With my first post I’m not particularly interested in rehashing today’s events with you, or even my list of ideas, though that will eventually come with time. Right now I want to discuss the meaning of this project, what good will come from it, and who it affects, after all that’s why five students have assembled into this studio experience.
The purpose for this project is to create an iconic structure for a community garden. Now the structure is obviously great, as we will get to design and construct this center piece of the site, but the intriguing thing for me is the gardens. It’s been an interest of mine to study and understand vertical and community gardens for some years now, starting with a case study/in-fill project I did in freshman year, and I also began work this summer, which would eventually fall through, with habitat for humanity to create a park and connection to an intended community garden. I think the need for local level gardens is at an all-time high with rising food prices and current trends in large scale corporately managed farms or seed manufacturer’s like Monsanto.
With the news being littered with stories of GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) and even the advent of the 3D printed hamburger, the question now becomes when has, or will, technology gone too far. When will we stop desecrating the most pure thing we were given, our food and water supplies? Does our insatiable appetite for more everything justify the adulteration of the very source that drives us day in and day out?
A very good friend, Corn (as we so affectionately nicknamed him), was studying in the states last year from Germany. We were in studio talking before class began and he said, “Why in America, is your fruits and vegetables so expensive and your fast food so cheap?! In Germany we are completely opposite.” I’ve had this question many times before also but you really gain perspective when you hear things are different in a country not so dissimilar as your own.
This project represents, at the very essence, a chance for locally grown, natural food sources. It will be available to those who desperately need and seek wholesome food. I truly hope this project will lay forth a new model of education and supply to the ever growing need for truly wholesome food. Sometimes it’s good to take a step back and realize that some of the older methods were instituted for a reason and that technology sometimes has too much of a presence in areas that should be left free.
