CAPA - pt.3

CAPA

Centro de Aprendizaje y Producción Ambiental

Part 3

CHILDRENS’ ROOM

Cecilia is a 9 year old student at Obrero Mexicano Primary. She frequents the childrens’ room and playground as an extracurricular a couple times a week, when her father Héctor picks her up and they both walk to CAPA.

As they arrive, Cecilia checks in with Gracia, the caregiver and waves goodbye to her father as he walks on by towards his afternoon shift at CAPA hydroponics.

This space is designed to ensure meaningful learning and didactic experiences for children ranging from preschool to secondary ages as complementary education.

Placed at the front of the site near the open study areas and plaza, it is a visible location for those responsible of child users, who can sit to read or enjoy a snack while their young play and learn.

The double-height childrens’ room is furnished with entertaining features such as a small stage, playing islands and a cozy library, as well as a restroom at ground floor. Upstairs, there are three more introspective cubicules where reading or private lessons can be held. The main lighting feature is the enveloping first floor curtain wall that places visual external distractions out of reach.

Outside, the playground awaits with three zones of play aimed towards the skills and challenges of the three stages of childhood.

PLAYGROUND

TOWARDS THE WILD GARDEN

After leaving his daughter at the childrens’ room and playground, Héctor makes his way towards the community garden for his afternoon shift. Along the way, he passes the recycling center and clasrooms. The path is winding and playful, a comfortable pavement with pockets of tezontle and chipped wood for planting and water infiltration. Just before entering the vertical farm, he takes a moment to take in the view at the wild garden.

This lush uncovered island represents CAPA’s compromise in aiding nature’s reclaim of the city’s harsh urban context. Today, Vallejo lacks 65.8 hectares of green space according to the WHO’s recommendation of 16m 2 of green space per person. Access to nature is crucial for people’s wellbeing and can become part of a larger landscaping strategy involving CO 2 absorption, air filtration, water infiltration and temperature reduction.

Here, a large blue eucalyptus with formidable carbon sequestration capacity, towers over the community kitchen and provides a space for gathering and resting. Héctor has laid to read in the lawn more than once in between shifts, and is happy to find himself immersed in nature even in the middle of the city.

COMMUNITY GARDEN

Héctor is an agricultural engineer working as a general manager at CAPA hydroponics. He is in charge of monitoring the nutrient solution’s concentration, the OLED wavelength, irrigation system, crop wellbeing and quality control for all crops: lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and strawberries.

Since most crops go directly towards the community kitchen and restaurant, CAPA hydroponics achieve economic circularity as well as environmental sustainability.

The space, a triple height enclosure with a north-facing curtain wall, procures natural lighting while controlling the crop’s growing conditions artificially. Its water efficiency permits recycling more than half of daily inputs. Nutrient solutions are crafted at the laboratory, irrigation systems powered by a machine room, and crops end up in dry or cold storage before consumption. Excess biomass is composted, and plant transpiration is condensed and used for air conditioning. Tomorrow’s farming wastes nothing.

HYDROPONIC FARMING

FARMING FOR TOMORROW

If traditional agriculture were the only option, the world would need new arable land the size of Brazil to satisfy food needs by 2050. Thankfully, it isn’t.

In line with Dr. Dickson Despommier’s reasoning, we must innovate using common sense. Crops must be grown inside of cities for urban populations to procure a nearby sustainable and reliable food source, grown in more efficient, reliable and environmentally regenerative surroundings.

Hydroponics, for example, were created by NASA for growing food in space and it is now a widespread technique in vertical farms globally.

Even if initial investments are costly due to unaccustomed technologies, the return of investment includes food security, a positive carbon footprint, energy and water savings, and new jobs for skilled workers in HVAC, agronomy and biochemical sectors.

For this site, vertical farming represents a paradigm shift regarding large scale production towards conscious and sustainable practices. In a sense, this modern take on farming is an update to the original Vallejo hacienda where agriculture and livestock were the main activity. What if the new industry is the one that started it all along?

COMMUNITY KITCHEN + CAFE

Towards the end of their day, Cecilia and Héctor attend a cooking class at the community kitchen, where an instructor leads the class into making a tasty dessert using CAPA hydroponic strawberries and tejocote fruit from the plaza. These classes occur thrice a week with varying menus, all including at least one locally sourced ingredient. During days without lessons, father and daugther can enjoy salads, wraps, bowls, smoothies and other healthy foods at the café. To go or for eating at a table in the terrace, there are always great options that cater to many tastes.

The open kitchen offers nine complete stations for cooking lessons, with a storage and refrigeration area at the side, and an opposing curtain wall with views to the terrace and plaza. This space is larger than the café’s kitchen without sacrificing quality equipment. This service kitchen has a convenient connection to the community garden’s dry storage room for access towards bulked goods, fresh vegetables or other needed items.

PROGRAM IMPACT

CONTEXTUAL IMPACT

CONTEXTUAL IMPACT

CONTEXTUAL IMPACT

REPLICABILITY

...TOWARDS A SHARING

PRODUCTIVE REGENERATIVE NET-ZERO

PEOPLE-DRIVEN

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY

ANALOGOUS EXAMPLES

ANALOGOUS EXAMPLES

REFERENCES

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