Grow, Eat, Learn
BNY Water-Based Educational Farm-Scape
Sept - Dec 2020, 4 months, YSOA
Critic: Abby Hamlin, Andrei Harwell, Dana Tang
Site: Brooklyn Navy Yard
Type : Manufacturing
Size: 250,000 sf
Individual Academic Project
MISSION
The project intends to reconnect the New Yorkers with the source of the food and promote an innovative soilless, water-based food production cycle. Designed to be a laboratory for learning for both public and expertise, the BNY communal foodscape serves as a model of urban agriculture that can be integrated into communities.
DESCRIPTION
The preliminary programs comprise three categories, production, consumption, and education. The massing strategy, which intertwines the farm-scape with the public space, reduces travel distances of food, restoring both the physical and mental link between producers and consumers. The visitors will not only get easy access to fresh produce coming directly from the farm but also be more aware of the cycle of the plantation, which is usually forgotten in today’s urban life. Meanwhile, the educational program aspires to revive the local economy on a neighborhood scale while bringing out collective awareness of innovative urban agriculture.
In terms of site access, the elevated bike route and walkway separate the traffic flow of automobiles, pedestrians, and bikes for both efficiency and safety. The bikeway above the edible water garden provides an enjoyable and didactic experience for cyclists. The pedestrian can access the site from both the waterfront promenade and Kent Avenue. The visitors from these two ways will both enter a center courtyard with an edible farm-scape and pop-up farmer’s market. This public space can also be used for other community activities such as concerts, performances, yoga, etc.
The studio brief assigns the site of Brooklyn Navy Yard and asks the students to come out with their program considering both the physical and social-economical context. By applying intensive water-based growing methods, the project converts the site into a highly productive public asset, where the community can grow, eat, and learn.