FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD
FUTURE FUTURE FUTURE FUTURE FUTURE FUTURE FUTURE A Model For Food Access In Post-Industrial Detroit
FOOD [DESERT // INSECURITY // CRISIS // ACCESS // FUTURE // CULTURE // CHAIN]
A Model For Food Access In Post-Industrial Detroit
by Kaleigh Stirrat Bachelor of Science in Architecture Wentworth Institute of Technology, 2019 Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, April 2020
.......................................................................... Kaleigh Stirrat Author Department of Architecture
.......................................................................... Certified by Lora Kim Thesis Supervisor
.......................................................................... Accepted by Kelly Hutzell Director of Graduate Programs
Š2020 Kaleigh Stirrat. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to Wentworth Institute of Technology permission to reproduce and to publicly distribute copies of this thesis document in whole or in part using print, digital, or other means now known or hereafter created.
Plagiarism Statement I, Kaleigh Stirrat, am aware of the academic standards for acknowledging non-original content through citation and other means of crediting sources. In compliance with the Institute Academic Honesty policy, this thesis does not explicitly or implicitly represent the work of others as my own, including written work whether copied verbatim or paraphrased, visual work whether directly reproduced or redrawn, or content prepared by a third party engaged in the selling of academic materials.
Signature...................................................................................................Date..................................
To my family who continuously support my dreams... Mom & Dad Auntie Jeanne & Uncle Tom Carol & Herb Adam Bonito Ariana Moran To the place that inspired me to design... Essex Technical High School (The Aggie) To the faculty who shaped my education... Lora Kim Jer Jurma Mark Kopfer Jay Weber Antonio Furgiuele Rob Trumbour Joachim Doerr Jack Cochran To my architecture cult... Steven DeFuria Jordan Stickles Abigail Ahern Matteo Zingales Joe Fratoni Casey Clement Nina Babbitt David Rabkin Each of you have lead me to where I am today and I am eternally grateful for you.
This thesis is dedicated to each and every one of you.
A Model For Food Access In Post-Industrial Detroit Thesis Book Kaleigh Stirrat
Abstract Embedding food culture into the supply chain and engaging the public through a model that integrates methods of production with moments of exchange reconnects food access in the post-industrial era. This model can be repeated in other food deserts and has the potential to expand into suburban territory, creating an even stronger network system to go from food desert to food oasis. One and a half billion tons of food are wasted every year. Agriculture would need to produce 250% more food by 2050 to support an additional two billion people. It simply cannot be done without causing majorly disruptive climate changes. Growing more food is not the solution. What happens to a generation of children who grow up not knowing what a vegetable looks like? What about people who don’t know how to cook or don’t have kitchen appliances? To think that growing more food is the solution to the food crisis is a complete oversight of the root of the issue: cultural standards. Architecture has models that support the public education of other cultural activities like museums and libraries... but you can’t eat a copy of Delirious New York or a Vincent Van Gogh original. The future of food is thinking about it beyond its life necessity value and towards a holistic cultural asset.
Keywords
Food Access Urban Food Desert Post-Industrial Food Culture Agriculture
Food Insecurity Infrastructure Socio-economic Detroit Community
Public Engagement System Integration Public Education Production Exchange
CONTENTS
1 2 3 4 5
Introduction Thesis Statement & Argument Glossary of Terms Setting Context Framing Narritive A Letter to the Audience Book Structure
Theory & Context Precedents Literature Review Bibliography Further Reading & Resources
Design Research Visualizing Research Discursive Images Small Investigations Design Tests Site Tests Analytique & Artifact Iterations Timeline Archive Criteria & Methods
Outcomes Proposal Extents of Food Access Program Narrative Floor Plans Section Perspectives
Critical Reflections Feedback & Criticism Dialogue Reflections Summary of Feedback Alternative Approaches COVID-19 Address Eastern Market Response to COVID-19
1
INTRODUCTION
Figure 001 NYC’s Bronx borough, America’s poorest congressional district, is crammed with fast-food restaurants but has few grocery stores. © Stephanie Sinclair
Thesis Statement Food deserts of American industrial cities are the result of an industrialized food supply chain, economic collapse, and lost cultural practices. Embedding food culture into the supply chain and engaging the public through a model that integrates methods of production with moments of exchange reconnects food access in the post-industrial era. This model acts as a starting point for infrastructure around urban food access.
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Chapter One // Introduction
Argument Today, urban settlers have little to no relationship between where their food comes from, how it is made, and what is consumed. The wealthiest countries in the world waste the most food annually. America, specifically, is known as the land of Fast Food. During the industrial revolution, food systems became more complex, and the pace of life got faster, distancing the urban relationship between producer and consumer even further. The concept of productivity and mass production developed from Fordist and worked its way into all industrialscale processes, including agriculture, making America what it is today. Food access is deeply embedded within automobile infrastructure, which in turn suppressed food culture for multiple generations, affecting the poor and minority groups the hardest. Thesis Statement & Argument
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Glossary of Terms Agrotourism (or agrotourism) Most broadly defined as involving any agriculturally based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch.or agrotourism, as it is defined most broadly, involves any agriculturally based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch.
Americanize To bring (something, such as an area) under the political, cultural, or commercial influence of the U.S.”, or “to cause to acquire or conform to American characteristics.” In some ways comes with a sort of wateringdown or simplifying of a foreign culture for American nationals to digest more easily.
Biowaste A form of biomass capable of decomposing under anaerobic or aerobic conditions. Commercial sources of biowaste include forestry and agricultural residues, animal. waste and manure, sewage sludge and commercial food waste.
Brownfield An urban site for potential building development, having had previous development on it. Also a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination.
CSA Community Supported Agriculture is a way for individuals to pledge support to a local farm. An individual or family becomes a shareholder by buying “shares” in the farm through an advance pledge that covers the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmers’ salaries. In return. shareholders receive a box of seasonal vegetables each week throughout the farming season. This arrangement creates a shared risk such that if a flood were to impact a certain crop, the consumers and the farm would both feel the impact.
Chapter One // Introduction
Culture The characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. ... The word “culture” derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin “colere,” which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture.
Ecological footprint The impact of human activities measured in terms of the area of biologically productive land and water required to produce the goods consumed and to assimilate the wastes generated.
Farmers’ market coupon program There is a recognition in many places that healthful food is out of reach for many residents living on low or fixed incomes. Through a variety of approaches, the organizers of farmers’ markets. as well as local, state, and federal agencies responsible for food and welfare, have provided access to farm~fresh foods with the creation of subsidized coupons for use at markets. These coupons make access to food a reality for many who otherwise could not afford it, while also connecting farmers to new and often more-diverse customer bases to support their work.
FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, fiat paninis, translates to “let there be bread”.
FDA The Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. They are responsible for regulating food, drugs, medical devices, radiation-emitting products, vaccines, blood and biologics, animal and veterinary, cosmetics, and tobacco.
Glossary of Terms
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Fordist A term widely used to describe (1) the system of mass production that was pioneered in the early 20th century by the Ford Motor Company or (2) the typical postwar mode of economic growth and its associated political and social order in advanced capitalism.
Food Access Access by individuals to adequate resources (entitlements) for acquiring appropriate foods for a nutritious diet
Food Culture The connection, beliefs, and experience we have with food and our food system. It incorporates our cultural heritage and ethnicity, but is not limited to it. It is as much about our ethnic cultural heritage, as it is about our environmental culture and the way our surrounding impact the foods we eat and the way we experience them.
Food Desert An urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable, good-quality fresh food.
Food Miles A mile over which a food item is transported during the journey from producer to consumer, as a unit of measurement of the fuel used to transport it. The more food miles quantified, the more embodied energy the food contains and the less nutritional value the food contains.
Food Oasis An area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with a variety of fresh foods.
Food Security A measure of the availability of food and individuals’ ability to access it. Affordability is only one factor. Consistency is key.
Greenfield Denoting or relating to previously undeveloped sites for commercial
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Chapter One // Introduction
development or exploitation.
Greenhouse A structure enclosed (as by glazing) and used for the cultivation or protection of tender plants.
Greenhouse Effect The trapping of the sun’s warmth in a planet’s lower atmosphere, due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet’s surface.
Greenhouse Gas A gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation, e.g., carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons, causing factors of climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer. This gas can be produced by methane gas.
Hydroponics The process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil.
Local Food Food that is produced within a short distance of where it is consumed, often accompanied by a social structure and supply chain different from the largescale supermarket system.
Organic Farming Organic farming is an alternative agricultural system which originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia.
Organic Fertilizer Fertilizers derived from animal matter, animal excreta (manure), human excreta, and vegetable matter (e.g. compost and crop residues). Naturally occurring organic fertilizers include animal wastes from meat processing,
Glossary of Terms
17
peat, manure, slurry, and guano.
Peri-urbanization Peri-urbanization relates to those processes of dispersive urban growth that create hybrid landscapes of fragmented urban and rural characteristics.
Post-Fordist The dominant system of economic production, consumption, and associated socio-economic phenomena in most industrialized countries since the late 20th century.
Post-Industrial Relating to an economy that no longer relies on heavy industry.
Socio-economics The social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local or regional economy, or the global economy.
Soil The upper layer of earth in which plants grow, a black or dark brown material typically consisting of a mixture of organic remains, clay, and rock particles.
Soil-less Medium A substrate that is part of an artificial system of cultivation in which plants are grown without soil.
Slow Food Slow Food began in Italy with the 1986 foundation of its forerunner organization, Arcigola, to resist the opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish Steps in Rome. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement that has since expanded globally to more than 100.000 members in 132 countries. They consider themselves co-producers not consumers because they are informed about how their food is produced and actively support 187 those who produce it, thus becoming a partner in
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Chapter One // Introduction
the production process.
Terra Madre A network of food communities. Each committed to producing quality food in a responsible, sustainable way. Terra Madre also refers to a major biannual conference held in Torino. Italy, intended to foster discussion and introduce innovative concepts in the fields of food, gastronomy, globalization, and economics. Terra Madre is coordinated by the Slow Food organization.
Urban Agriculture Urban agriculture, urban farming, or urban gardening is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around urban areas. Urban agriculture can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agroforestry, urban beekeeping, and horticulture.
Urban Sprawl (or suburban sprawl) Mainly refers to the unrestricted growth in many urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for urban planning.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) The USDA is the federal office responsible for administering policy on farming. agriculture. And food. Originally the department was a division of the Patent Office and then later a division of the Department of the Interior. Until President Lincoln created the USDA in 1862. In 1889 President Cleveland elevated the department to a Cabinet level position. Since 1965, the department has issued most of its legislative priorities in a document casually referred to as the Farm Bill. The USDA has an immense amount of power in areas ranging from the international trade and aid to nutrition and land use.
Glossary of Terms
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Setting Context
Figure 002 November 17, 2014 photo shows the four stages of land management on a big cattle farm in the Brazilian Amazon: cleared land that was recently burned, a grassy pasture waiting for cattle, burning forest, and native forest that will eventually meet the same fate. © Ricardo Funari/Getty
The Big Picture | Climate Change The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs published an article earlier this year predicting the world population to rise from 7.7 billion to 9.7 billion by 2050, then up to 11 billion by 2100. About fifty-five percent of the world’s population lives in urban settings and about sixty-eight percent are estimated to live in cities by 2050.01 In order to feed that many mouths in the current trend of food production, agriculture would need to produce more than two hundred percent more that what is currently being produced.02 There are many dangers associated with clearing habitable land for agricultural use.03 Some of the recent consequences of agriculture expanding its land use are the Amazonian fires set 01 United Nations. “68% Of the World Population Projected to Live in Urban Areas by 2050, Says UN | UN DESA Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” Accessed November 24, 2019. https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-worldurbanization-prospects.html. 02 Ewing B., S. Goldfinger, M. Wackernagel, M. Stechbart, S. Rizk, A. Reed and J. Kitzes. 2008. The Ecological Footprint Atlas 2008. Oakland: Global Footprint Network. 03 UN Food and Agriculture (FAO) OurWorldinData.org - Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.
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Chapter One // Introduction
1.4 mil km2 (SA of Antarctica)
37% Forests
50% Agriculture
39 mil km2
51 mil km2
1.5 mil km2 Includes infrastructure and settlements
77% Livestock: Meat & Dairy 40 mil km2
18%
from meat & dairy
19% Barren Land
Glaciers
104 mil km2
1% Urban & Built-up Land
Global Protein Supply
10%
71% Habitable Land
Habitable Land
Global Calorie Supply
361 mil km2 (not to scale)
149 mil km2
Land Surface
Agricultural Land
71% Ocean
29% Land
Earth’s Surface
28 mil km2
Includes the world’s deserts, salt flats, exposed rocks, beaches, and dunes.
11% Shrub 12 mil km2
1% Freshwater 1.5 mil km2 Lakes and Rivers
23% Crops
11 mil km2 (Excludes Feed)
82% from plant-based food
37% from meat & dairy
63% from plant-based food
DATA SOURCE: UN Food and Agriculture (FAO) OurWorldinData.org - Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.
by farmers to clear land for raising livestock.04 Not only does that decrease oxygen production, but it also releases tons of carbon into the atmosphere and destroys ecosystems. It also means humans and livestock are coming into contact with unfamiliar wildlife, which increases the chances of contracting illnesses transferable from animal to human. Zoonotic disease are estimated by the CDC to be three quarters of new or emerging infectious diseases, such as the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Expanding agriculture for livestock is increasing the risk of global health and climate change while seeking food security. By zooming into urban land (only 1% of all land use) possibilities await both for food production and consumption improvements.
Figure 003 Land use diagram (FAO)
04 McFall-Johnsen, Morgan. “The Fires in the Amazon Are the Result of Seasonal Burning That Farmers Do Every Year. Here’s Why They’ve Gotten so Bad This Summer.” Business Insider. Business Insider, August 23, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/firesin-the-amazon-rainforest-were-started-by-humans-2019-8.
Setting Context
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Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Gtonnes of CO2)
Figure 005 Greenhouse gas emissions compared by country and using food waste as its own country. (FAO)
“
10 8
If “Food Waste” was a country, it would rank top 3 among global greenhouse gas emitting countries.
6
”
4 2 0 China
USA
Food Waste
India
Source: http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/en/
Food Crisis | Food Desert Agriculture is responsible for a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste specifically is a global contributor. So much so that if food waste was its own country it would sit among the worlds largest greenhouse gas contributors. In the United States, consequences from the 1940’s Fordist Era have distanced us from processes that are part of daily life and the Food Industry is no exception, “Big Food” controls one-third of the processed food market. The invention of the automobile ultimately led to the invention of fast food and drive-thrus, flipping food culture on its head in a matter of years. Industrializing food also meant the rise of TV dinners and frozen meals in 1953. Eating is no longer just an agricultural act, it is an industrial act. Food access and food deserts are a prevailing issue in American cities suffering from the post-Fordist economy collapse. The issue with this is when the automobile industry pulled out of Detroit, the white and affluent population left, leaving behind minority groups in a struggling economy. With just about thirty percent of Detroit’s population in poverty, eighty percent of the population is black. Historically an under-
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Chapter One // Introduction
= 100,000 tons wasted = 100,000 tons consumed
{
Source: http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/en/
1.56 Bil metric tons
of food wasted annually
Figure 006 Food produced annually, consumed vs wasted
served demographic in American, suffering from no economic footing and food access is simply unacceptable. Lacking education, economy, and losing generations of food culture the influence of the car has lead to an obese, uninformed, poor community. Fast food companies tend to target these groups of people and will pop up all over the cities, offering cheap, fatty, food, engineered to be addictive. Food deserts are partially social injustice and food access is a human right. Fresh food then has to travel from far distances to reach the community, adding food miles and depleting nutritious value. As a symbol, food is the great unifier that connects people across cultures and generations. Its culture has been lost through generations of turmoil. Building back an food culture is to also build back a socio-economic infrastructure. The food crisis in America is within the urban food desert. Food waste and food culture must be integrated into a new idea of the food supply chain and urban food systems.
Figure 007 Detroit Fast-Food Strike 2015 demanding living wages Š Romain Blanquart, Detroit Free Press
Setting Context
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HEALTH
38% of Adults 38% Adult Obesity
48% areInsecure food 48% Food
38% are inObesity poverty 38% Adult
19,668,098
Figure 008 Detroit data graphics framing issues of health, economy, and education. Detroit plays a key role in manufacturing and distribution which positions the city well to receive a new type of production as apart of the economy. In addition, areas of education and health should have positive effects with implementations of a healthy food infrastructure.
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EDUCATION ACCESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
are obese
insecure
Manufacturer Shipments
LOWEST TEST SCORES
NATIONALLY
55%households have broadband 55% have broadband internet
Chapter One // Introduction
(multiple years running)
New Methods of Production Previously, Ford’s linear system, better known as the assembly line, ruled the Industrial Revolution. Creating a new food cycle for the post-industrial era involves thinking about a circular system. By combining the efficiency of hydroponic agricultural production methods with the infrastructure of a market network, a composting system, and the re-integration of making food, all stages of the cycle become apart of the new food culture. Figure 009 Proposed new food cycle diagram.
FORDISM
POST-FORDISM
POST-INDUSTRIAL
Figure 010 Proposed Post-Industrial Model, compared to past Fordist and Post-Fordist models
Setting Context
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Framing Narrative
Growing up, I always wanted to be a veterinarian. I also had a creative side that sketched and drew through countless pages and excelled most in school when making projects for school, like dioramas. I liked to integrate technical knowledge with visual representation, even as a young child. When I was deciding where I would go to high school, I knew that I needed an environment that was more than traditional academic studies. When I enrolled in Essex Agricultural and Technical High School (The Aggie), I had every intention of participating in the Veterinary Technician program in the Animal Science Department.
Figure 011 Dried floral arrangement using celosia, lemon leaf, oak-leaf hydrangea, gomphrena, dried pomegranates and chenille, topiary style on an antique brass candelabra. Won Blue Ribbon at
After I had the opportunity to test out their classes, I decided that I loved animals but could not stomach the smell of animal enclosures. I had to move on and try another program before making my final decision. There, I rediscovered my passion for design through the landscape and floral design program. I worked in a flower shop throughout high school and continued my studies in the greenhouse with the horticulture program. As a rising senior, I was again faced with making a decision for the next step and again I made the assumption that only my technical side would make for a career worthwhile. I focused my search on colleges with the best biomedical research and engineering programs in the country, and even got into a few of them. As I was sorting through my junk mail, an email appeared from a school I had never heard of before, Wentworth Institute of Technology. “Is this Kaleigh’s Email� the email subject line read. I thought it was spam. I opened it out of curiosity and it read as follows:
Topsfield Fair 2015.
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Chapter One // Introduction
Dear Kaleigh,
I’ve been trying to reach you with a special opportunity to apply to Wentworth Institute of Technology for free, but I haven’t heard back yet. I hope I have the right address since I can offer the Future Leader Application to you for only a short time longer. Get started on your Future Leader Application now to receive automatic scholarship consideration and get an admission decision in just three weeks. It’s fast and easy to apply to Wentworth… I look forward to hearing from you soon! Best Wishes, Maureen Dischino Executive Director of Admissions Wentworth Institute of Technology 550 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115-5998 Tell me that doesn’t look like spam. If it wasn’t for the email signature that I used to vet out Maureen Dischino, I would have cleared my history and blocked the email, but I had just spent a couple hundred dollars applying to other schools and was very much sick and tired of the Common Application interface and a free application sounded good right about then. So I submitted my application in hopes that a new program may offer the freshest look on the field. As I toured nearby colleges, Boston University, Northeastern University, and MCPHS, I tossed Wentworth on the list, “Just in-case, we’re going to be in the area anyways,” I said to my mom as we arranged our day trip to Boston. It was there, after a couple of terrible tours that I ended up at Wentworth’s “Accepted Students Day” tour. Nine o’clock in the morning,
Framing Narrative
27
orientation had ended and the tour schedule for all majors was distributed. “Architecture - 9:30 AM, Biomedical Engineering…. 12 PM,” a whole three hours later. I told my parents, “Let’s kill some time and go on the architecture tour, the bio-med tour isn’t until much later and I’m going to get bored,” I muttered in an off-put tone. So on we went to the architecture tour in Blount Auditorium. Robert Cowherd was giving the opening presentation. “He’s one of the most eccentric people I’ve ever heard speak,” I thought to myself. The presentation had completely pulled me in. The passion for design fused with my technical side magically all merged into one major. Why didn’t anyone tell me architecture was a major? I turned to my mom, “I’m changing my major to architecture.” “You sure?” she replied. At that moment, I knew nothing about architecture and yet, at the same time, I was never so sure about anything in my life. I went into architecture not knowing what to think but determined I would be able to make design a career, and beyond that, make a difference in the world in the same way I believed pursuing biomedical engineering would. In that sense, every decision I made up to this point has led to this thesis, to test, for myself, if design and creativity has the ability to solve big issues. For example, solving world hunger.
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Chapter One // Introduction
Figure 012 First Final Crit Instructor Jay Weber Studio 01 Fall 2015
Framing Narrative
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A Letter to the Audience A Plea to Public Policy Writers: I invite you to imagine urban planning as a way to incorporate inclusivity and social justice into the built environment, lasting far longer than we will. Let’s go back to the hierarchy of human needs: Food, Water, Shelter. Doing right by the poorest and most vulnerable groups is our ethical duty. We, as a nation, will not survive another redlining. Food unites all people across cultures and generations, yet our people remain heavily divided, both physically and culturally. Invest in better food systems, invest in protecting local business, invest in rewriting laws that favor the automobile and favor humans, instead. Prove to us that the law can demand positive changes. We can do better, we need to do better, and we need your help to do it. Maintain strict policies on emissions and update public transportation. You are at the forefront of climate change action. Please take this responsibility to humanity to heart. To the People of Detroit: You have proven to be so resilient. I empathize with you all and want nothing less than the best for your future. To face so much adversity both historically and in the present with the bravest of faces is nothing less than extraordinary. Push policy makers to provide extended light rails! Your voice will be heard, there is power in numbers. Through all troubles and strife, I believe that Detroit has the potential to become, once again, a booming economy and a catalyst for a major urban redevelopment. Continue initiating urban farming projects. I look forward to returning someday to help manifest your aspirations for the future of Detroit.
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Chapter One // Introduction
Closing Statement This thesis is an ambitious attempt to cover many layers of cultural, infrastructural, and political issues regarding food. The definition of culture has many meanings. It means “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively” and “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.” Architecture facilitates these collectives in typologies like museums and libraries. One of the first commonly recognized achievements of human intellect is the domestication of plants and animals, known as Agriculture. Agr-, the Latin root word for “field” and cultiva, the Latin term for “growing” or “cultivation” is embedded within the arts and human intellect. Culture has another definition according to biology, used as a verb, “the cultivation of plants”. Somewhere along the way these definitions manifested into different archetypes. The intent is to draw parallels between unexpected typologies, explore ideas of historically embedded culture, and propose an idea for urban food access in post-industrial Detroit as a design solution. This thesis could have manifested in myriad solutions, approaching Detroit and all of its complications. The hope is that this approach is both sensitive to the context and the diverse people groups while maintaining a tone of a politically charged agenda for cultural change and action. Through the next chapters, you will find design iterations, systems thinking ideas, historic and contemporary precedents and final outcomes of the research and design done over the course of eight months. A critical reflection based on feedback throughout the design process will provide space to contemplate alternate scenarios. A Letter to the Audience // Closing Statement
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BOOK STRUCTURE
2
Chapter Two // Theory & Context
3
Chapter Three // Design Research
Work from CJ Lim, Nina Simon, Michaela Biebelhausen, Ferrucio Trabalzi, Charles Waldheim, and Mikesch Muecke ties together ideas about food as the ultimate unifier, food as a planning strategy, and food’s evolution over the last century.
Crucial moments through the design process with reflections from the author are ordered, chronologically, to display a rigorous design process and thinking. The development of methods and techniques is explored in this section.
4
Chapter Four // Outcomes The current design work and presentation can be found in this section along with a narrative explaining an experiential hierarchy of spaces and order when integrating food culture into production and exchange.
5
Chapter Five // Critical Reflection Dialogue feedback from guest panel members as well as the thesis advisor discuss criticism and different points of view in addition to a self-evaluation and a critical reflection on the process of thesis.
2
THEORY & CONTEXT
Food Worthy of Being in a Museum Engaging Architecture to Catalyze Culture Museum as Metaphor Food in the Built Environment Food in Fordist Food in Post-Fordist Bibliography Further Reading
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Chapter Two // Theory & Context
Figure 013 Fast-food, the car, and architecture. ©McDonald’s
Outline
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Figure 014 White Castle Wichita, Kansas 1921
Figure 015 “Floor Burger” MOMA, NYC 1962 ©Claes Oldenburg
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Chapter Two // Theory & Context
Food Worthy of Being in a Museum Previously, major museum institutes prioritized ancient history, including ancient agricultural practices too distant from contemporary life to compare. Recent trends suggest there is a widespread public interest in seeing processes in addition to the fine arts. Our twenty-first-century relationship with “culture” in terms of artistic expression has never been stronger, thanks to social media and smartphones at everyone’s disposal. Yet, our relationship with food has grown increasingly distant as agriculture has become increasingly industrialized in the wake of Fordist. The presence of food is embedded in museums as it is embedded in American culture. Its manifested form of hamburgers, which Americans consume about fifty billion annually. The invention of the hamburger bun ignited America’s appetite for beef by fast-food chain White Castle in Wichita, Kansas, 1921 (Figure 014). Raising a cow-calf for twelve months takes about two acres of pasture. Over half of land use is used for agriculture and predicted global meat demands towards 2050 are increasing in the wealthiest countries in the world. If there isn’t a change made to our culture of meateating, agriculture would need two and a quarter more Earths to produce food for the entire world.01 The World3 model, initially developed by systems engineer Jay Forrester in 1968 and used in the best-selling The Limits to Growth (1972), has simulated two scenarios for the development of the world’s environmental state up to the year 2100 (see Fig 1). The main goal of this graphic is to convey the effects of action not being taken to prevent species collapse, and the potential technological advancement has to sustain the human population on Earth. Art imitates food and has been placed in world-renowned museums like the Art Gallery of Ontario and MOMA in New York City, like Swedish-born American popart sculptor Claes Oldenburg’s “Floor Burger” in 1962 (Figure 01
See Food for the City, A Future for The Metropolis, pg 199
Food Worthy of Being in a Museum
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Figure 016 Algae bloom in Lake Erie (July 2019) ©Jack Charles Nissen
015). The American beef industry not only contributes to two-thirds of the world’s nitrous oxide pollution but also adds seventeen billion pounds of fertilizer used from growing feed and causing run-off into oceans. This can cause catastrophic algae blooms, killing all aquatic life in the area (Figure 016).02 The influence of pop culture on the food industry is one that should be taken as deadly serious, as it has the power to affect the health of people and the balance of the delicate ecosystems at play. The other version of American food is the “Americanizing” of different cultures’ cuisines and traditions, like some kind of transplant food that comes with the nature of America, built by immigrants from all over the world. The pluralism of Americanized food, for example, Italian, Chinese, and Mediterranean cuisines are famous across the U.S. This system is not sustainable due to the long food miles associated with imported goods. The U.K. multidisciplinary architecture, urban planning, and landscape researcher, CJ Lim, who specializing in cultural, social, and sustainability issues and 02 “The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, August 2, 2012. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-hidden-costs-of-hamburgers.
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Chapter Two // Theory & Context
wrote, “Food City” (2014) discusses the role of food within the city, the economy, and law.03 Americans’ appetite for meat and a multicultural variety echoes through many layers of the food system we currently conform to and it is negatively affecting climate change. The growing, storing, transporting, selling, preparing, and consuming of food cannot be separated from pop culture and therefore embedded in the built environment (Figure 017). Sadly, this relationship broke in the rise of Americanized Culture. If America is going to be a world leader and influence a global economy, they need to take seriously the damage done by their food habits and be the ones who initiate change. It is our responsibility, as designers, to acknowledge the dangerous direction the food industry is trending toward and to recognize the opportunity to redefine a sustainable food system in the urban setting through the use of museums. The supply will need to be changed when the demand from the public shifts. The way to get the new generation to make this shift is through pop culture. 03
Figure 017 Floating Dairy Farm Goldsmith Company Distribution Center The Netherlands (2019) This model proposes detaching a dairy farm from the landscape and floats on the water, houses the cows, stores their feed, and distributes the produce directly from one module. ©Ruben Dario Kleimeer
Lim, “Food City”, 64-65.
Food Worthy of Being in a Museum
39
Project Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center Location Brooklyn, NYC, NY Architect Weiss/Manfredi Status Completed 2012 Concept Extension of landscape into the urban context Criteria & Program Urban Botanic Garden Museum/Exhibition Indoor/Outdoor Pavilion Engaging the public
(top to bottom) Figure 018 Street facing photo Figure 019 Interior Exhibition Figure 020 Concept Diagram ŠWeiss/Manfredi
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Engaging Architecture to Catalyze Culture Brooklyn Botanic Visitor Center (Figures 018, 019, 020) is one contemporary example of integrating green into the city. The Interior program includes interactive exhibitions and gathering space. The purpose of a visitor center is to engage the public in a way that is interactive for educational value. Nina Simon writes that there is a difference between interactive and participatory. Participatory being a higher level of engagement with the design that allows a conversation to take place between the institution and the visitor.04 Designing space for social engagement makes visitors more likely to see each other as potential sources for information and overall enjoyment.05 The bigger idea behind that is what Simon calls “You are what you do”: What exhibits do they visit? How much time do they spend looking at different objects (or engaging with exhibits)? How much time is spent at the gift shop or on food?06 A case study Simon analyzed at the Chicago Children’s Museum on “Deepening Engagement.” A key finding was that take-home items or experiences inspired repeat visits, thus deepening impact. This concept could be used for implementing new systems as a social activity rather than forcing it onto the public and creating a desire to engage multiple times. Museum as Metaphor Dr. Michaela Biebelhausen, an art historian, is a research expert in the architecture of the city, decay and destruction aesthetics, and documentary photography, has written on museums as symbolic structure and urban contexts in addition to many other papers on museums in the context of their relationship to architecture. She states that museum 04
Simon, Nina. The Participatory Museum. Santa Cruz, (CA: Museum 2.0, 2017.), 349.
05 Simon, The Participatory Museum, 25-26. 06 Simon, The Participatory Museum, 69-70.
Engaging Architecture to Catalyze Culture
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architecture is a highly symbolic building typology that defines the institution. Museums are sacred, modern, utopia, and educational all at once, clearly representative of the collections inside. In this way, the architecture works as a metaphor for the collections or values the museum holds. The function of the museum celebrates both the power of art and displays the authority of the state.07 Biebelhausen quotes Charles Jencks, an American landscape designer, architectural historian and cultural theorist, saying, “[...] the museum harbors spectacular contradictions [and is] a schizophrenic monument to contemporary culture.” Since architecture is more permanent than the art within, architecture is sort of stuck in a time capsule that may or may not have additions that are like glimpses into the future. The values of an institute at the time of design may change every few decades, but they will not rebuild a museum, it is simply not economic. Jencks’ idea is getting at the fact that architecture is relative to the time it was designed and built. The relationship between that same design thirty years in the future might completely contradict the new values of the institute. However, it will hold a historical significance, which is still fascinating to view. One does not demolish outdated architectural styles because it isn’t reflective of contemporary society (or, in this case, curated content). It acts merely as a placeholder in time and doesn’t always align with the culture of the times. The lines between what is and isn’t a museum are blurred. They’re currently understood as a building type that is poised to assess, define, and display the value of culture for the changing demands of contemporary culture. John Durand once thought of a city’s status as equal to the number of museums it possessed.08 The subject museums embody evolves to meet contemporary culture. Beibelhausen uses Joseph Paxton’s Crystal palace as an example of the future department store. Crystal Palace’s historical significance is the 07 Biebelhausen, Michaela, “Architecture is the Museum” in New Museum Theory and Practice, ed. Janet Marstine (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005), 41-42. 08 Biebelhausen, “Architecture is the Museum”, 51.
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exploitation of new glass technology in the 1850s combined with the long-spanning structure of iron allowed for free open space under one large span. Compartmentalization of these spaces was for different countries to display their state of the art technology (Figure 021). In a way, Crystal Palace acted as a museum of the world, as an emerging world expo site. Its collection included Chinese pottery, French lace, musical instruments, surgical equipment, chemicals, clocks, military arms, architectural and civil models, animal and vegetable manufacturing, and much more. The architectural language informed the hodge-podge nature of how these programs aggregate together.
Figure 021 Crystal Palace Floor Plans Joseph Paxton Hyde Park, London
Museum as Metaphor
(1851)
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Food in the Built Environment Ferruccio Trabalzi explores the crossover of food and architecture specifically, “[...] concerning issues of economic identity of places and how food traditions, local food products, and architecture can be deliberately combined and recombined to foster economic development (in rural areas).”09 Kurt Forster, an architectural historian, examines the role vernacular typologies play as points of reference and territorial identity in the transformation of the farmhouse to the villa. What he fails to consider is how the internal organization of production changes to reflect the new use. His analysis focuses strictly on form and aesthetics and disregards the functional, cultural, and economic connections the farmhouse has to the agricultural landscape. Trabalzi points out that the European Union has laws and regulations for ensuring consumers know where their food comes from. These regulations not only verify origin but also quality assurance. The U.S. has the FDA which regulates much more than food and does not factor in a stamp of authenticity. Trabalzi’s key concept is that creating a territorial identity by region revolves around the rural environment as both space for production but also consumption.10 Agrotourism in the rural setting focuses on a single product, a handful at the most. What Trabalzi’s method overlooks is the opportunity to condense down these systems for the urban environment and aggregate them to form a pluralistic, multicultural, multifaceted economy model. His view is mono-cultural, which is consistent with his viewpoint being an Italian native where culture is about being Italian. In America, culture is more attuned to fusion and inspiration from immigrants. Take into consideration, a scenario where the economy is built around the automobile, an unstable 09 Trabalzi, Ferruccio. “Local Food Products, Architecture, and Territorial Identity”, in Horwitz, Jamie, and Paulette Singley, eds. Eating Architecture. Cambridge, MA (MIT Press, 2004.), 71. 10 Trabalzi, “Local Food Products”, 73.
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1916
1950
Figure 022 Richard Plunz, Detroit figure-ground plan diagrams 1916, 1950,1960,1994 Evidence of a shrinking 1960
1994
city (1996)
economic factor. Charles Waldheim discusses the condition of professionally constructed meaninglessness as particularly evident in architecture’s inability to offer meaningful frameworks for intervening upon urban abandonment. In other words, this is him responding to the shrinking city of Detroit (Figure 022), formerly one of the largest cities in America that collapsed as the automobile industry pulled the plug in the 1950s.11 After a ten year effort to revitalize the city in the 1990s with sports stadiums, theaters, casinos, and other publicly subsidized, privately owned, for-profit entertainment, Detroit proved to fail on advanced capital investment. Waldheim points out a gap in architectural and urban planning practice that does not consider the “formerly urban, newly vacant” framework and suggests that there is a need to develop case studies, models, theories, and practices to test the sites and this subject.12 Urban succession presents an opportunity to look into peri-urbanism that merges urban and suburban areas into a hybrid planning strategy. 11 Waldheim, Charles. “Landscape as Urbanism: a General Theory.” Princeton, NJ (Princeton University Press, 2016.), 88. 12 Waldheim, “Landscape as Urbanism”, 92.
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Figure 023 Mel’s Drive-In Diner, classic American cars, and diner food
Food in Fordist The agricultural practice has been influenced by major industrial inventions for the last two centuries, causing irreversible damage to the environment. With the invention of the car came the invention of drive-in restaurants and drive-through fast-food diners, a whole new food culture formed around the car (Figure 023). Eating in the car was a completely different way to treat having a meal. Culturally, there is a history of where consumption takes place. Taking food to go, is somewhat familiar. Miskesch Muecke reflects on “Food To Go: The Industrialization of the Picnic” that traces the evolution of mobility, food and utensils.13 Muecke notes before the time of the automobile pedestrians could invade the landscape, go anywhere and eat anywhere, only limited to their own energy and roads. “Recent picnic patterns exhibit a shift 13 Muecke, Mikesch, “Food To Go: The Industrialization of the Picnic”, in Horwitz, Jamie, and Paulette Singley, eds. Eating Architecture. Cambridge, MA (MIT Press, 2004.), 229-230.
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toward a fully mechanized dining behavior,” (Muecke, 229). What Muecke doesn’t take note of is the fact that food itself has been mechanized by a heavy industrial process in both the production and processing of food. The supermarkets soon followed, allowing food from farther distances to make its way into cities (Figure 024). The influence of Henry Ford’s production line was soon applied to the McDonald’s fast-food business in 1940. “The McDonald brothers eliminated singlehandedly the “surplus” of regional and local food differences.” Culinary convenience and mechanical design went hand-inhand with the 1950s automobile when Detroit introduced a new vehicle, the station wagon.14 Specialty markets were in decline and so were the relationships formed between buyer and seller (who was also the maker or artisan), the local economy created around the markets, and in turn the overall understanding of 14
Figure 024 The Super Giant Supermarket Rockville, Maryland, (1964) ©John Dominis
Mueche, “Food To Go”, 237.
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food production. If the specialty market is like an artist’s gallery that shows everything they’ve made, the supermarket is like the major contemporary art museum for groceries. Brightly lit, open spaces, with temperature-controlled atmospheres in boxes that place collections of exotic food items from all over the world on clean, white displays out of context from the person who grew them and the place where they were grown. A similar description one would use to depict MOMA in New York City. Food in Post-Fordist Architecture and economic identity is driven by local food traditions and products and can be combined and recombined to foster economic development, according to the Italian architect, sociologist, and urban planner, Ferruccio Trabalzi, who specializes in traditional food producers and global economy.15 The built environment is designed around food, whether it be producing, storing, transporting, selling, or importing. Urban economy, food production, and consumption has been organized into urban planning strategies already that generate socio-economic dynamics, such as the original functions of Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts (Figure 025). Results in greenhouse gas and pollution to be released into the atmosphere, causing harm to the climate in exchange for an authentic French wine. Trabalzi specifically speaks on rural examples of local traditional food economies and agrotourism that can be adjusted to an application to the urban environment for a similar effect on post-Fordist economies. An American example of a robust local product with demand in the marketplace is Napa Valley in northern California.16 By creating a modern blend of local produce, knowledge on wine production, and architecture, 15 Ferruccio Trabalzi, “Local Food Products, Architecture, and Territorial Identity”, in Eating Architecture, eds. Horwitz, Jamie, and Paulette Singley (Cambridge: MA, MIT Press, 2004), 71. 16 Trabalzi, “Local Food Products,” 72.
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Figure 025 Faneuil Hall Boston, MA Illustration from a steel engraving from the Massachusetts Magazine (1789)
the valley became an economically stable region with its own unique identity and international tourism. The critical theory to understand in Trabalzi’s writing is creating a regional character that revolves around the rural environment as both spaces for production and space for consumption.17 This idea could easily be applied to the urban environment, a place that is currently only for eating, wholly detached from production. The steps, as outlined by Trabalzi, begin by promoting the idea of “local.” To implement this in the urban, post-Fordist environment of Detroit, promoting locally sourced produce is step two. To facilitate systems of urban agriculture with transparency to the public is step one. If there is no production, there is no food to promote. The production method is what is unfamiliar in the urban environment, therefore, the second step is the most important part to figure out in this two-part system. Lim would argue that food promotes the dilution of cultural boundaries and restores the primal link between urban inhabitants and their sustenance.18 Step two, by Trabalzi, is to 17 Trabalzi, “Local Food Products”, 73. 18 Lim, “Food City”, 73-75.
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reevaluate general rural life. This is exchanged with urban life, more specifically, American civic life. The disconnect between food consumption and food production is what prompts a cultural reevaluation. Lim would add that smell, texture, and taste manifest a city’s cultural heritage defining social habits and urban territory.19 Shaping the economy’s identity by preserving the agricultural landscape and its built environment is a proven method for developing healthy tourism. An example of rural agrotourism, given by Trabalzi, is the buffalo mozzarella business at Tenuta Vannulo in Italy.20 The farm is a success because of the addition of architectural features, including a restored cheese house turned into a small museum for history and culture of peasant labor in the region, a cheese shop (retail), a converted barn for yogurt and ice cream and the owner’s residence. The landscape includes buffalo paddocks, alfalfa fields (for feed), and olive trees for on-site extra virgin olive oil processing. Together, the landscape and architecture become an agrotourism center. The goals of urban agrotourism would be to spread the knowledge of urban food sustainability, support the local food demand, and create unique socioeconomic opportunities in places of economic collapse. In Lim’s theoretical urban planning of London, he states values imperative to the success of future generations to include food education standards to work in parallel with urban agriculture and tax relief for neighborhoods that focus on producing food. He explains that sustainable capital is the new economic model.21 By “sustainable capital,” Trabalzi is referring to food, in that it will not be needed; therefore, it is sustainable in the economic sense. In a way, this is an old industrial model revisited by 21st-century urbanism. The contemporary city is a petri dish for analyzing growth and changes in global trends, such as food deserts.
19 Lim, “Food City”, 63. 20 Trabalzi, “Local Food Products”, 74-76. 21 Lim, “Food City”, 186.
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Food security can be gained by growing food locally and creating a beneficial economy within the community members. 22 Trabalzi acknowledges that combining food and architecture is a culture-producing process, enabling the appropriation of values in a local context.23 Lim insists that access to fresh food catalyzes social, environmental, and economic returns. To maintain this economic model in the modern-day, food cultivation, storing, and selling needs to be integrated back into culture through integrated urban planning strategy.24 (Figure 026).
Figure 026 Food Parliament “Food City” ©C.J. Lim
22 Lim, “Food City”, 43. 23 Trabalzi, “Local Food Products,” 86-87. 24 Lim, “Food City”, 32-35.
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Bibliography “68% Of the World Population Projected to Live in Urban Areas by 2050, Says UN | UN DESA Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” United Nations. United Nations. Accessed November 24, 2019. https://www. un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-worldurbanization-prospects.html. “FLOATING FARM DAIRY.” GOLDSMITH, March 17, 2020. “The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, August 2, 2012. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-hiddencosts-of-hamburgers. Lim, C. J. Food City. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Marstine, Janet, ed. New Museum Theory and Practice: An Introduction. 1 edition. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. Muecke, Mikesch, “Food To Go: The Industrialization of the Picnic”, in Horwitz, Jamie, and Paulette Singley, eds. Eating Architecture. Cambridge, MA (MIT Press, 2004.) Simon, Nina. The Participatory Museum. Santa Cruz, CA: Museum 2.0, 2017. Trabalzi, Ferruccio. “Local Food Products, Architecture, and Territorial Identity”, in Horwitz, Jamie, and Paulette Singley, eds. Eating Architecture. Cambridge, MA (MIT Press, 2004.) van der Sande, Brigitte. Food for the City: A Future for the Metropolis. Edited by Stroom Den Haag and Gilles Havik. Rotterdam: NAI Publ., 2012. Waldheim, Charles. Landscape as Urbanism: a General Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016.
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Further Reading & Resources Barber, Dan. The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food. Reprint edition. Penguin Books, 2015. Chase, Lisa C., Mary Stewart, Brian Schilling, Becky Smith, and Michelle Walk. 2018. “Agritourism: Toward a Conceptual Framework for Industry Analysis”. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 8 (1), 13-19. Dawson, Julie C., and Morales, Alfonso eds. Cities of Farmers: Urban Agricultural Practices and Processes. 1 edition. Iowa City: University Of Iowa Press, 2016. Dijstelbloem, Huub. “Food, A Compromised Issue.” In Food for the City: A Future for the Metropolis, 58–63. Rotterdam: NAI Publ., 2012. Kopec, David Alan. Environmental Psychology for Design. Fairchild. 2006. McLennan, Jason F., Edited by Fredrick McLennan and Mary Adam Thomas. First edition. Portland, OR: Ecotone Publishing 2012. Miazzo, Francesca, and Mark Minkjan. Farming the City.: Food as a Tool for Today’s Urbanization. Amsterdam: Valiz, 2013. Niemela, Jari, Jurgen H. Breuste, Glenn Guntenspergen, Nancy E. McIntyre, Thomas Elmqvist, and Philip James. Urban Ecology: Patterns, Processes, and Applications. Reprint edition. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Orff, Kate. Toward an Urban Ecology. New York, New York: The Monacelli Press, 2016. Steel, Carolyn. Hungry City : How Food Shapes Our Lives. Vintage Books, 2013.
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DESIGN RESEARCH
Visualizing Data Discursive Images Small Investigations Design Tests Site Testing Selecting a Site Analytique & Artifact Iterations Revisiting Site Selection Documenting Food Culture in Detroit Concept Test Design Tests Timeline Archive Analytique Criteria Methods Endnotes & Image Sources
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“
Solutions that achieve one or two at the expense of the others are, in the long-term, failures.
�
- Jason F. McLennan
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Figure 027
Visualizing Data
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1820
As railw started network by the g
2050 BCE CUNEIFORM TABLETS OF UR-NAMMU Even the earliest writings of LAW AND POLICY of a civilization in history mention agriculture and some type of SOCIALISM in terms of sharing produce, livestock, and land.
240 BCE
CORN ENGL
A British tariff placed on for English farmers from che protects and effects food cu and environmental factors, the board. Policy has the po
The agricultural laborers of 6,000 (serfs) were FREED IN EXCHANGE for half of their produce. This is considered the first shift toward CAPITALIST AGRICULTURE.
DE AGRI CULTURA // MARCUS CATO In this ancient Roman TEXT, Cato wrote a manual on how to run a farm (and slaves and a wife). It lays out rules of husbandry and managment, used as a textbook for Romans during AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION.
1742 CE
SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA
563-483 BCE FIVE CONTEMPLATIONS 1. Where did the FOOD come from and HOW MUCH work did it take to grow the food, transport it, prep, and cook it and bring it to the table? 2. Is it sufficient to merit recieving the food as an offering? 3. I guard my mind against transgression, the principle ones being greed and so forth. 4. I realize that food is a wholesome medicine that heals the sufferings of the body. 5. I should recieve the food offerings only for the sake of realizing The Way.
471-221 BCE INVENTION OF THE IRON PLOW FANEUIL HALL BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Technological advanges in agriculture by the Chinese helped plow fields with the help of ox or horses. The TECHNOLOGY didn’t influence Holland or England until around the 17th Century.
B O O K S / T E R M S TECHNIQUE TIME 58
1815-1846 CE
1257 CE CAPITALIST AGRICULTURE BOLOGNA, ITALY
FOOD CULTURE
P O L I T I C S
S C I E N C E
RECORDS OF URBAN AGRICULTURE IN...
This public market was donated by Peter Faneuil in 1740, build for Boston as a gift to the city. This place is a point for town meetings and marketplace. It helped nurture URBAN RENEWAL with food at the center of the culture (merchants, fishmongers, butchers, and produce sellers). It was also the setting for protest against the Sugar Act. This is an example of architecture that supports FOOD CULTURE for the public.
1809 CE CANNING NICHOLAS APPERT (FRENCH CHEF) The system development of preserving food in air tight glass bottles by French Chef and confectioner Nicholas Appert in 1809 eventually lead to the invention of the tin can and canning food for PRESERVING.
240 BCE SPRING AND AUTUMN ANNALS // MASTER LU In this ancient chinese agriculture book, Master Wu introduces ROW PLANTING as a means of mitigating wind flow and encouraging strong and fast plant growth as well as efficiency in maintenence and harvesting the crops.
1516 CE UTOPIA // SIR THOMAS MORE In this criticism on contemporary society, More imagines a utopia island that sends CITYDWELLERS off to the farm lands to connect with AGRICULTURE. This book is a sign of questioning culture regarding FOOD AND WORK.
WORLD PO 2050 BCE
400 BCE
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1000 CE
Figure 028 10 BILLION
1840 CE FERTILIZER JUSTUS VON LEIBIG (GERMAN CHEMIST) His work led to the discovery of superphosphates which later translated into FERTILIZER.
1923 CE
0-1835 CE
HYBRID CORN // COPPER CROSS
RAILWAY ENGLAND
Hybrid variety proved to be more vigorous, RESILIANT to weather, and RESISTANT to pests and disease. This percribed the future of corn in America for the next 20 years, 90% of corn grown was hybrid.
ways started to pop up in England, they to connect agricultural areas to create a food k. An advancement in transportation funded government allows food to travel farther.
8 BILLION
1862 CE
LAWS LAND
1932 CE
HOMESTEAD ACT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
reign corn prices to protect eap imports. When policy ulture for the local economy , it can be impactful across ower to effect food culture.
SILENT SPRING // RACHEL CARSON
Law that allotted opportunity to claim federal land and improve it to own it. Policy that invites the people to take ownership of their own land (country) empowers people and ultimately encourages sustainabile economics.
1917 CE
This book documents and criticizes the use and effects of pesticides in the environment. AGRICULTURE was beoing criticized as an industry and practice. This catalyzed discussion and a response from
VICTORY GARDENS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
6 BILLION
A GOVERNMENT INNITIATIVE to reduce public demands during WWI. The advertisments are particularly memorable, calling to action for people to grow their own food and creating a FOOD CULTURE based on need.
1944 CE 1916 CE 1900 CE MICHELIN GUIDE // ANDRE MICHELIN
READY MEALS // SWANSON UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A periodical that was intended to help drivers maintain their vehicles, find lodging, and eat well while in France. Today, a chef’s dream is to be listed as a Michelin Star restaurant and allows restaurant culture to flourish.
1840 CE
Swanson’s invention of processed, ready to eat food takes us even farther away from the farmer and FOOD CULTURE. It is another invention that sacrifices local food for convenience and time.
4 BILLION
1921 CE
FERTILIZER JUSTUS VON LEIBIG (GERMAN CHEMIST) His work led to the discovery of superphosphates which later translated into FERTILIZER.
1st SUPERMARKET - THE PIGGLY WIGGLY MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE This invention of the supermarket would go on to mold the FOOD CULTURE we know today. Distance from the farmer, self service, and individually packaged foods.The supermarket reformed our RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD in exchange for CONVIENEINCE.
WHITE CASTLE WICHITA, KANSAS The availibility of food in the form of fast food influenced FAST FOOD CULTURE. The clean white look and industrial steel were meant to respond to the public’s view on beef industry suspicions. White Castle invented the hamburger bun which would go on to influence American FOOD CULTURE forever.
1932 CE
1898 CE GARDEN CITY // SIR EBENEZER HOWARD This book evoked a movement in URBAN PLANNING and closed loop community, surrounded with greenery. When information being spread plants the seeds to create radical change, it can involve an entire cultural shift.
THE DISAPPEARING CITY // FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
2 BILLION
This book proposes a new SUBURBAN PLANNING style called “Broadacre City”. It looks into alotting every family one acre of federal land. It would lower the urban density. It goes on to reject machines and refers to us as “slaves of machines”. The spreading out of suburbia would allow for more beauty through landscape to be integrated.
PROJECT CASE STUDY LITERATURE HISTORICAL EVENT IDEAS CULTURAL SHIFT PERSON
OPULATION
0 2050 CE
Visualizing Data
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Figure 029 Discursive Image “Farm in the City” Representing the relationship the city has with the farms that feed them, or the lack-there of.
Discursive Image 1: Farm in the City What is the relationship between city and farm? 3.1 The Farmers Market
This image was created as the first thought that came to mind thinking of the farm’s relationship in the city: The Farmer’s Market. It floods the brick streets of Boston in the summer time, is temporary and sheltered with those white pop up tents (you know the ones). Tacky yet somehow recognizable as a temporary market and sparks excitement for fresh food. How do we keep that experience as a permanent part of the city? Should farmers live in the city? Does that change the farmer’s market? Where do they grow the produce in the city then? An exercise to create questions and take a moment to reflect on one aspect of food’s relationship with the city and the people who engage it creates further lines of questioning.
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Figure 030 Discursive Image “Museum for Indoor Agriculture� Changing the program of the institution/museum to shifting a cultural attitude.
Discursive Image 2: Museum for Indoor Agriculture Instead of Art Museum, what if it was an Indoor Agriculture Museum? Taking a look at a lot of different ways to farm in the city, an agriculture museum could act as an atlas for young urban farmers. It could be a place students go to on field trips. It could influence generations of research and technology development. What happens when you institutionalize a trade? How would all of the systems work together? Thinking about systems involved with indoor agriculture and the typology they might appear in investigates what culture means and what the technical detailing requires to make that possible.
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Figure 031 Flow diagram testing the spacial configuration and details of a closed loop nutrient system for the production greenhouse.
Small Investigations 1. Flow Systems 2. Hydroponic Configurations 3. Greenhouse Form 4. Market Styles By investigating a broad range of program, patterns, structure and circulation were identified and helped develop a sense of scale and space from a technical system to a building layout. Form and function played a big role in each investigation.
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Figure 032 Sketch of movement patterns within La Bouqueria Mercat, Barcelona, Spain Figure 033 Stained glass arch threshold at La Bouqueria, Barcelona, Spain
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Figure 034 Sketch of California Academy of Sciences examines datums, form, pro’s and con’s of the main exhibition spaces.
Small Investigations 1. Interaction and Participation with Architecture 2. Indoor and Outdoor 3. What is the Form/Function Relationship? 4. Program Type By investigating a broad range of program, patterns, structure and circulation were identified and helped develop a sense of scale and space from a technical system to a building layout. Form and function played a big role in each investigation. Developing a base knowledge of variations to comprehend best use scenarios for future designs. The expression of a dome and skin are different in each of these cases.
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Figure 035 Disney’s Living With the Land main greenhouse form. Diagrid and dome form.
Figure 036 Disney’s Living with the Land, collection of hydroponics equipment.
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Figure 037 Sketch of The Eden Project, form and function Figure 038 Outdoor transition between each greenhouse of the Eden Project. ŠEden Project
66
Small Investigations 1. Interaction and Participation with Architecture 2. Indoor and Outdoor 3. What is the Form/Function Relationship? 4. Program Type Discovering what creates a lasting experience that allows the user to engage with the architecture seemed to coincide with the aesthetics of form. A more rigid structure portrayed a message of utilitarian functionality. In these examples, the community and systems are a key focus.
Chapter Three // Design Research
Figure 039 Bombay Sapphire™ Distillery by Hetherwick Studios (2014) ©Hufton+Crow
Figure 040 Connecting greenhouse to distillery. A relationship between HVAC systems.
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Figure 041
Design Test 1
Design test 1, section cutting through the street, a streetside market, and a greenhouse.
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This design tested the idea of a low-tech grower-to-consumer market relationship. Thinking about the relationship a simple greenhouse would have with the street and neighborhood was a step towards thinking about the architecture rather than the idea. Basic hydroponic systems and form are used to relate to an informal setting. Ultimately, this test failed to convey architectural design decision making, but, succeeded in thinking about context and the concept of indoor/outdoor relationships between a greenhouse and the community. A section drawing best represented this relationship.
Chapter Three // Design Research
Figure 042 Design test 2, section through a multilevel fish tank and various hydroponic systems
Design Test 2 Shifting to a building type focused on aquaponics for growing, this tested the idea of a fusion between a high tech vertical greenhouse and aquarium. The design is rather conventional and lacked creativity, but again, was meant to explore ideas about hybrid programming. Developing the building in section allowed for interior space to be focused on rather than skin and facade. The programmatic relationships across space were meant to enhance the experience of one place leading to more.
Design Tests
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Figure 043
Selecting a Site
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Figure 044 (cropped)
Selecting a Site To select a site, ArcGIS was utilized to cross0compare Boston, New York City, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. The criteria that triggered these cities were one or more extreme cases within the following data: (Figure 042) 1. Population Density 2. Predicted Population Increase 3. Food Access & Large Areas of Poverty 4. Food Deserts & Low Demand for Organic Food Identifying one city per criteria as the most extreme helped in selecting Detroit when it was called out in three out of four categories. Detroit’s population density was low but the expected population increase was a cause for concern. To go from 670,000 people to a potential 4,600,000 in thirty years would surely cause big problems. In comparison to other cities, Detroit has rather dense ares poverty with little to no food access. This amount of poverty makes the city seem blighted. By far, the surface area and density of food deserts in Detroit outweighed any other city. What was especially alarming was the lack of demand for organic food. That indicated that there must be an educational roadblock.
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DETROIT INSTITUE OF ARTS
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
MICHIGAN SCIENCE MUSEUM
CHARLES H. WRIGHT MUSEUM
ANTHROPOLOGY MUSEUM
WOODWARD AVE
JOHN R. STREET
E. WARREN AVE
ELAINE L. JACOBS GALLERY
YRELLAG ARTISTS SBOCAJ .LMARKET ENIALE DETROIT
N’NAMDI ART ELAINECONTEMPORARY L. JACOBS GALLERY
CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ELAINE L. JACOBS GALLERY
Site Test 1 : Mid-Town
Figure 045 Testing a site in Midtown
Selecting this site was based on current research at the time, about museums and the urban context. The goal was to position it publicly to give it presence among other major institutions in Detroit. The museum served as a cultural reference point.
Detroit within a museum mecca.
This site ultimately failed because it lacked the context of people. It served better as a commercial asset rather than situate itself as a community asset.
Selecting a Site
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Site Test 2 : Eastern Market Pepsi-Cola Plant The Pepsi-Cola Plant and the site located within the museum area were sites scouted out prior to a visit to Detroit. Understanding the scale of Detroit is difficult when there are pockets of vacant space surrounding the remaining buildings. After visiting both sites, it was determined that neither were appropriate. The Pepsi-Cola™ plant was too close to the thriving Eastern Market, yet too far to connect with it. The area also wasn’t within a food desert.
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Site Test 3 : “Food & Urban Agriculture Museum”
Figure 046 Test sites overview
The third site ended up too commercial and still didn’t have the right context. Located in one of the heavier commercial areas, it didn’t make a compelling argument for making the intended impact. The name also wasn’t quite right. An unconventional museum positioned among traditional museums seemed counter-intuitive.
Selecting a Site
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The Golden Ratio
The Pinwheel
The Mondrian
The Diagrid
The Shrinking City (Detroit)
Framework
The Grid
Layout
1916
1916
Pattern 1
1950 1960 1916
1960 1916
Pattern 2
1950 1960 1994
1960
1994
Bombay Distillery (England)
Living with the Land (Florida)
St. Josep Mercat (Barcelona)
community
Principles of Participation
Participation Begins with Me
• Collaborating with strangers requires points of personal engagement in order to confidently engage in creativity with strangers • A scaffolded experience pulls together the community’s contributions for meaningful use • Designing a successful social experience doesn’t design for the crowd • Connecting individuals to others within the crowd creates feeling of communal experience • Personal –> Communal Experience (5 stages) • “You are what you do” based on individual actions or habits (quantifiable) • Identifiers and Social Engagment • Take-away skill, object, digital file allows users to use skills and information from the museum and allows it to be implimented in daily life • Gathering community input to ensure Accuracy and Authenticity [site visit and interviews] • Testing ground for development [of both better exhibits and better systems]
community • “Big Food” controls 1/3 of the processed food market • Food Security by growing locally and creating local economy within the community • Areas of the urban environment segmented by typology and social order to cater to a cuisine (ex. Little Italy or Chinatown) • Food promotes dilution of cultural boundaries and restores primal link between urban inhabitants and their sustenance • Food Education Standards || Urban Agriculture • Tax Relief for communities that focus on urban agriculture
food + business
food • Farmers [or people in poverty] have the ability to transform the local food system
Visitors as Contributors
Collaborating with Visitors
Imagining The Participatory Museum
food
food + culture
environment • Participation happens when there are constraints, not open ended opportunity • Good constraints motivate and focus participation • The highest-value participatory experience will emerge from unfettered self-expression • Impersonal points of entry: Admission Desk, Map, Docent Tour • Maps and the representation of experience in spaces with color and addressing an audience • Suggestions for Main Attractions • Crowd sourced work for exhibit [crowd sourced labor] • Educational, by contributing, visitors are provided with skills or experiences that are relevant to the task • Participatory techniques invite an environment that allows visitors and curators to have a discussion • A shift in museum atmosphere, program, and subject matter, prioritizing new exhibits over preserving objects
• Smell, texture, and taste manifest a city’s cultural heritage defining social habits • Cultural shift in consumption habits –> low nutrition, high salt and carb proportions • Pluralistic Cuisines || High Embodied Food Miles • Campbell’s Soup Painting by Andy Warhol (MOMA 1962) • “Hamburger” by Claes Oldenburg (MOMA 1962) • Sustainable Capital in new economic model
The Food Parliament
environment • The City is a petri dish for analyzing global trends • Urban Farming requires Access to Land and Ability to Scale - Detroit • Access to fresh food catalyzes social, environmental and economic return • Smell, texture, and taste manifest a city’s cultural heritage defining social habits and urban territory • $6 billion USD annually spent on fast food • Throwaway Culture –> Urban Wildlife –> Compost • Food Cultivation, storing and selling integrated in Urban Planning
Artifact & Analytique 1 Exploring ideas about pattern making from historical references, controlled by the grid, five variations of the grid were examined. To understand organization, scale, color, aesthetics, and intuition, the grids were presented to a group of students with colored blocks ranging in dimensions, color, and number and a set of guidelines. Lessons and Observations: In the orthogonal grid, the layout indicated a desire for even distribution of business (red), residential (yellow), landscaped outdoor (white), and multi-use (blue), with multi use being slightly more central to the top and bottom. This is useful in considering contemporary urban planning as an even distribution aggregated together rather than distributed to the edges. The evolved pattern shows cubes and cruciform blocks with a continuous red color connecting them on all four sides. In the Golden Ratio grid, the user had the option to filll large spaces with multiple colors, strictly seen as colors. The Golden Ratio grid test aesthetics mathematically as a fractal. This grid is commonly used to design successful company logos and is generally considered beautiful. The parameters of this grid could have been adjusted to have a more useful outcome. The patterns created thereafter seemed to resemble nodes and inter-nodes with consistency in colors and overlapping geometry that joined spaces and colors together. The Pinwheel grid pattern was interesting because it appeared to have an overlap and bleeding effect going from large block of space to smaller block of space. Expansion and mirroring of color blocks sparked an idea for movement. The patterns adapted from this grid had a similar effect as the orthogonal grid but with block taking up the entire volume instead of partial volumes.
Figure 047 Artifact photos and collage of patterns as a study of the grid.
Artifact & Analytique 1
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The Mondrian grid explores a modernist artwork that catalyzed the entire pop art style of abstract art. Using art as en expression of the building section and program again displays an idea of program bleeding over from one portion of the grid to another. Collections of a program between a distribution of program. The challenge with this frame was to think in building section. In this frame, individual space is represented by yellow, outdoor space is represented by white, group space is red, and flexible space is blue. A clear desire to bring the outside to the inside is demonstrated. The Diagrid is a signature of post-modernism. To see if a pattern for spans could be used to think about patterns of urban space, this grid was allowed to leave space empty but use every color. Interestingly, this result showed landscape in an “X� dividing up different corners of the grid having the look of majority on program with spots of other program. Lastly, connecting the patterns to the sketch studies done previously to key literature research topics was a way to visualize big topic ideas.
Artifact 2 An iteration from artifact 1 resulted in testing an architectural scale, three dimensional version of the grid frames. Exploring the different configurations of space represented by gray boxes at varying dimensions was quick when the model has a high tolerance to be adapted. Biggest Takeaway: The grid allows for infinite possibilities if the model is allowed to adapt over time.
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Figure 048 Photo of artifact iteration 2. An open grid model with program that is free to move and shift as a tool of space planning.
Figure 049 Photo of artifact iteration 2. A partial facade studying puncturing the translucent corrugated plastic, typically used for greenhouses and industrial glazing.
Figure 050 Photo of artifact iteration 2. Partial facade study exploring a movable facade (closed). Left (Open).
Artifact 2
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Figure 051
Analytique 2 In effort to develop a deeper understanding of Detroit’s food culture, finding a cookbook of recipes from Detroit was necessary. J.N. Cameron’s “Seven Neighborhoods in Detroit Recipes from the City” (see Figure 051) defined key recipes people of Detroit recognize as specific to the area. Each of the neighborhoods are what was left after the economic collapse in the 1950s. The food recognized here is what remains of food culture in Detroit. The diagram looks to visualize the common ground between each neighborhood. Thinking about how to unify the neighborhoods as a collection of cultures is a way to think about reconnecting community together. Figure 051 describes the overlap of vegetable ingredients according to its use per recipe, getting larger if multiple recipes call for the vegetable. Outcomes: A graphic that represents the ethos of the thesis
Figure 052 Book Cover Art of Seven Neighborhoods in Detroit © 2015 J.N. Cameron
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Developing ideas about program - Fusion between supplying food and the food culture that comes from it - How much produce needs to be grown - The number 7
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O WO VE DA
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Revisiting Site Selection
Figure 053 Site Aerial View Transportation
Site Test 4: New Center
Woodward & Amsterdam
This site was selected after revisiting the food desert map, looking at public transportation limits, and seeing future plans to make the area just south of the site a “New Center” (see Figure 053). It sits at the second to last stop on the newly installed Q-Line light rail and between a few bus stops. Additionally, there aren’t many tall buildings around it to cast a shadow. Detroit has many urban planning issues that do not support contemporary living but this site attempts to exploit the boundary of public transportation and begs to extend the light rails further into the edges of the city boundary. Pro’s and Con’s:
Pro - Public transportation reaches this point Pro - The site is on the edge of commercial & residential Con - Fastest transportation method is still by car Analytique 2 & Revisiting Site
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Re-purposed Shipping Containers Figure 054 Collage 1: Detroit
Pad Thai Burrito
Shipping Co. (January, 24, 2020)
Detroit Visit: Collage 1 Documenting Food Culture: Detroit Shipping Co. Visiting a new version of food culture in Detroit, some things to note were the food fusion items (See Figure 054), Pad Thai Burrito), an art gallery, community seating, and the re-purposed shipping container construction. The cross programming is what was most interesting. The balcony was being used as a two-person stage to serenade the young crowd below in a food court-like setting. The hustle and bustle of this place was a great experience. Seeing people share conversation, food, and creative interest was uplifting. This creates a new food culture. It is not entirely contextual to Detroit, but it does pose an interesting hybrid of program. 84
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Art Gallery & Live Music
Community Seating
Collage | Detroit Visit
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Exposed Structure
Car Lines Promenade Figure 055 Collage 2: Eastern Market Shed 2, 3 and surroundings (January, 25, 2020)
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Detroit Visit: Collage 2 Documenting Food Culture: Eastern Market There is one place in Detroit where food is extremely accessible, Eastern Market (See Figure 055). Unfortunately the Eastern Market neighborhood is not accessible to everyone. The biggest criticism of Eastern Market is its compactness. Beyond all of the great things Eastern Market provides and does for the city, it doesn’t quite reach people in areas of food desert unless they drive a car. This was an opportunity to see programs in action: The Market, prepared foods, community kitchen, and other goods or products being sold. What was missing, for me, was seeing the people make these products. How did everything get made? Shed 2 is open to the elements and Shed 3 is enclosed. What if there was an option that combined this idea and was flexible through the seasons in one space?
Chapter Three // Design Research
Mural Walls
Recent renovation sponsor plaque
Figure 056 Eastern Market Neighborhood, position of market places within other shops and business.
Collage | Detroit Visit
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Figure 057 Diagram of Eastern Market’s circulation pattern
Circulation Learning from Ford & Eastern Market When considering earlier questions about patterns and embedding history into the new, the next idea came from visiting Detroit. Understanding Eastern Market (Figure 057) as a point of exchange was a big moment of success. Identifying the production line as the historically accepted version of production and opening it up to be transformed and fused with production posed a new concept that correlates circulation with the type of work architecture is performing. In the circulation transformation diagram (Figure 058). Outcome: Taking circulation three-dimensionally and crossing it would allow for more points of exchanging (whether that be exchanging goods, ideas, information, etc.). It relates to the history of the city while becoming something new on its own.
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Figure 058 Conceptual circulation diagram
Figure 059 Iteration of a new cycle: embedding food culture into the production process
Concept Test
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Design Test 3 Designing the year round market Expand in the Summer, contract in the Winter. Kiosks with prepared food of different cultures, fresh produce shared between. Seating collects in the corners and perimeters. This design test was a step in the right direction. Criticism from this iteration was site placement and to design the landscape. Further program needed to be developed as well. The drawing method of clear plans and section perspectives became convincing design tools in understanding both spacial arrangement and experience.
Figure 060 Summer Market Design Test 3
Figure 061 Winter Market Design Test 3
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Figure 062 Winter Market on site Design Test 3
Figure 063 Section Perspective Design Test 3
Design Test 3
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Figure 064
Design Test 4
Section Perspective Design Test 4
Penultimate Design This design tested ideas about an experience around a ramp circulation. The roof plane and for was criticized for being too nostalgic of Eastern Market’s wood framing. The concept of gazing downward toward (some process not yet defined) was compared to the moment in an operating room. Key Criticism and Questions
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- What kind of process would you want to gaze over, as an architectural expression? - Roof form is too pedestrian - Ramp idea makes sense but needs further articulation - Stairs up and down feel intimidating/uninviting. - Where did the idea of the grid go? Lost the expression
Chapter Three // Design Research
Figure 065
Reflection
Section Perspective 2 Design Test 4
This criticism was all very valid. This iteration was a big step in seeing all program come together. From here, I was able to fine tune my design for the thesis defense. The drawing type is developing but adding entourage will help liven the images. The line drawing quality emphasizes repetition and will help enhance the aesthetic of the grid. Bringing back an operable facade and roof is the next challenge in addition to adding furniture and detail about the space.
Design Test 4
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Context: The Rise and Fall of GRAPHIC KEY DETROIT POPULATION
PROJECTED DETROIT POPUL
CAR RELATED
PROJECTED CAR-RELATED P
CULTURAL
POTENTIAL EVENTS
PLANT-RELATED
POTENTIAL PLANT RELATED
4 Million
3 Million
2 Million
1 Million
> Million
1700
1701
Antonie de La Mothe Cadillac est. French Settlement called “Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit” and trade port with 100 soldiers and 100 native people of the Algonquin Tribe.
1820
f The Motor City
LATION
PROJECTS
Figure 066 Timeline of events (pg 96-123)
SIGNIFICANT TIME PERIODS POTENTIAL TIME PERIODS
D EVENTS
18
The nam It is a cies out o
1827
Detroit adopts a city motto “Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus” (We hope for better days; it shall rise from the ashes)
1830
1840
The Palm House at The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, UK. The institute was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2003 and contains 30,000 different plant species. It is a government finded research-based site. The herbarium has 8.5 million preserved species, a 362 acre arboretum and a collection of Victorian Era Glasshouses. Thisstyle emerged out of the popularized, but still very expensive, availibility of glass panes.
1840
1850
Stroh Brewery Co. is established by rival brands such as Schaefer, S Milwaukee, Lone Star, and Colt 45.
1850
1850
Stroh Brewery Co. is established, followed by rival brands such as Schaefer, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Lone Star, and Colt 45.
1850
1860
[1870-1915 SECOND INSUATRIAL REVOLUTION] 1870
1885
Detroit Museum of Art is Established (later known as Detroit Institute of Art or DIA)
1880
1903
The 3,500,0 Car factory i
Ford leaves and starts Fo Horace Dodg Dearborn (a s
1901
Detroit Automobile Co Fails. Ford opens second car company, Henry Ford Co.
1899
Ranson E. Olds opens Detroit’s first auto manufacturing plant, best known for the Oldsmobile.
1898
Henry Ford Establishes the Detroit Automobile Co.
1900
000 sqft Packard Motor Co is opened
the Detroit Automobile Co. ord Motor Co (with John and ge) and moves opperation to suburb of Detroit).
1910
The Auto Industry of Detroit is fully established.
1916
The Supermarket Piggly-Wiggly was the first ever concept of a one-stop-shop supermarket. The wife could take the car to the supermarket and get all the groceries faster.
1908
William Durant and Charles Stewart Mott found General Motors in Flint, Michigan.
[1914-1918
1910
1916
The Supermarket Piggly-Wiggly was the first ever concept of a one-stop-shop supermarket. The wife could take the car to the supermarket and get all the groceries faster.
1917
Victory Garden Government innitiative to reduce public demands during WWI.
1925
Walter Chry Corp
[1914-1918 World War I]
1920
1927
Detroit Museum of Art gets a new home and a new name; Detroit Institute of Art. Designed by Paul Philippe Cret, a French Architect from Philly.
1930
The Dust Bowl One of the first signs of clima change. Casued by extende drought, high temperature economic depression, an poor agricultural practice in th midwest. The wind eroded th soil from the the earth in maj wind storms
ysler starts the Chrysler
[1930-1940 The Dust Bo
[1929-1939 The Great Depressio
1930
1930
The Dust Bowl One of the first signs of climate change. Casued by extended drought, high temperatures, economic depression, and poor agricultural practice in the midwest. The wind eroded the soil from the the earth in major wind storms
[1930-1940 The Dust Bowl]
[1929-1939 The Great Depression]
1930
1942
Victory Garden By 1942, there was an estimated 18 million victory gardens; 12 million in cities and 6 million on farms
[1939-1945 World War II]
1950
Detroit is the 4th Largest City in the US with 1.85 Million people with 296,000 jobs in manufacturing
1940
1950
1958
Packard Motor Co factory CLOSES
imated 12 on on
1955
McDonalds was established The Americanfast food company founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernadino, CA. Simultaniously classic cars were becoming an American Culture Icon.
1950
Detroit is the 4th Largest City in the US with 1.85 Million people with 296,000 jobs in manufacturing
1950
1959
Berry Gordy founds MOTOWN RECORDS and opens Hitsville USA
1967
Twelfth Street Riot Inner city black residents against police and National Guard and Army soldiers 43 people are killed, 467 Injured, 7,200 people arrested, 2,000 buildings destroyed
1960
1969
Birth of the Internet ARPAnet delivered its first message: a “node-to-node� communication from one computer to another
SA
1967
Twelfth Street Riot Inner city black residents against police and National Guard and Army soldiers 43 people are killed, 467 Injured, 7,200 people arrested, 2,000 buildings destroyed
1973
The Gasoline Crises Opens up oppertunity for smaller, feul efficient, foreign-made cars to root in the US market.
[1970-Present] Informatio 1970
1982
Personal Computer Steve Jobs invents the Macintosh and succeeds to be the first successful personal home computer. The Apple Dynasty is born out of his parents garage.
on Age/Digital Age 1980
1994-2001
1992
Junk Status Moody’s cuts Detroit’s debt rating to junk status
Urban Renewal Ahead Detroit’s city credit looks like its on the rise aiagn und Dennis Archer
1999
Stroh’s Brewery Company Sold to Pabst and Miller
1990
2009
GM & Chrysler declare bankrupcy
2008
$17.4 billion Bailout President Bush gives GM and Chrysler a bailout
2002-2008
Credit Ratings slipping Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleads GUILTY to obstruction of justice
2013
der Mayor
2000
2006
AIA Adopts the 2030 Challenge In reaction to a 2002 Greenhouse Gas Emissions report, the 2030 challenge was geared toward architecture and construction after revealing that buildings use 40% of all energy. .
Detroit file estimated largestmun history. the arewo around $4 of art. Detr artwork aft
2010
2019 2013
Packard Motor Co famous footbridge COLLAPSED, further evidence of a city dependant on a singular industry and it’s failure leading to urban succession.
Detroit files for BANKRUPCY estimated at $18-20 billion, the largestmunicipal bankrupcy in history. Christie’s appraises the arework at DIA to be worth around $452-866 million worth of art. Detroit decides to keep the artwork after much debate.
2010
2020
0
2029
Detroit Center A $75-85 million collaborative effor project by Agence Ter, Akoaki, rootoftwo, and Harley Etienne expected to be completed around 2029. This is a re-design of the Detroit Cultural Center connecting outdoor pace with the DIA and Wayne State Library
[2030-XX
2030
2032
1st Urban Food Museum Detroit builds the first of its kind, connecting the cosmopolitan community thorugh food, not only in consumption, but also in production and systems. Boosts in economy and health have had an overall improvment on the residents and influenced an emergence of healthy food culture.
2040
Better Food Ways More cities adopt the idea of an Urban Food Museum as apart of their Museum and Market network in order to promote good social values of food and nutrition on a high caliber scale both engaging under-served communities and enriching the urban fabric of public institutions.
0-XXX The Ecological Era]
2040
7 Million
6 Million
5 Million
4 Million
3 Million
2 Million
1 Million
> Million
2050
2050
A Model for Post-Industrial Food Access in Detroit
Figure 067
Analytique 3 The final version of the analytique (Figure 067) assignment ties together key programs of the final design iteration. Shown as snip-its through the space, the experience of programmatic relationships within the building come to life. The section perspective shows how the ramp leads the user from one space to another. The atrium acts as a space for visual connection across programs and opens up space above the observation pavilion, hinting at the incorporation of evolved learning through engaging with other users and different programs.
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Criteria Historical References to: - Grid - Circulation Program Hybrid: Production & Exchange (and the in-betweens) - Market - Prepared Food from 7 Neighborhoods - Seed Bank - Seed Lab - Observation Pavilion - Root Cellar - Mushroom Cellar - Commercial Kitchen - Teaching/Test Kitchens - Anaerobic Composting - Hydroponic Agriculture - Sprouting - Workshop - Variations of
Methods Detailed Floor Plans with expression of the grid Section Perspectives that communicate experience Integrated program Complex Diagrams to visualize thinking
Criteria & Methods
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End Notes & Image Sources Figure 027 Visual comparison of precedents ranging in scale and location. Figure 028 Visualizing Records of Agriculture and Population over time. Figure 044 Comparison of US cities under parameters for Population Density, greatest change in Population over Projections, Poverty & Access to Food, and Demand for Organic Food in Food Deserts 2019 UDA Organic Food Consumption (BY) Esri, GfK MRI https://demographics9.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/USA_MPI_2_2019/ MapServer Socioeconomic Pathways and Regional Distribution of the World’s 101 Largest Cities ©Global Cities Institute (GCI), 2014 https://131c34f3-641e-3778-b6f8-7f4cb1fce3f0.filesusr.com/ ugd/672989_62cfa13ec4ba47788f78ad660489a2fa.pdf USDA-Listed Farmers Markets ©UOdocent (BY) USDA AMS https://services1.arcgis.com/4yjifSiIG17X0gW4/arcgis/rest/services/ USDA_Farmers_Markets/FeatureServer World Population Estimate (BY) Esri https://landscape6.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/World_Population_ Estimated/ImageServer USA Supermarket Access ©2012 Esri, infoUSA, U.S. Census Bureau https://tiles.arcgis.com/tiles/4yjifSiIG17X0gW4/arcgis/rest/services/USA_ Food_Environments/MapServer
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Figure 051 Shared Territory Diagram, visualizing connection and overlap between different food cultures in Detroit. Figure 067 Final Analytique
(All Images were created by the Author, Š Kaleigh Stirrat, unless otherwise noted.)
Endnotes
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4
OUTCOMES
THESIS DEFENSE 04.13.2020 Proposal Extents of Food Access Program Narrative Floor Plans Section Perspectives
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“
Landscape in the West was itself a symptom of modern loss, a cultural form that emerged only after humanity’s primal relationship to nature had been disrupted by urbanism, commerce, & technology. - Christopher Wood, 1993
” 125
Figure 068
Proposal
Fast Food Protest in Detroit Š 2015 Frank Witsel, Detroit Free Press
126
The final version of this thesis is a proposed model, or prototype, for food access in post-industrial Detroit. This model would be the aggregation of all necessary programs to rebuild food culture, improve the availability of food, and establish food access as not only the consistent availability of food but also as the knowledge about food and access to the tools needed to succeed. In searching for a solution that is socially equitable, engages the community, and acts as a piece of infrastructure for a social economy, and encourages entrepreneurial ventures, it proved to be an ambitious task. The hope is to evoke discussion about larger issues surrounding food access in urban food deserts and touch on many subjects to explore a fusion, hybrid typology merging multiple layers of the food supply chain.
Chapter Four // Outcomes
The Extents of Food Access & Questioning Quality In Detroit, the main access to food is through food stamps (SNAPS) program. Many places that accept SNAPS are at gas stations and liquor stores. Figure 069 analyzes the location and number of convenience store/gas station food access points in comparison to chain super markets and public farmer’s markets. Recently, there has been a grassroots movement toward urban farming that attempts to address food access and community engagement. The site tested for this investigation site at the center of majority of these points, acting as a Point A for the beginning of a new food access infrastructure. Figure 069 Mapping food access and emerging responses in Detroit
ST E
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Figure 070 Building in site context
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Figure 071 Observation Pavilion, looking into the Root Cellar and Preservation Workshop. (Level BG)
Context / Program Narrative
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Figure 072 Axon vignette of neighborhood market. The first program users would interact with acting as a gateway into engaging with more involved processes to build food culture. (Ground Level)
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Figure 073 Axon vignette of the produce market meeting the anaerobic composting equipment. This creates consciousness between buying more food and discarding of expired food. (Ground Level)
Program Narrative
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Figure 074 Axon vignette of commercial kitchens that users would have to pass in order to get to seating space. The purpose of this program is to make learning how to cook accessible. (Level 2)
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Figure 075 Axon vignette of different seating arrangements that encourage the collective to exchange in conversation or simply share space. Internet access also allows people to engage with Online sources of information regarding food or other. (Level 2)
Program Narrative
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Figure 076 Axon vignette of Greenhouse Head-house. This workshop is used to maintain daily tasks of the growing space. It is also used to sprout and raise young plants and treat for pests. (Level 3)
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Figure 077 Axon vignette of different hydroponics sets. The tower aeroponics is an extremely water efficient system that can grow up to 50 plants per tower. This system works best for leafy green vegetables. The large buckets are spaces for bigger plants, like corn and provides a clay growing medium for support. (Level 3)
Program Narrative
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Figure 078 Observing the crossing circulation leading to different programs.
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Figure 079 Axon Vignette: Glass roof, operable panels allow ventilation and sunlight to enter for growing space (Roof)
Program Narrative
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Figure 080 Below Ground Floor Plan
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Figure 081
Floor Plans
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Figure 082
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Figure 083
Floor Plans
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Figure 084
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Figure 085
Floor Plans
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Programmatic Experience The ramp brings the users through a series of programs designed to slowly reintroduce the lost food culture, multiple generations deep. The intention is to lead with the familiarity of prepared foods local to the remaining seven neighborhoods of the 1950s economy collapse. The market gives access to the cooks that make these food in house and allows the public to see the food they eat in its raw form. During the summer months, the food and market begin to expand outwards and become indoor/outdoor spaces. Between these is a station available to have groceries prepared for the user who may not have access to a kitchen but still wants to make good eating choices. Visual connection to the composting equipment gives 144
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the impression that food does not get wasted, and in fact gets used, eventually in some other form, either fertilizer for soil farming or liquid fertilizer for the growing the user eventually gets to see at the top. The commercial kitchen space on the second level could be used as a classroom to host local chefs and a soup kitchen at night to feed those in need. The seating allows people to extend their stay and engage with other users. The third level allows users to engage in the food supply chain as a grower, offering jobs to people who need work. The top level grows most of the food sold in the market. At the below grade space, a seed bank allows for a lighter exchange of seeds from around the world and the preservation of food for winter months and invites the public in as the first program they might see but the last they would interact with.
Figure 086 Section Perspective 1 Facing Woodward Ave
Section Perspectives
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Figure 087 Section Perspective 1 (Scaled up, left portion)
Section Perspectives
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Figure 088 Section Perspective 1 (Scaled up, right portion)
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Figure 089 Section Perspective 2 Facing away from Amsterdam Street
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Programmatic Experience Tying together the experience from beginning to end through the atrium and ramp allows users to visually connect with a glimpse of each program before getting there. Everyone moves at their own pace, therefore a ramp gives users that progression over time and length, building up to enriching the experience of food culture. Entering the space at the ground level, the atrium invites users engage in other program while maintaining levels of familiarity with prepared grab and go foods. Views to the roof structure act as a feature that allows natural daylight to filter through the building as well as create a stack effect in hotter months, but also serves as a functional element for the growing space. The wrapping ramp draws the eye into other spaces, giving users a reason to make repeated visits. Having this model be about work-life balance embodies the spirit of one-stop-shop convenience, but in a form that harnesses a sustainable, twenty-firstcentury, holistic approach. Not only is Detroit a food desert, but its people are entirely unaware of traditions around food from generations of lost food culture. Reintroducing those practices while exposing the public to greater infrastructural program engages them in a robust way that creates an impactful, meaningful relationship with food that doesn’t come from a drive-thru or microwaved TV dinner. New social structures and economies can come from these spaces as the spaces begin to be explored over time.
Section Perspectives
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Figure 090 Section Perspective 2 (scaled up)
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Figure 091 Thesis Defense via Zoomâ„¢
Feedback & Criticism Dialogue Reflections Summary of Feedback Alternative Approaches COVID-19 Address Eastern Market Response to COVID-19 Photos
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MEMBERS OF THE PANEL
Lora Kim Associate Professor of Architecture | Wentworth Institute of Technology Licensed Architect M. Arch | Massachusetts Institute of Technology B. Arch | University of California, Berkeley Jer Jurma Co-op and Career Advisor | Wentworth Institute of Technology Principal | Studio Oulu B. Arch | California College of the Arts, San Francisco Soo Jin Yoo, LEED AP Senior Associate | Merge Architects M. Arch | Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) B. Arch & B.A. Fine Arts | Rice University Anthony Piermarini, AIA Associate Professor of Architecture | Wentworth Institute of Technology Co-Founder | Studio Luz Architects M. Arch II | Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) B. Arch | Cornell University Mark Rukamathu Co-Founder | rukamathu.smith Director of Special Projects | Boston Architectural College (BAC) M. Arch II | Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) B. Arch | University of Arkansas Phyllis Wentworth Associate Professor of Humanities & Social Science | Wentworth Institute of Technology University of New Hampshire
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Feedback & Criticism Dialogue AP: “It seems to me, maybe you’re taking the position that these kinds of buildings can become a kind of urban infrastructure? Is this a prototype? How do you see this project in relationship with the bigger picture? KS: “What I was imagining is that the model I designed would be a central model version of what could be a larger network of operations, ranging in scales and function. The larger models would have a more holistic program to serve as an educational model. There could then be other models that lean more towards the production side or more towards the exchange side but scale down in size and area.” Reflection: Overall, I could have been better about taking a more clear stance and position. My ambitions got the best of me. I tried to make a lot of things better instead of focusing on one part to make great. Maybe if I were to do this project again, I would have started with the smaller models and finetuned those to then aggregate into a megalith-like “Living Food Museum”. SJY: “You’re proposing that this new food chain is both functionally and programmatically filling up the space that you are designing?” KS: “Exactly, I was envisioning this building originally as a museum and questioned whether or not a museum could create an experience of food culture through the food cycle. To see the process and inner workings of a complex system in an urban environment could reconnect people with food on many different levels. At the same time, I wanted to spin the historical context of Detroit as an industrialized city and physically manifest the idea into the building.
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SJY: “I understand the desire to call it a central model but before you said that I thought it was a prototype I guess I expected a little more contextual information beyond being withing the largest food desert. The part I’m not quite sure about is how you address the site and bring the people who would need this type of facility onto the site. I guess you could go with, you build it and they will come but I’m not sure if that is good enough.” KS: “I agree. When I chose Detroit, I had discovered that there is a lot of lacking infrastructure for public transportation. Where my site is positioned is the extent of the newly installed light rail cart that goes from downtown to the end of midtown. It is positioned between a few bus stops and I had added in a proposal for bike lanes on either side of the site. I think something stopped me from approaching the issues of transportation was the fact that it was out of my scope for my proposal and I simply didn’t have time to create a master plan. I chose to focus on the building since my narrative was based on the experience of reintegrating food culture.” Reflection: If I were to have another year to work on this thesis, I would have absolutely addressed the larger scale infrastructural issues with Detroit. This would involve some extra research into urban planning strategies, peri-urbanism, and historical context, such as redlining. My main concern when designing was to maintain sensitivity to the urban context of Detroit and not act as an outsider and ignoring certain social structures that exist. From the little research, I have done on the infrastructure of Detroit, I learned that many neighborhoods of minority groups were destroyed to make way for the car. It’s a whole different can of worms once you get into urban planning politics.
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AP: “How did you think about the hybrid of market and greenhouse in terms of their architectural implications?” KS: “I had researched both historical and contemporary precedents for both market and greenhouse, luckily one was in Detroit, Eastern Market. What I noticed was the use of grid and repetition to expand outward in models where space allowed that to happen. In the city, the idea is to move upwards, but Detroit presents a unique case where there is a lot of open space. Where my site is positioned, there is a mix of low to medium-rise buildings and I didn’t show this in my drawings, but the intent was to have the outside columns be tensioned with cross bracing. The diagrid, for me, was a nod to the cruciform pattern in Eastern Market and a way to activate the corners and add some life to the orthogonal surroundings. Programmatically, using the grid and open space works well for both production in the greenhouse and the flexibility of market space while also setting a parameter for other programs to sit within.” Reflection: Towards the end of my semester, I had received great precedents that likely would have been more useful to me in the fall semester. Looking back, I would have wanted to spend more time documenting precedents and have time to explore and reflect on what the spaces meant in relation to one another. PW: “How did you use that interesting study of Shared Territory, did this inform the choices of which options are available and so on, I’d like to hear a little more on how you used this study of overlapping food and cultures.” KS: “The Shared Territory food mapping was a way for me to think about which products grow naturally in the state of Michigan and which ones were typically imported. This sparked an idea about the seed bank and how trade could
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be done through seeds instead of fully grown produce. This would be a global outreach in effort to support the multicultural aspects of not just Detroit but other American cities. The greenhouse was also affected by this graphic. I did individual research on a lot of different styles of hydroponic setup and each had its pros and cons for what plant it was best suited for. From there, I kept a tally of which products could be grown on which system and multiplied it by a factor of one hundred. In theory, the production realm of the building could feed around one hundred people. The produce would also serve the kiosks at the ground level.” PW: “What percentage would you say the building program is dedicated toward education and what percentage is commercial? Is the overall goal a non-profit? Or is it a hybrid? It seems unclear what the project is.” KS: “I lean more towards the hybrid aspect, simply because I found that food can become a socio-economic fueling agent to a depressed economy. In a way, there are parts that are visually educational and there are parts that you can engage with the process on a more intimate level and there are parts where you are not forced to take any action. I wanted it to feel like a collection of different food cultures and that could mean consumption or business and the general experience is being able to observe them taking place.” Reflection: I think the issues with clarity in what the project’s goals are is coming from me not being extremely explicit about what the goals were. I think apart of me didn’t what the goals to lock me into doing one specific thing and rather touch on a lot of points and open it up for interpretation. In that sense, I felt the project was successful. Yoo’s point about it being a prototype is maybe more accurate than “model”. Prototypes don’t have to be perfect but can embody many ideas that could be flushed out into separate smaller pieces.
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MR: “To talk about some of the bigger ideas of a food desert and food culture (and away from the architecture) and I was really taken by the earlier research and the photo of people eating and walking and eating in their cars. I was wondering if one of the ways we address those issues is actually to embed more culture into our daily lives. The reason why we have waste and bad food is that we don’t make time for it. I was wondering if that circular diagram only talks about food production and is missing that social aspect of food as well.” KS: “In terms of the social aspect, the cycle I show begs to embed the social parts of food into that “making” category. The goal of the program experience was to engage the user with a variety of cultural aspects of food whether it be eating, preserving, cooking, buying, selling, composting, growing through the idea of the looped ramp circulation was to take the time to see these processes happening at a slower pace.” Reflection: Again, I think this issue is raised because of my ambition and high aspirational ideas about what the architecture could do. If I were to start my thesis at this point in design in the spring or even late fall, I would have more time to explore a more theoretical idea of food culture. AP: “This got me to think about bigger networks of delivery and the bigger set of issues of urban design, education, infrastructure, place-making, and culture. All in this project.” SJY: “I’m thinking about places I’ve been to all around the world like in Singapore and Asia that are super bare minimum, concrete blocks, open to the elements, and when I see these images I feel intimidated that the people who need this wouldn’t feel welcome. [...] I think the way you treat the building needs to leave us satiated enough to see where this is going. The way it presents itself doesn’t seem like it will reach the audience you’re trying to reach. There’s a slight disconnect.”
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MR: “It seems like an amazing food market that I would go to. I’ve been to markets like in Thailand where I grew up. There’s an energy to those markets that are out of control crazy that is captivating. This feels like a Western sampling of the sorts where you can try things from all over the world where I think you want this to be a much more integrated approach.” KS: “More controlled chaos?” [Panel agrees] JJ: “(back to aerial axon) I want to commend you as to where this has moved from the penultimate to here. You’ve addressed so much of what came up at that review, how you utilize the grid system. Turning it on the diagonal has really addressed the passion for the grid that people were really excited about but was lost [at the last iteration.] I think you made this much more accessible. I think the street facade this hints at is really very nice for what the intent was. One of the challenges that’s been mentioned here around the culture of food in Detroit and the international samplings, In Detroit’s decline, the surrounding nuggets were built around the ethnic food zones [as indicated in the Shared Territory diagram]. That is what held together as the city went over the precipice, and then was able to come back and so to see them appear in the program are touch points for people in Detroit. I thought the kiosks was a pretty accurate way to represent the residents and bring them in. You didn’t mention it and we have talked about it, is that the food desert is multi-generational. Many homes that don’t have functional kitchens and so their idea of comfort food is generally what comes from the fast-food outlet or the convenience store. There is a total loss of food history. In a city that suffers a 46% illiteracy rate, there’s a building block that needs to happen that doesn’t really touch into a cultural reference. It’s almost like this becomes a cultural reference and if you were to take this a bit farther, getting imagery of the approach will really finalize
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what this piece of architecture looks like, beyond the interior planning. I love where you went with interior planning. The use of the below-grade area is awesome and stays true to all of your intentions but then you brought it into a language that is much more accessible to the residents you are trying to serve.” * All dialogue was paraphrased and transcribed from a recorded video of the thesis defense *
Peer Feedback Steven DeFuria: “The way you portrayed the systematic approach and the sequence of the systems both as a whole and the various parts was great. I think if you were to continue on working, one thing would be to think about climate and how that effects your systems. Is the sequence the same? or different? Does the sequence change when the winter season comes around? “ Reflection: To do a deeper dive into systems and detail the facade is a part of the architecture I wish I could have gotten to. The ideas for operable facade and roof would address the seasonality. I think the sequence was a story telling tool as much as a design tool and that if the site was anywhere else in the world, the sequence would be irrelevant. Specifically to Detroit, I framed the narrative as such in order to think about the first year or two of its life. Eventually the sequence would change but the program and structure allow for a high tolerance of flexibility in order to adapt as time goes on. Exploring what a ten or twenty year old version of the model, as if it adapted and grew like a landscape would be possible in a doctorate degree. Nonetheless, I enjoy thinking about the way architecture may want to act more like landscape in the way it is thought about decades into the future.
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Summary of Feedback Reflecting on the last line of dialogue in the thesis defense, I first want to thank the panel for expanding their architectural thinking to reconnect with their own memories of food and food culture. I’d also like to thank Jer Jurma for providing key insight about Detroit and explaining first-hand a viewpoint from residents of Detroit. What makes America unique is that the cities are not defined by a single culture. The energy of the international markets is something that could be easily translated into the design and I think that was merely an oversight of adding the appearance of large crowds and the appearance of chaos. I would argue that the space I designed was, in a way, the bare minimum in the space allocated for the market with the intention of the market adapting and changing over time. If I were to pick up my thesis again, I would have wanted to explore a collage technique that allows that expression of energy in a drawing style. To evoke ideas of energy levels in certain spaces could be a thesis on its own and it is one that can definitely be applied to this thesis. Alternative Approaches Lastly, the panel was consistently in agreement that the topic of this thesis was certainly a relevant and important issue. I’d also like to touch on the alternative approaches I had brainstormed but never pursued. One is an approach that looks to take over the abandoned car manufacturing facilities. Another is the urban planning approach that focuses mainly on siting and locating where a prototype could go in the larger network of the city and then only focusing on one or two smaller models. Finally, an option that looks into only designing the proposal for Western Market and really pushing the boundary of the “market” as a typology in the urban context.
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COVID-19 Address
(opposite page, top to bottom, left to right) Figure 092 Social Distancing orders in place April 3, 2020 ©Eastern Market Figure 093 Offering connection through cooking via Facebook™ with chef Maxcel Hardy from COOP Detroit April 9, 2020 ©Eastern Market Figure 094 Offering curbside pickup
First, I would like to address the current state of the world, in which I had to complete the last month if this thesis. The COVID-19 pandemic caused Wentworth to close its doors after spring break. I had to move out of my on-campus housing, remove all of my tools, drawings, models, and books from studio, and set-up shop at home. Luckily, I didn’t need to make a physical model or print out big final boards, but this did shift the way I was preparing to present all semester. I don’t think it had a negative impact on my presentation, in fact, I actually preferred the digital presentation. The negative outcomes were mentally and emotionally. I was not prepared to leave the space I called home for five years so suddenly. I was not ready to say goodbye to my roommates, my best friends when we had plans to celebrate our long five-year journey together. I did not get the chance to say goodbye to my favorite faculty and even some of my studio friends. This hung over me for about two weeks making it really hard to refocus on what needed to be done. Ultimately, I think to get those weeks back and avoiding the disruption of moving and emotions would have been greatly beneficial in reworking definitive criteria and articulating the presentation narrative to be less sterile and more about the initial instincts I had on food culture and the idea of the museum. Eastern Market Response to COVID-19
from participating businesses April 21, 2020 ©Eastern Market Figure 095 Prepared food boxes sold out for the weekend market, limited supplies April 13, 2020 ©Eastern Market
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As a relevant and timely discussion of food security is taking place as this thesis comes to a close, the following photos are from the social media of Eastern Market. The immediate adaption and response of the Eastern Market Organization set out to ensure there be a way to address food access in the state of a global pandemic when social interaction is not an option. This may highlight an oversight of the final design. On the alternative side, the final design could be a place people look forward to enjoying when the world returns to its normal state.
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Eastern Market Response to COVID-19
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Figure 096 The last review taken place in studio for the semester. Design Test 3
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Figure 097 Working out final program details via Zoom™ Screen Share with Instructor Lora Kim and classmate Curtis Dragone.
Figure 098 Desk crits in the remote learning world, with instructor Lora Kim.
Process Photos
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