior kitchen
Smoke house
Staff meeting table
Drying workshop
Fermentationworkshop
Preparation Kitchen 2
Cooking workshop
Served/Service
Activity tables
Storage and services
Fish Market 0 1
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5
10
View in the Fermenting Lab
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C- Dining Experience
Green House Master gardener home
Entrance courtyard
Labs Shop and reception
Germination Nursery
Guest Toilets
Plant room and storage
Hydroponics Tomatoes culture Dutch bucket system
Drip system Hydroponics
Staff Toilets and storage
Food Laboratories Baking and levitation Lab
Cleaning station
Restaurant Interior Dining
Exterior Dining
Private Exterior dining within the raised beds landscape Public
Private
Preparation Kitchen Preserving workshop
Exterior kitchen
Smoke house
External Kitchen over two floors accessible only for staff Staff meeting table
Fermentationworkshop
Preparation Kitchen 2
Cooking workshop
Public Exterior dining within the water meadows
Fish Market
Servant served
Drying workshop
Exterior dining within the river
0 1
38
5
10
View from the meadows over external dining pavilion
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C- Dining Experience
Awareness while consuming the food is key to the experience of the Food Lab. Every activity is part of the production cycle creating a network of programs and visual connections. The smoke house, fish market and fish harvest net sustain each other and only operate together.
Fermentation Storage
Plant room MVHR system
Smoke house
Plant room MVHR system
Smoke house storage and wet area
Storage exterior pergola
Plant room MVHR system
Plant room MVHR system
Fermentationworkshop
Preparation Kitchen 2
Cooking workshop
Object in the landscape
Fish Market
Visual connection product consumer
Harvest
Sell
Process
Eat 0 1
40
5
10
The fish is being prepared to be smoked during the morning
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3.2 PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPE A-Controlled Interior Environment
The first productive space of the project is a green house that will use hydroponics techniques such as Drip system in hanging glass tubes to maximize the area exposed to the sunlight and allow light to filter through the transparent material. The green house will accommodate a shop to sell products of the laboratory, and a workstation that during week days hosts workshops on plant nursing and the principles of hydroponic growing for School children and professionals.
Green House Master gardener home
Plant room and storage
Staff Toilets and storage
Seedling
Entrance courtyard
Labs Shop and reception
Germination Nursery
Guest Toilets
Hydroponics Tomatoes culture Dutch bucket system
Drip system Hydroponics
Medium grown plant
Fully grown
Food Laboratories Baking and levitation Lab
Cleaning station
Restaurant Interior Dining
Selling
Growing Exterior Dining
Preparation Kitchen Preserving workshop
Exterior kitchen
Smoke house
Staff meeting table
Drying workshop
Fermentationworkshop
Preparation Kitchen 2
Cooking workshop
Hydroponic installation
1. Soft plastic pipes for irrigation system 2. Glass tubes filled with water and nutrients 3. Metallic wire connections to purlin
Working principle of the Drip Hydroponic system Fish Market
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0 1
Morning care of hanging hydroponics crops
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B-Controlled exterior environment
The second growing technique is open air with a raised beds landscaping which gives a rhythm to both the facade and path. The raised beds in alternation with the hoggin path are designed proportionally to a minimum measurement to easily nurse the bed (600mm). The beds are 1m wide to be accessible from both sides. The facade structure is designed to follow the same rhythm. Every 2m there is a structural timber frame.
Flow
1:250 Landscape plan highlighting the raised beds pattern
Access
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Summer Evening in the raised beds 45
C-Wildlife
Allowing open habitats such as wildflower meadows in urban settings for the provision of native or naturalized grasses, wildflowers and flowering plants offers the advantage of increasing biodiversity. Plant diversity attracts insects and other invertebrates (including butterflies, bees, spiders and millipedes), birds and mammals which will allow to enrich the productive landscape, for the raised beds and passively cleaning the edge to the river. The water meadows are designed to flood yet Willow trees will be planted as flood defenders to moderate flooding and stabilizing the soil. Landscaping concept
Lady's-smock
Marigold
Bugle
Man made
Yorkshire Fog
Ragged Robin
Geranium pratense
Swallow
Bees
White marble butterfly
Wild
Water Meadows Plan
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Evening picking in the meadows
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3.3 PHOTOSYNTHESIS/BIOCLIMATIC DESIGN
Modified climate
Water and Waste
Heat and ventilation
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Tomatoes Harvest
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A- SOLAR GAIN AND LIGHTING CONTROL
The Green house is south facing which optimizes lighting conditions for growing plants. Therefore, light and heat will need to be manipulated to always optimize the internal climate. The amount of light required in the green house for different plants and seasons will be controlled thanks to thermal screens which provide shade from direct light and by diffusing the light seamlessly over the plants. The green house top glazing will be used for solar harvest to maximize the potential offered by the site and form of the buidling.
Sun path diagram
Thermal screen by Svensson Shading level in direct light Shading level in diffused light UV light transmission
12% 21% 66%
Thin Film solar cells by MaterialDistrict
Lighting analysis
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B-EMBODIED ENERGIES AND MATERIALS
All the choice of materials and construction strategy have been thought to minimize environmental impact through prefabrication off site and whit low embodied energy materials or with specific properties. Cross Laminated Timber CLT is a green and sustainable material since it is made out of renewable wood, sequesters carbon, and does not require the burning of fossil fuels during production. Other advantages of using CLT frames are waste minimization, safer working environments on site and improve air tightness of the building. The insulation and sound proofing will be provided by the CLT sandwich panels that sit on top of the primary structure. Concrete Concrete will be used for the foundation of the buildings using recycled concrete of nearby construction sites. To balance out its high embodied energy will be the advantages of its thermal mass for the thermal labyrinth under the green house and passive heating in the supporting structures. t Rammed earth
Rucola center prefabricated rammed earth facade, Herzog & de Meuron
Rammed earth is beneficial both for its construction and life cycle since it had a low embodied energy and is re-usable post demolition and can be sources locally from the site. Its material properties are also optimal for the green house for its high moisture mass, hygroscopic which helps regulate humidity, and high thermal mass for achieving walled garden system. Glazing Large pieces of glazing will be used for the green house, therefore to balance out the expense of higher quality glazing, ultra thin PV film cells (semi-transparent), will be laminated onto the top part of the green house south facing pitch glazing panels to harvest solar energy. Aluminum Even if aluminum has a high embodied energy its life span balances out this disadvantage and makes its use sustainable and durable for the glazing frames.
Prefabricated CLT home assembly
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C.1 -VENTILATION AND THERMAL MASS The Green House
Passive ventilation strategy: Labyrinthine Thermal mass The green house foundation will be a thermal labyrinth in order to use the thermal mass of the concrete and the heat from the green house, to create a constant flow of cooled or heated air during summer, winter,day and night. This will allow to optimize the internal climate condition of the green house and passively heating and cooling other connecting buildings. Plan of the Labyrinth showing the heat transfer to the restaurant and interior dining
e.g. On a hot summer day, warm air that enters the concrete labryrinth cools down due to the high thermal mass property of concrete. Heat retention of the labryinth during the day can then heat up the space at night and the cycle continues.
Day 6am-7pm -The concrete labyrinth is cool from the night before. -Warm air goes in cools down. -The heat transfer between the cool concrete and the hot air balances out and fresh air is released inside the space.
Night 7pm-6am -The concrete labyrinth is warm from the day before. -Cool air goes in and warms up. -The heat transfer between the warm concrete and the fresh air balances out and warm air is released in the space for night time heating.
Reference analysis of the thermal comfort of plants in the Alpine House in the Kew green house in London by Wilkinson Eyre Architects
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C.2 -VENTILATION AND THERMAL MASS The Green House
Winter
Summer Passive heating and cooling
Thermal mass of the rammed earth wall and concrete foundation will heat up the space during winter and cool down the same space during summer, through heat exchange. This will insure comfortable heating conditions for the master gardeners house and plants.
Natural cross ventilation Moreover, strategic openings for constant air flow will be integrated in the glazing of the green house both on the top and bottom details to allow natural cross ventilation.
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D -WATER CYCLES
Rain water will be recycled through a collection system. The water that falls off the roofs will enter the gravel detail (1) and will be channeled to that water tanks (2) within the raised beds to facilitate watering of the crops without having to transport weights. Moreover, the green house glazing will be coated with Titanium dioxide to keep the glazing always clean and facilitate the water to slide off the surface.
2
Dust Particule Water Molecule Superhydrophilic Surface principle
2
1
Gravel detail
Water collection diagram
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E - WASTE MANAGEMENT
Nothing is waste Both organic food waste and human feces will be recycled and composted to make fertilizer to support the growing of the crops. All the toilets will be composting toilets (1), the compost will slope to the composting station (2). A pulley system within the landscape will be used to make compost circulate over the raised beds to avoid transporting heavy weights.
Human waste 1
2 3 Growing crops
Crop waste
Fertilizer
Composting toilet principles
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Pulley system reference
F -VENTILATION AND THERMAL MASS The support structures
Fermentation Storage
Plant room MVHR system
Smoke house
Plant room MVHR system
Smoke house storage and wet area
Storage exterior pergola
Plant room MVHR system
Plant room MVHR system
The environmental strategy for the support structures (the laboratory, smoke house, dining, fish market and restaurant) will be very similar to the one of the green house because of the same use of materials.
Fermentationworkshop
Preparation Kitchen 2
Cooking workshop
Thermal mass The thermal mass of the rammed earth wall will act as a heat wall to acclimatize the spaces during day and nigh, summer and winter e.g. cooling during summer through heat transfer(1). Fish Market
0 1
5
Natural cross ventilation Strategic openings on the facade and roof will allow cross ventilation within the buildings. (2)
10
Underfloor heating Concrete screed flooring will provide underfloor heating which in combination with the high thermal mass of the other two surfaces (concrete and rammed earth) heat will be stored much better, and less energy will be required to heat the spaces. (3)
2
1
4
MVHR Since the main activities involve cooking, every building will be provided with a mechanical ventilation with heat recovery plant room on the lower level (strategically under or near cooking stations) to recycle heat within the building. (4)
3
Detail of underfloor heating
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G.1 - HEALTH AND SAFETY
A - FIRE STRATEGY IN RELATON TO PART B B1 - Escape & Warning 1
-All Exits are reachable within 18 meters. -All stair cases are fire escape standards complying to a minimum 1200mm wide for convenient and timely egress. -All path and doors have a minimum clear opening of 800mm width for wheelchair access. -All the changes in level are provided with ramps and have a maximum height of 600mm (maximum 900 mm before having to install railing). -The Garden’s manager home has a direct enclosed escape route from the second floor bedroom to a fire safety zone avoiding the kitchen area in case of fire(1). -All the members of the staff will be trained to for fire evacuation procedure with special care for wheelchair people and young children on group visits. B2/B3 - Internal spread - The internal flooring surfaces are all in concrete which is highly fire resistant. -The primary structure is made of CLT which one of the major advantages is its inherent fire resistance. CLT can be designed to accommodate substantial fire resistance while remaining structurally stable when subjected to high temperatures, with fire resistances of 30, 60 and 90 minutes. -The interior detailing made of timber will be soaked with a protective coating to slow down its combustion process. -All glazing from the internal finished floor up to a height of 1500mm must be safety glass. All door the windows within 300mm of any door are also safety glazed. Fire safety glass will withstand the high temperatures and help to prevent the fire from spreading as quickly as it would with standard glass. -The smoke house dining area will not be accessible internally for security reasons, but only externally by staff members. -All the internal spaces will have installed sprinklers within the spacing of the timber frames and provided fire extinguishers on every floor.
Designated Fire-Safety Zones: can be used for shelter if a fire breaks out
B4 - External spread
Refuges for users with ambulance limitations 1
Emergency safety wall protecting escape route from kitchen area.
-Rammed earth can be classed as non-combustible material (Table A6). A 300mm wall is capable of providing fire resistance of at least 90 minutes. -The raised beds are highly at risk of fire because of its large amount of greenery, therefore the water tanks within the raised beds will be provided with adequate equipment and enough water supply from river water and rainwater collection in case of fire. Whereas the raised bed timber will also be coated with a protective layer. -The water from the river keeps the greenery within the meadows humid therefore the risk of fire is less high in the southern part of the garden. B5-Fire service access -The site is very well accessible by vehicle due to its adjacency to Upper Bristol road therefore fire assistance from the Avon Fire & Rescue Service is very efficient. Travel times: 10 min via A36 and Lower Bristol Rd/A36 or 8 min via City center and Upper Bristol road.
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G.2 - HEALTH AND SAFETY
B - ACCESSIBILITY IN RELATION TO PART M The Buildings and landscape are designed to be inclusive of all users and respective to the preexisting site conditions. Therefore, the levels of the floors are limited to one street level (+5m) and river side level (0m) in order to limit excavation and uncomfortable site circulation. This allowed the design to be very simple in terms of safety accessibility and wheelchair circulation.(see plan) C - CDM: MANAGEMENT DIRECTION AND SCENARIOS -A specialist Agronomy Consultant and will be appointed to the project on account of the growing programs and the health and safety issues related to safe food production. -The community will be invited to engage during the construction and assemblage of the raised beds, that is very simple and safe. This will help the project to be grounded in the neighborhood. -The building will be almost entirely prefabricated off site to reduce building cost and increase safety on the construction site. The concrete foundations will be poured in situ limiting excavations. The excess excavated soil will be reused as soil comport for the raised beds.
Lift accessible for wheelchair Wheel chair typical circulation route Security landing of ramps
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CHAPTER 4 -SUMMER / HARVEST
4.1 Roots 4.2 Stem 4.3 Branches 4.5 Leaves
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Food Lab shop
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4.1 Roots
The buildings will be rooted in the site with the minimum damage by minimizing excavation. Strip concrete foundation will be employed for the green house and support structures. Pile foundations will be used for the fish market and passerelle that rest on the river edge.
CLT skeleton
Concrete slab
Concrete pile foundation
Timber frames primary structure
Fish market exploded isometric diagram
Passerelle 64
Morning meeting in the smoke house
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4.1 Stem
The green house will be a semi frame-less glass structure with an internal timber skeleton to give an elegant and contemporary aesthetic feel to a traditional building typology using simple and humble materials.
1. Primary structure
2. Secondary structure
3. Lateral Stability
Structural hierarchy
Structural Grid Plan
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Roots
Stem
Branches
Leaves
1. Portal frame with concrete strip foundation
2. Timber Purlin to hold roof
3. Lateral shelf to hold facade and plant storage
3. Rammed earth wall (- structural) (+enviromental)
Exploded isometric of Fish market
White Corrogated metal roof
Metal section to fix roofing sheets
CLT sandwhich insulated panels
CLT portal frame Purlin
Structural and storage shelf
Aluminum section frame
Timber stick Glass panel
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4.2 Branches
The rhythm of the primary structure informs the tectonic details of the raised beds.
Fitted furniture in sub structure
0
Facade and ground rhythm
2.3
6.9
4.6
0 2.4 4.2 6.6 9
Structural grid plan of the Laboratory
18Ëš 1
2
3
4
Isometric tectonics (exterior to interior surface)
Raised beds: 1. Compost 2. Manure 3.Straw 4. Wood branches
CLT portal frame Facade glazing detail 1. Timbre stick 2. Aluminium section 3.Glazing 4. CLT frame
Timber portal frames: (depth=L/20) 350x150mm Timber Purlin: (depth=L/30) 200X100mm Lateral stability timber shelfs: 350x100mm
Hoggin path: 1. Gravel 2. Sub-base 3. Sub-grade
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9.3
The structure will be used for storing and hanging the products of the Food Lab. This detail is expressed both externally on the facade and internally with fitted furniture for the service areas.
Shelf holding plants
Facade hanging fish
Fitted sub structure timber kitchen
Kengo Kuma, Pigment shop, Tokyo
1:60 Section of the fermenting Lab
Purlin to Frame joint
Lateral shelf to Frame joint
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1:60
Detail Section
Rammed earth facade: 1. Metal sheet capping and waterproofing membrane 2. Prefabricated rammed earth external wall 600mm 3. Trass-cement erosion-resistant layer 4.350x150mm Cross Laminated timber portal frame 5.Concrete upstand 6.Gravel Detail for water drainage
Master gardener home: 1. Prefabricated CLT sandwich insulated panels
Green house Roof 1. Aluminium section 2. Titanium dioxide coated glass panel 3. PV film
1:20 Green House foundation and facade (inside to outside) Compacted earth Metal grating with circular section to labyrinth void Concrete slab Void of the thermal labyrinth Concrete strip foundation
1:20 Laboratory Facade and foundation
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1.Corrogated white metal roof panels 2. Metal capping to avoid thermal bridge 3. Aluminium section 4. Glass panel 5. CLT Portal frame 350x150mm 6. 95 mm Insulation 7. Waterproofing membrane 8. Rammed earth wall 9. 90mm concrete screed with underfloor heating 10. 55mm Insulation 11. Concrete slab 250mm 12. 200mm Hard Insulation 13. 50mm Binding layer 14. Timber panel interior kitchen counter
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4.3 Leaves
The earth wall The street facing facade will be made of rammed earth with several punched holes openings to allow and gift pedestrian glimpses into the site. The facade will feel monolithic yet earthy and familiar stimulating our senses through smells and textures.
Herzog & de Meuron, Ricola center, Laufen
Maison Balsthal, Pascal Flammer Architectes
North East isometric section The earth wall will allow the spreading of plants on its facade
North Elevation 1:500 72
Night
Day
Compacted earth will allow growth of spontaneous species to enrich the green house ecosystem
South west isometric section Lantern in the Landscape
Reflections from the green house
Junya Ishigami, Kanagawa Institute of Technology, Japan
Junya Ishigami, Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 2008
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CHAPTER 5 - REFLECTIONS
5.1 Design Journey 5.2 Critical Reflections 5.3 Farewell
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Concept drawing
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5.1 Design Journey
Study sketches
This project represented for me a way to prove a point related to my daily life, that is my interest and consciousness for the environment. The topic of food production has been an opportunity for me to explore how architecture as a social agent can empower us to shape the reality we want to live in. My first environmental tutorial has therefore been extremely inspiring since our conversation drifted towards achieving an architecture that relies on a deeper ecological philosophy by emulating photosynthesis. The aim of the project nevertheless was not to design with expensive materials to mimic nature but rather to use simple material and manipulate the landscape in order to reproduce closed cycles of energies just as in the energy exchange between the sun and the plants. I oriented the project to be a circular economy and to develop a program that would allow a closed cycle of food production both economically and energetically. To develop the programs I had to research traditional ways of cooking food, growing methods and passive vernacular designs which I later tried to adapt in contemporary yet low-tech language.
Initial diagrammatic plan
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een House
Master gardener home
Entrance courtyard
Hydroponics Tomatoes culture Dutch bucket system
Labs Shop and reception
Master gardener home
Germination Nursery
Plant room and storage
Drip system Hydroponics
Entrance courtyard
Labs Shop and reception
Germination Nursery
Hydroponics Tomatoes culture Dutch bucket system
Guest Toilets
The full understanding of every program was another key aspect to a pertinent design proposal. For instance, the smoke house required a different section to the rest of the buildings, to allow the smoking process within the architecture. Even if each building has a different program and therefore requires different conditions. In order to stay true to a prefabricated construction ethos every building shares the same structural principles and the diversification of spaces Green House is achieved through massing, location on site and detailing of the internal layout. For example, the difference between the Laboratory and the restaurant kitchen can be seen in plan. The fitted furniture shows that the laboratory is designed to accommodate workshops based activities whereas the restaurant is layed out to accommodate the more hectic rhythm of a restaurant (cleaning at the entrance, preparation in the center with direct connection to the served interior dining). Drip system Hydroponics
Staff Toilets and storage
Food Laboratories
Food Laboratories
Baking and levitation Lab
Baking and levitation Lab
Cleaning station
Restaurant Interior Dining
Restaurant Interior Dining
Exterior Dining
Exterior Dining
Preparation Kitchen Preserving workshop
Exterior kitchen
Preserving workshop
Exterior kitchen
Staff meeting table
Smoke house
Smoke house
Drying workshop
Fermentationworkshop
Preparation Kitchen 2
Fermentationworkshop
Cooking workshop Fish Market
Fish Market
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Drying workshop
The second most important concept of the design is the landscaping strategy which is a transition from man made to wild environment. The site slopes down into the river, therefore I chose to let it merge by redesigning the existing cycling path and letting the river infiltrate into the plot and vis versa. The landscaping transitions from the green house that is an internal controlled environment to external controlled environment (raised beds) to wildlife (meadows) and so the program within the buildings adapts to this flow.
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Land
Diagram
Layout
First crit model Circular layout with garden in the middle
Second crit model Double barrier street and river layout with garden in the middle
River
Final crit model Barrier from street side and fragmentation on river side layout with garden that filters through
Small scale models of the massing were crucial during the design of the project. The layout of the buildings was meant to achieve a composition that would become a network between all key programs. Which were the production, learning processes, recycling energies (water, sun) and materials (soil).
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Street
The resolution of the structural strategy took a while. The silver lining was dictated by the need for the project to be partly prefabricated and of humble and earthly aesthetic. Therefore, the focus was to develop an appropriate structural strategy that could be adaptable for both the green house and the support structure as a family of buildings rather than a composition of different objects within the landscape. Even if in principle the final resolution of the structures is simple the journey to the optimized structure took me a while. The testing was done through model making of one 1:50 prototype model where I tested 3 different strategies during the project.
Second crit proposal CLT portal frames horizontal to rammend earth wall
Final crit proposal Concrete portal frames perpendicular and resting on top concrete wall
After final crit resolution CLT portal frames perpendicular to rammed earth
First cast model
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5.2 Critical Reflection
Final Crit Pin up
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5.2 Critical Reflection
During the final crit questions about the choice of concrete as materials was questioned, timber was brought back to my attentions as it fitted my whole design concept and project ethos better. The initial structure concept was to have a simple timber structure that would also act as storage and to hang plants therefore the hierarchy between frame, purlin and element of lateral stability had to be corrected. Thanks to the help of the last structural tutorial, the hierarchy was solved and the structural strategy found its space within the whole narrative of the project. The circulation strategy was also questioned to be improved for designing direct routes to ease the transportation of gardening material. Yet, I still wanted to avoid taking away precious land from the production program. Therefore, the idea of having pulley systems that would help make the compost travel up and down the raised beds was discussed. In the following stages of the project I would want to design in more depth these kind of details. Overall, I really enjoyed this project for its long duration which really gave us the time to explore and resolve in more depth a project. (even if we could all do for extra time!) Working in the model workshop has been of great support to my designing. The final stages of the project have been the most hectic yet still the most inspiring because it is now that I started looking into tectonic details in more details that I wish I could continue. Finally, designing a garden has been more complex and mysterious than what I taught yet so much architectural potential relies within the conversation the these two elements, therefore I am glad to have end this project with a boost of ideas for the next one whatever it will be.
First modification of the tectonic model testing the second structural design attempt that was presented at the final crit.
Final crit section using the second structural strategy
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5.3 Farewell
My aim for this project was to choose a topic that I wanted to learn about through the lens of architecture. Therefore, I want to thank again my tutor for introducing me to many ideas on ecology, production and architecture of gardens that I will always carry in my baggage.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
C J LIM, Food city, 2014, Routledge C J LIM and Ed Liu, Smartcities and Eco-Warriors, 2010, Routledge Dorothy Shaver, 50 Foods for healthier people and healthier plant, 2019, WWF Junya Ishigami, Another scale of Architecture, 2011, Seigensha Peter Zumthor, Atmospheres, Birkhäuser GmbH, 2006 Sou Fujimoto, Primitive Futures, 2014, INAX-Shuppan
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