Summer 2008: WorkAC

The Building Design portion of the project takes the ideas and concepts developed for the Master Plan and to design a building based on your team’s Master Plan for your new future Queens Farm. For this project, we will be exploring the notion of   Hybridity   – each building will contain a mix of functions or programs that address the working aspects of the farm,  the visitor experience and entertainment aspects, the integration of art and museum programs with agriculture and the fruits of the farm’s production. In addition, each building should integrate one alternative power source or sustainable system.

We are interested in the interrelationships between these four aspects of the Farm and your designs should reflect the varied nature of the site and the possibilities for sharing, mixing and the creation of new programmatic spaces and typologies through the combination of programs within a single building.

We are interested in exploring design solutions which exploit interconnectedness and that create situations where “1+1=3” – where new conditions are creating simply through combination and sharing.

Masterplan

The FARM LOOP is the interrelated productive aspects of the farm, including barns, sheds, greenhouses, animal areas, fields, lawns, gardens, forest area and water areas. Research farms and farm systems, reviewing and continuing the research work of Group 1 (Sustainable Farming) especially, in order to determine all possible interrelationships between the animals, fields, and buildings. In the words of Michael Grady Robertson, the farmer, the goal is: “ a diverse, small?scale, production?oriented farm. I see several major areas of small?scale production: (1) the vineyard, (2) farm animals for meat, (3) animals for dairy, (4) animals for fiber, (5) organic fruit and vegetable production and (6) fiber plants, cotton and flax, and plants with natural dyes (7) egg production (8) honey production and (9) Waste, Water and Power Systems. Other added value products would be great, too— especially crafts and arts driven, like pottery or fiber production.” Time is a critical aspect of the FARM LOOP. A series of diagrams and research should show the weekly, monthly, seasonal and yearly changes that occur within the farm and its interrelated parts. Begin with research into production?oriented farms and farm systems, including animal needs and uses and diagramming different interrelationships between the parts of the farm. Analyze the existing situation, working with material and drawings provided by Group 3 (Queens Farm) and discovering your own and start to imagine the sizes and locations of the different parts of the FARM LOOP. Lastly, together begin to conceptualize the FARM LOOP – what shape does it take, what is your attitude towards this loop, especially within the urban context, how can physical location and design create new relationships between the parts?

The PUBLIC LOOP is made of the entire program dedicated to educating, entertaining and accommodating the public, assuming that the 500,000 people who visit the farm annually will only grow. The PUBLIC LOOP’s needs, however, should always be seen and conceived of in relationship to the FARM LOOP. In event of a conflict of space or desires, the FARM LOOP should always prevail. The PUBLIC LOOP needs to exist within, around and in harmony with the FARM LOOP, as the primary purpose the public is coming is to be exposed, within the urban context, to a working, productive farm. Review the work of Group 3 (Queens Farm) and research other aspects of “agrotainment” as it exists currently on the Queens Farm and imagine new forms of agrotainment that could exist in the future. Design a loop that introduces the public to all of the different parts of the farm, the museum and the other public aspects. The schedule of seasonal and other time?based events should also be diagrammed as they relate to each other, and to the temporal aspects of the FARM LOOP. Begin with research into the different aspects of the public programs. Diagram different interrelationships between the parts of the public program, as well as with the aspects of the farm. Analyze the existing situation, working with material and drawings provided by Group 3 (Queens Farm) to discover your own and start to imagine the sizes and locations of the different parts of the PUBLIC LOOP. Lastly, together begin to conceptualize the PUBLIC LOOP – what shape does it take, what is your attitude towards this loop, especially within the urban context, how can physical location and design create new relationships between the parts?

Interrelationships

Most importantly, the interrelationships between the FARM LOOP and the PUBLIC LOOP should be conceived and diagrammed. How can the “work” of the animals, plants and systems of the farm inform and impact the public aspects. The relationships between food produced on the farm and food in the restaurant, for example, or the relationships between parking for events and fallow fields, or between the public loop’s food, waste and the farm’s compost and heat…all of the different farm and public systems are potential areas for interaction and interdependence.

Faculty

Philip Plowright
Elizabeth Keslacy
Virginia North
Martin Schwartz
James Stevens

Critical Practice

WorkAC