Living + Learning by Rebecca Twombly

L I V IN G LE ARNING

_______

introduction

proposal

precedent analysis __

key functionality

building program

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smart system

next steps

___________

_______

_________

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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and 10 miles

g vehicle

INTRODUCTION Studio Research Focus The aim of this studio is to think about architecture as a smart system, much like the technology around us everyday. Technology can be applied to building design in a multitude of ways, but here the focus is on: • Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) • Off-site modular construction • Digital twin technology

Problem Statement Food insecruity and food deserts are becoming increasingly larger issues due to urbanization. People living in food deserts have decreased access to supermarkets and often qualify as low-income houseolds. In urban areas, the supermarket is located more than 1 mile away and in rural areas, over 10 miles away. The food that is available within a walking radius is typically unhealthy food found at a gas station or a fast food restaurant.

People are often unaware of where their food comes from, from since it was not taught in school. Being an informed consumer is part of a citizen’s duty. It is powerful to have the knowledge to choose foods that were grown sustainably and nutritionally. These choices are what drives the consumer demand for more sustainable options. The following graph from Nielsen shows the sales of sustainable products since 2014.

The following maps, provided by the US Department of Agriculture, show food deserts (green) and low vehicle access + a far distance from a supermarket (yellow) located throughout the United States and Kansas City, an example of an urban area. Although 2018 is the latest year represented by this data, more recent reports have upheld the prediction that by the end of 2021, US consumers will spend

$150.1

billion on sustainable products, making up

Gen LI and LA at 1 and 10 miles 2015

Gen LI and LA using vehicle access 2015

1.5

The availability of fresh food in urban areas can be increased with the use of urban and vertical farming. farming When compared to traditional farming, these strategies are

6 mi

Date: 12/3/2020 Source: USDA Economic Research Service, ESRI. For more information: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation

390x more efficent and use 95 95% % less water per square 0

210

420

25% 25 %

of total store sales. sales

While some schools have implemented programs to learn about sustainable agriculture in the past fifteen years, years, this curriculum should be standard across the US to inform the next generation and to reduce the effects of climate change. change

840 mi

Date: 12/2/2020 Source: USDA Economic Research Service, ESRI. For more information: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation

foot.

PROPOSAL What?

The proposal aims to solve all three problems:

Utilize modular living buildings to teach lessons on sustainable agriculture in high schools and impact the next generation. Students will learn from hands-on activities as well as from the living building they call their classroom.

food insecurity

lack of sustainability education

Why? Modular off-site construction benefits such as: • consistency • reliability • decreased waste • lower overall cost

inadequate modular school buildings Many school districts across the country have adopted the use of modular school buildings, otherwise known as classroom trailers or portable classrooms. classrooms.

results

While living buildings are expensive to build today, they are the perfect application for the goal of teaching about sustainability. In addition to being a sustainable option for mitigating climate change, they are a tool to teach about sustainability in a holistic way. By experiencing a living building every way day, students will be engaging with the concept of giving back to our planet through the buildings in a community. Furthermore, the cost of consulting a sustainability expert from Day 1 of a living builidng design project is split across all users due to the modular and repeatable design. Learning about sustainable agriculture is becoming even more important as the human race uses up its natural resources and sinks further into climate change. change Traditional farming uses an excess of water and land area, which will not support a growing population. Furthermore, teaching the general public how to grow their own food, make healthy choices, and be an entrepreneuer will benefit the entire population.

They are presented as an economical and temporary solution to an expanding student population, but they tend to stick around for several years and they’re accompanied by a handful of practical and comfort shortcomings: shortcomings • small windows yield an insufficient amount of natural light • inexpensive materials resulting in an enclosed space for pests and animals • noisy, poorly integrated HVAC • ceiling tiles prone to mold build-up • increased maintenance • lack of storage space • lack of electrical outlets

How? A kit of parts will be available to schools who wish to implement this program. Each school’s unique qualities can be inputed into a Grasshopper script to result in a kit that is designed to put sustainability at the center of the school’s mission. mission 2

PRECEDENT ANALYSIS

Delsea Regional High School

1,080 10,500 sf

There are about 100 students involved in this program that features a greenhouse complete with aquaponic pools where they raise (then sell) tilapia. Their partnership with a local farming company presents an opportunity for the students to be paid for their work in growing and packaging the food they grow. In addition to hands-on lessons in growing, the students learn everything from food science to cooperation skills to the basics of business. business The area dedicated to this program is located conveniently close to the back entrance of the school, but more area dedicated to the cause would allow the program to involve even more students.

N 5

Redwood High School

1,900 13,000 sf

An 8,000 square foot sustainable farm and a greenhouse are central to this schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program. With these spaces, students learn to grow and cook fresh food. food They even have Market Days every month to sell food theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve grown In addition to the hands-on learning, another important aspect for these students is learning about the environmental and cultural impacts of food production. production Similar to other precedents, this school has developed partnerships with non-profit organizations in their area to build on the skills the students are learning on school grounds.

N 6

Avanti High School

160 2,000 sf

This is a much smaller school and there is a lot less available land, but they have made good use of what they have. The school built several garden beds to grow organic vegetables. Several sculptures also vegetables sit among the plants in the garden. Since the high school and elementary school are located on the same campus, the garden is located in the center of the buildings. Therefore, the older kids have a chance to teach the younger kids about growing and selling food in a mini-market. mini-market Thanks to their proximity to the Pacific Ocean (Olympia, WA) the students also learn about sustainable seafood gardening.

N 7

Bertschi Living Building Science Wing

240 2,700 sf

This addition to an existing elementary school is a living building, building complete with a green roof, a living wall, and insulated curtain walls. There are a variety of water treatment and storage measures in addition to a radiant floor heating system. Not only do kids learn from growing plants, they are also able to learn from the living building itself with so many of the sustainable features on display.

N 8

KEY FUNCTIONALITY

MODULAR LIVING BUILDING Smart = Sustainable Being smart is all about looking towards the future. Making a better place for the next generation is essential. The combination of Agriculture and Building economic sectors makes up 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions (EPA, 2010). This is not sustainable, and these industries need to implement innovations to decrease their effects on the environment.

Living Buildings Living buildings will become more present in our everyday lives within the next few decades as the need to shift from negative to positive environmental impacts grows. These impacts are present in multiple different ways, as illustrated by the seven petals of the Living Building Challenge. There is no better place to learn, within and from, than a building that gives back to its community.

Urban Farming + Hydroponics It is important for students to become familiar with the idea of urban farming. At first it may seem strange that fresh food can come from a warehouse in the middle of a city, but it is essential for us to adapt to new, more efficient technologies. The growing pod in this program will be a smallscale version of the future of farming: using less land area and less water.

Aquaponics Similar to hydroponic growing methods, aquaponic growing methods involve the roots of the plants growing while submerged in nutrient-rich water. water Here, however, the nutrients come from the fish waste. waste Teaching aquaponic growing methods is a fantastic demonstration of a symbiotic relationship. relationship Furthermore, it can help to cut down geenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector.

equity + accessibility

LEARN

net-positive water

sustainable materials

GROW

net-positive energy

APPLY

start a community garden

from surroundings

start a hobby

from experiencess

food + knowledge

future careers

BUILDING PROGRAM

STUDENTS WILL... Gain Sustainability Knowledge

Learn to Grow

• horticulture classes - urban gardening • history of agriculture - where food comes from • geography of food production • sustainable food production - economic impacts - environmental impacts • cooking with fresh foods

• hands-on sustainable agriculture practice • hands-on gardening with aquaponics and hydroponics

Spaces they’ll need:

PROGRAM SPACE REQUIREMENTS...

indoor classroom

outdoor classroom

sustainable science lab

cooking classroom

sustainable farmland

900 sf

625 sf

1000 sf

700 sf

2000 sf

Work in a Partnership

Relate to their Environment

• partnership with local farming company or non-profit group - pay students for their work - teach students lessons on business best practices and entrepreneurship - mentor program to learn about different career paths in sustainability

• additional focus areas of sustainable production depending on the geographic location of the community - living buildings - sustainable seafood production - sustainable forestry - sustainable fashion production - indigenous species in site landscaping

Spaces they’ll need:

garden beds

greenhouse w/ aquaponics

1000 sf

1200 sf

computer lab

recycled materials library

storage

1000 sf

300 sf

PROGRAM PODS After assessing the needs of the students, the different programmatic spaces were combined into six pods types based on their overall function.

A sustainable storage

farmland

garden beds storage

greenhouse w/ aquaponics outdoor classroom storage

indoor classroom sustainable science lab library of recycled materials storage

cooking classroom storage

computer lab storage

KIT OF PARTS Every school has unique needs based on their students, climate, and site. Therefore, each kit of parts comes with the bestsuited growing pod type for the school. The other three pods are included in all kits, supporting the remainder of the curriculum.

Pod 0 / Growing Pod sustainable farmland = 4.2 sf/student garden beds = 3.1 sf/student greenhouse = 1.33 sf/student

Pod 1 / Classroom Pod 3.33 sf/student

Pod 2 / Cooking Pod 1.83 sf/student

Pod 3 / Computer Pod 1.33 sf/student

SMART SYSTEM

INTEGRATION STRATEGIES Nucleus Grouping the four pods in a centralized approach would provide easy access from one pod to another. another It would work well in schools that have an existing courtyard.

Cluster If there is not a large enough space to employ the nucleus method, a cluster strategy would be a good option. This would work well in a school where the optimal position for the growing pod is in a different location from the best place for the other three pods.

Field The field approach is best used if there is a limited amount of buildable area around the existing building. This layout does a particularly good job of dispersing the concept of sustainability around the entire physical campus.

Grasshopper Script: Nucleus

Variables

The script was made to show constructability of the nucleus integration strategy. strategy The goal of the script is to come up with a few different visualizations of how each pod, made up of 40’x8’ bays, could be placed on an existing school’s site.

Each of these variables is represented with number sliders that can be changed to reflect the attributes of the school in question. • climate zone, where 1 = polar 2 = temperate 3 = subtropical 4 = tropical • buildable area on site • number of students

Additional Scripts The script below can be manipulated to achieve viusalizations for the other two integration strategies as well. The field script could implement a location randomizer for each pod while the cluster script could work with the location randomizer and stacking/sliding rules generated for the nucleus script.

Below is a “map” showing the logic of the script and how each step affects the Rhino model. There will be a more in-depth look of each step in the process on the following pages.

1. Loading + Sorting Data

Loading in Excel database file

Adjustable number sliders for variables

Growing pod is chosen.

Final square footage for each pod

2. Constructing Boxes

8’ x 40’ bays

Total (whole) number of bays, to be used in step 4

Length in the Y-direction, to be used in step 3

Boxes are created, but they are overlapping.

3. Moving Boxes

“Sliding” can be toggled on instead of stacking.

*Growing Pod does not need to move, since it’s at point (0,0).

Lengths in the Y-direction of previous pods, from step 2

Stacking requires a combo of vertical + horizontal movement.

Classroom Pod only moves horizontally.

Sliding only requires horizontal movement.

Pods in their final positions

4. Panelizing Boxes

Choose one face to extrude.

Parallel sides are grouped together. Step 4 is repeated for three remaining pods...

Adjust wall thickness (ft)

# of 8’ x 40’ bays, from step 2

Opposite wall extrudes in the negative direction (out).

Divisions result in 8’ x 4’ panels.

Each wall is extruded separately.

NEXT STEPS

NEXT STEPS There are multiple areas I would like to explore next semester to strengthen this smart building concept. These are a few that I am interested in developing further.

Living Building Systems

Space Design + Materiality

• Become more familiar with the systems invovled in a living building. • Find a way to integrate the systems into modular building pieces in an efficient yet elegant way. • Develop modular pre-fabricated systems modules that are crucial for a living building to be successful. - ex. water collection, rainwater storing system, irrigation for growing pod, etc.

•

Research materials that would be appropriate for both the interior and exterior, considering the off-site construction approach. • Define a standard layout for each pod type and develop visualizations of what the kit of parts for an example school would include. • Envision how occupants could circulate from one pod to another, as well as from the pods to the main school buildings.

Grasshopper Plug-ins

Off-Site Construction

• I have read about using the Ladybug and Honeybee plug-ins to analyze the climate data of an area, but I need to do further investigating to work it into my script. • Help find the best growing pod type for a particular school. • Identify the optimal location for the growing pod to sit on a site.

• Understand how the bays would come together in a practical sense. • How do the pods connect? connect • How will the project arrive on site? site

Rebecca Twombly ARCH 811: Architectural Investigation I Fall 2020