For the non-developable site, we propose to retrofit the existing warehouses instead of losing the building’s embodied carbon. Our site embeds various flows of a circular economy: the food forest provides accessible local produce, the community center has composting toilets for Treeline trail users and a communal kitchen for zero waste cooking classes, while the myceliation facility launches a new recycling economy from the backyard.

We wanted to use part of the nondevelopable area to add green space to the neighborhood. Planning urban green space requires a delicate balance of tree equity and eco-gentrification. As a result of their functionality, food forests walk the delicate balance of "green enough," adding tree equity without triggering economic displacement.

The food forest will provide a source of affordable, fresh produce while fostering a meaningful neighborhood identity. Designed to follow rather than fight the native ecosystem's natural patterns of growth, our forest will offer not only delicious and nutritious food, but also environmental education, food sovereignty, and the health benefits of access to nature for the entire neighborhood, including those visiting by way of the Treeline Trail. We encourage that the co-household residents take a direct role in planting and maintaining the food forest, so that they may form deeper roots within their physical and social environment.

We chose to take an adaptive rather than passive approach to the site's proximity to flood-risk. To this end, we curated a list of perennials that will thrive in wet soil and mitigate flooding. Due to their ability to act as a natural buffer within the floodplain, these perennials will help prevent soil erosion and crop loss, thus creating a durable foundation for both human and nonhuman species living in the area.