Project Title:

Project Location: Pretoria

Project Focus Area: Urban Agriculture

Supervisor(s): Dr Calayde Davey & Christo van der Hoven

Project Description: 

In the 21st century we are removed from our food. Cities and agriculture are segregated giving rise to several challenges, including high food miles, environmental impacts, and food insecurity. Within Hatfield, there are students who have the daily dilemma of choosing between purchasing textbooks or having a meal. Our country suffers from great hunger, while other citizens live in excess. This tension points to a systematic brokenness. Merely increasing food production is not the answer, but a systemic intervention to our food system might bring us a step closer to mitigate the disconnect to food and each other. Furthermore, most citizens are disconnected to meaningful rituals of food. Many engage in mechanical motions of fast-food shopping, unaware of the origins and flavours of fresh food.

A city is more than a mere residence; it shapes your movement and daily rituals. Architecture can transform the programmes of the Foodscape into daily rituals of Hatfield’s residents. The building offers users an opportunity to experience the essence of the earth within its living structure, in line with architect Pallasmaa, J's (1996) notion of engaging 'the eyes of the skin.' Textured materials like brick, greenery, timber, and textiles elicit a tactile connection to the earth.

Food has the power to unite people establishing a social ritual around a table of food. This project aims to restore access to freshness and revive a primal connection to food. It introduces the concept of urban agriculture as an interconnected framework encompassing diverse processes: farming, harvesting, washing, preserving, cooking, eating and selling. By integrating all the programmes on one site, the feasibility of urban agriculture is enhanced.  Each step of these processes will be exhibited to the public through workshops and thereby educating citizens about food cultivation, hygiene, waste management and cooking with fresh ingredients. This framework redefines waste; no green waste is discarded, but rather assigned a specific role to contribute to another process, thereby promoting circularity. 

A series of intricate Glulam trusses, that are alive with produce, act as a roofscape that envelops a textured, public landscape filled with workshops, urban kitchens and urban dining rooms. The roofscape rests on a series stereotomic face brick footings that also inhabit city programmes - columns with a function. The footing represents the texture and heaviness of earth that allows for growth above. 

Incorporating the vitality of produce and the communal spirit of shared meals, this project weaves urban life and agriculture into a transformative tapestry, enriching Hatfield's landscape with a dynamic blend of nourishment, learning, and togetherness.