the seeds for a better health are in architecture!.pdf

8/12/2019 THE SEEDS FOR A BETTER HEALTH ARE IN ARCHITECTURE!.pdf

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28 MARKET

INDEX

1 POSITION STATEMENT

4 CONTEXT ANALYSIS

37 MATERIALITY

7 SITE POSSIBILITIES

11 MASTER PLAN

14 EDIBLE GARDEN

25 EXTERIOR MODULE

20 PROGRAM AND POSSIBILITIES

THE SEEDS FOR A BETTER HEALTH ARE IN ARCHITECTURE!


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POSIT

IONSTATEMENT


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POSITION STATEMENT

There was a time when people used to go to the market not just to buy food -which was obviouslyfresh because there were any refrigeration systems- but to socialize; you had your market assig-ned by proximity and you had to go there almost every day. So your butcher was your friend and so

was the baker. But maybe you didnt even need to go to the market because you lived in a housewith its own farmland. This wouldnt happen now in the USA, where only 1% of the population arefarmers, whereas in 2004 a 5% were and in 1870 it was a 75% of the population*. This fact is relatedwith the actual and future growth of the cities. It is estimated that in the next 50 years 80% of theworld population will reside in cities, abandoning the rural environment and adopting new habitsand ways of life. This is actually happening and it has some negative and some positive connota-tions.Negatively, this means that organic and fresh products are now harder to obtain because farms arefar from the city so people living in urban areas are either consumers of low-quality food at lowprices or consumers of expensive organic products only accessible to certain social layers. This isbecoming a nutritious racism.

Positively, it means that there is more density in the cities so there is less need for cars and privatetransportation and the use of public transport system or the bicycle has increased.If you put these two facts together, the urban farming starts making a lot of sense; if a farm existedas often as a supermarket in the cities, we all could be able to eat fresh food at a low price.But this leads to the other problem found nowadays: if only a 1% of the US population is a farmerand the average age range is 57*, we need to shape the future generations of farmers and of loca-vores. With that purpose, the USDA funded the Farm-to-School Program, to teach children aboutthe importance of healthy eating and of learning about the way things grow and end up at yourtable. This program has been very successful, 5 years ago it only existed in New York and now ithas been extended to 26 states, including California.*

But not only kids have to learn this, we all have to be conscious about this issue, because modernagriculture is the largest consumer of land and water, it is the biggest source of pollution, and itcreates 20% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. US citizens should be more aware of it thananybody else because in this country 95% of the food consumed in the US travels from where itis harvested to the table more than 1000 miles*The food transportation is an important issue at the moment because as fossil fuels start to bescarce, the energy prices rise and so do food prices. This is one of the reasons why organic food isbecoming really popular since the 1990s, when several events made people start changing theirminds world-wide (e.g. The Kyoto Protocole, 1997).

The US food system calls for a change. Eating local organic food is the solution to

many health and economic related problems, but the social aspects of food is still

an unsolved issue. I propose a market for the community that acts as a gathering

place for every generation where they can enjoy and learn together. Lets shape

the cities to shape the food system.

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POSITION STATEMENT

People want to eat healthier in the United States, as shown by the surveys: US organic food saletopped $21 Billion in 2008 and the number of operating farmers markets has increased a 17%from 1994 to 2010*, especially in California, being now the top 1 state for number of recordedfarmers markets in 2011 (with 729).However, the will to change your food habits can be restrained by the fact that you live in an areawhere you have to take the car to go to a supermarket, or if there are no supermarkets or groceries near your home. If this happens to you, you are living in a Food Desert, which is technicallan area where at least 500 people have no access to a supermarket or large grocery store within amile in urban areas or 10 miles in rural areas. There is a 10% of the US population that meets this

definition.So what can we do us as architects, to solve these problems that are taking place now and wil

get worse in the future?

We can create cities where urban farms are integrated in the city so that the food doesnt have tobe transported -and consequently pollute the air- and making organic fresh food more accessiblefor everyone, especially for the kids, who normally dont even know that carrots grow on thground or that milk comes from the cows.Food has always shaped the cities and its time for the new generations of architects to shape thfood system with the architecture, by shifting the actual nutrition system into a more local one.In order to do this we mustn't forget the special role of food in this society: food gets people toge-ther. For religious holidays and other special occasions, people have long gathered in public oprivate places to eat together. In all these ways, food continues to play a highly visible role in publilife in cities throughout the world, meeting peoples need for sustenance, sociability and entrepreneurship, and generating a sensory-rich feeling of vitality.Maybe the United States is the country with less socialization tradition in markets, and now hanone of it in daily life. Americans normally take the car to a huge super or hypermarket, buy whathey need and leave again with their car. Lets be influenced by the European culture of going tothe market as a social aspect of life.I propose a market that sells local produce, where people can meet and have something to eat odrink, to enjoy the company of others and the vitality of the farmers markets, with a hydroponiand organic farm where people can learn about it and pick up what they want and eat it directly. I

must be a place for the community, where they can get together or where events and activities takeplace. It is not dedicated for a certain age range, kids can learn and play in the farm, youngsterscan meet together and have a snack or a drink, adults can buy fresh produce and see it cook righthere with friends or family and elderly people can make it their socializing venue, as it happenusually in Southern Europe.This kind of market could be a prototype of a community market for every neighborhood: farmmeets market meets community center. It is a typology that mixes European influences -how thecherish food and social life- with a solution to the actual problems in the US food system -fooddeserts, obesity and industrial farming- together with the particular problems of a community.


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CONTE

XTAN

ALYSIS


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8

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The context analysis in collage format lead me to 8 conclusions, some of them possitive and som

negative:1. Little Italy has a combination of different architecture styles and sizes.2.The farmers market, called Il Mercato, revitalizes the area weekly.3. Every kind of person, given its gender, age or social condition and even animals can enjoy thiarea, specially the farmers market.4.There is a huge variety in the range of products sold both in Little Italys commerce and thfarmers market.5. Il Mercato doesnt have its own identity but Little Italy does.

6. The fact that the weekly market takes place there every week is atractive to the public.

7. Every time the market takes place, the priority is given to the pedestrians and the cyclists.8. This market has to adapt to the area where it is placed every Saturday.

Conclusion numer 1 means that I could design something modern because they are already useto it. Conclusion number 2 and 6 mean that if I should support the weekly farmers market, despitthe fact that I am proposing a permanent one. Conclusion number 3 and 4 mean that there varietis neccessary in my thesis project. Conclusion number 5 and 8 mean that there is a need for a permanent place that gives a new image for the weekly farmers market, it could be a shaded are

where the market occurs on Saturdays and that is used also the rest of the week. And, finally, conclusion number 7 indicates that there should be a way where this could always happen, by changing the sidewalks and the roads to encourage the public transportation, bicycle riding and pedestrian use of the streets.

CONTEXT ANALYSIS


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SITEP

OSSIBILITIES


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MASTERPLA

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EDIBL

E

GARD

EN


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PROGRAM

AN

DPOSSIBILIT

IES


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EXTER

IORMODULE


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MARK

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MATERIALITY


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the seeds for a better health are in architecture!.pdf

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