urban food stimulus Undergraduate Thesis Project by Wesley Thompson
Problem: disconnected gardens + malnourished citizens
The objective of this project is to look critically at a comprehensive agricultural plan for the city of Portland, Oregon. There are some obvious problems with large-scale agriculture, many of which have been addressed in the past few years through books, news, films, lectures, etc. The Portland Plan--a document compiled by
various groups involved in city planning--points out issues of food security, obesity, and general nutrition awareness. Food production has always had a place in urban planning and land use, whether it occurred in the city or had some connection to more rural growing conditions. Recently, there have been major efforts to revive efforts in urban farming and looking at under-utilized spaces in cities for food production. And while local and organic gardening is the most effective way to feed the citizens of a city, there must also be a way to distribute and store food within the city. According to a study reported in The Guardian, nearly half of food produced in the world is not consumed due to spoilage and waste. And although food produced locally does not have nearly the distance to travel as most food produced currently, there is no guarantee that food won’t be spoiled and citizens will not be living in food insecurity. Further, there
is an inherent problem with local food during the winter when supplies are relatively low. Urban Food Stimulus proposes that cities begin to think of urban agriculture as more of a system that engages multiple entities with the task of feeding its citizens. The city becomes a machine for producing food, and just like any other machine, it contains many moving parts that must work well together. The project is a building in Northwest Portland that is a node for the collection, processing, storage, and sales of food produced specifically within the Urban Growth Boundary. The building does not only engage the food system in terms of tangible production, but it also becomes a highly transparent, intellectual and cultural node. It questions previous roles of disparate programs like food production, markets, city planning, and community involvement, and it proposes that they can all exist in a common space.
3 out of 10 children in Portland live in food insecurity
44 % of Portland’s adults are considered obese
many citizens have an interest in farming but maybe no outlet
3 out of 10 children in portland live in food insecurity
vertical gardens
44 % of portland’s adults are considered obese
rooftop gardens
under-utilized urban space Viable options for local food production, but where does all the food go during harvest?
A Food Collection Node
Portland Urban Growth Boundary
many citizens have an interest in farming but maybe no outlet
under-utilized suburban space
preventing local food spoilage
er
summ
1 Picking
a bright sunny morning on davis street at the waterfront
produce washed and sorted
produced in different parts of the grocery shopping experience as city has somewhere to go once it well. Instead of driving to a big is picked. Part of the machine also box store to purchase food with machine also addresses the problem of food local food, even when it isn’t necessarily fresh. The addresses the problem of food large embodied energy, citizens spoilage. At the end of a growing season, a large project will have several pieces of equipment on spoilage. the end growing site that now shop for local food, quantity of food isAt produced , soof it isaimperative allow for different foods to be even preserved that season, a city has athe rightquantity means to of preserve off-season. large foodit throughout whenthe it isn’t necessarily fresh. The throughout the winter. This drastically changes is produced , so it is imperative project will have several pieces of the grocery shopping experience as well. Instead thattoa acity hasstore thetoright means equipment on site that allow for of driving big box purchase food with largetoembodied energy, citizens now the shop for preserve it throughout different foods to be preserved winter. This drastically changes the throughout the off-season.
fall
g
sprin
winter
Urban agriculture starts to combat local many offood the problems preventing spoilage inherent in large-scale food Urban agriculture starts to combat many of the production, but what it does problems inherent in large-scale food production, not guarantee is that food will but what it does not guarantee is that food will not be wasted. “machine” of the Urban Food not beThe wasted. The “machine” Stimulus is based largely on the idea that there is of the Urban Food Stimulus is an infrastructure for Portland’s food system. Food based largelyparts on the ideacitythat produced in different of the has somewhere to is goan once it is picked. Partfor of the there infrastructure Portland’s food system. Food
2 delivery
3 processing + storage
wash basin
juicer
freeze dryer
4 public market
dehydrator
compost
canning eqipment
a northwest tradition
Location in Northwest Portland
existing building site
5 4 0 I -
b u r n s i d e
s t r e e t
South Facade from Burnside Street: Completing the Street Room
Site Plan 0
5
15
35
FEET
2 4 3
5
1
5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
public market, open to Burnside Street food processing + storage space (existing building enclosure) cold storage public garden market opens to adjacent streets gallery/lecture space library local food restaurant gallery space (exhibitions about local food projects around Portland) planning + design office (makes proposals for local food projects) university extension office greenhouses + tool storage
12 12
fifth floor
11
10
fourth floor
7
8
8
6 second floor
9 third floor
Longitudinal Section
Assembly of Standard Bay
17th Ave
South Elevation
Trees in Roof Detail
16th Ave
15th Ave
I-405
Transverse Section Concept
Lecture Space
Processing Building Interior
1
4
2
5
3
1 perforated metal roof louvers over processing space 2 permeability from street to market 3 greenhouse 4 facade study model 5 sketch, exploring construction and solar control of popout 6 facade study model, exploring human scale
6
Sectional Model
This book was prepared after a thesis studio at the University of Oregon under the direction of Professor Howard Davis. Many thanks to Howard for his guidance and support throughout the project and to the members of my jury for their generous feedback at the review. Wes Thompson, June 2013