As more businesses in the old suburbs vacate, either going out of business or moving to the new suburbs, large expanses of retail and parking lot real-estate become empty. This empty obsolescence is an opportunity for a new kind of business and landscape: It’s an opportunity to reclaim the productive pastoral atmosphere of the land before sprawl.
This landscape would not be of an antiquated culture or a superficial culture, but a layering of ideals – sustainable practices of the past, new energy efficient technologies, and contemporary culture.
The example presented is a reversal of a function for a big box grocery store, from retailer of food – food detached from processes from which it came to be – to producer of food. The parking lot becomes a park-farm. The inside of the big box becomes a greenhouse and restaurant. Asphalt farming techniques allow for layering of soil, compost in containers on top of asphalt. The big box store’s roof is partially replaced with a greenhouse roof. Other details, such as the reversal of parking lot light poles into solar trees that hold photovoltaics can be implemented. One can imagine pushing a shopping cart through this suburban farm and picking your produce right from the vine, with the option to bring your harvest to the restaurant chef for preparation and eating your harvest on the spot. As other types of businesses become obsolete, out of fashion, they may need to imagine themselves as part of a productive suburb.
Like it.
This seems feasible to do even today. I really like the designers’ acknowledgement that it’s not going back to antiquated culture, but taking into consideration contemporary culture. And wouldn’t we all love to grab our produce straight from the vine, or even have a specialist there explaining what to look for and re-educate us to understand basics of ripeness. I hope this one actually happens. It’s realistic…it stays “inside the box”, so to speak.
Cool, and could be done really quickly.
Yes
Should be a part of any solution…food distribution is a hugh problem
I love it…… but the pictures brought of flash of doubt to my mind: how does this business venture protect its agri-product from theft?
I am very much in support of this concept, it looks like the suburban version of something called “vertical farming”. Both ideas center around growing food close to where its eaten.
The one premise of this proposal that could be flawed is the assumption that the box stores will be abandoned. These places were built thinking that in the not too distant future online shopping with become a large part of the consumer experience, and to deliver goods purchased online with expedience, warehouses will be needed locally.
But whether the walmarts of the world stay or go, to grow food where we live may be vitally important.
Hydroponics, yo. Denser crop yield, and it can be almost completely organic.
Asphalt? What about chemical leaching from the asphalt? I realize the proposal is to build soil on to the existing layer but that seems to be counterproductive in the long run. Why not remove it, as long as your bringing in soil? Start with a clean slate, that way you can actually work at increasing the amount of viable soil we have, reduce storm run off, and create a closed system. This is the future.
wondering how seasonal variations will affect this….the parking lot can’t be farmland year-round without some form of climate control, at least not where I live (Philadelphia)….
I’m also assuming that another section of the store is closer to the classic grocery store, holding meat and dairy and long-storage goods like flour and beans and nuts
YEAH FORREST!!!!
A good concept.
There could also be indoor recreation parks, play areas with movies projected on walls and people with kids and pets watching while in the recreation area: a vest pocket wetland for migrating birds from a small neighborhood water treatment plant which is only supplied by the immediate area. Larger spaces could be more financially manageable by renting smaller areas for individual market opportunities.
There are many other uses of large area space that enhance a neighborhood. A merging of small health care, police and social services nestled in parks.
Thank you for your comments.
I think abandoned big-box stores will be an increasingly problematic for the suburban landscape. If they are turned into warehouses, as suggested, I’d hope that it wouldn’t be your typical warehouse in your backyard, but a hybrid – a warehouse with something that engages the community, like retail, a park, etc.
If big boxes are torn down and not reused,then there is a real opportunity to design something well, but throwing away a large building every 20 years doesn’t seem like a sustainable practice.
Great Job! Innovative factible idea clearly explained through realistic drawings. This kind of competitions should be very imaginative but a dosis of realism attract the view of no-architects.
Very cool! I’ve heard there are people working on something similar here in Colorado. Definitely going to be a huge demand for things like this in the near future.
I’ve been thinking of exactly this for some time! Make it happen so many places need this change.
I suggested a plan to take over a huge disused factory complex minutes from Sydney CBD and convert it into a hydrophonic market in the seventies and was laughed at.
Now in 2009 your project is no laughing matter. It is viable and what a way to show society something positive and provide sustainable, LOCAL employment.
Save jobs,save travel time, save petrol,ease pollution.
Yeah cool !!!
A few of the hurdles one must consider are the following: Regulations of farming within the zoning ordinances that most cities/county supervisors have established. For example it can take some cities many years just to approve a Farmer’s Market. In San Bruno, California it took 5 years and in the Castro District of San Francisco it took 10 years. Next the land is owned by someone and that someone wants to get paid. Depending on tax laws that land maybe worth more to the owner undeveloped than developed. Then there is the issue of water usage for agricultural purposes, which is becoming more and more regulated. And then there is the food safety issue. After many lax years at the FDA, suddenly there is a looming sense of micro managing the health of our food sources, which mean more stringent health regulations. So before these Utopian green ways can be integrated and successful, the engaging parties needs to find out the “who, what, how, why’s and where’s” of Urban-Agri Farming as it relates to its own zoning rules. Just because its abandon doesn’t mean that its available for Urban Homestead Farming.
POWER !!!!!!!
I don’t believe plants could ever grow again on a vacant Walmart, for example. It’s never a great idea to reuse a Walmart. You have to rip it down and start all over again.
The idea of bringing food production closer to urban and suburban communities is really gaining momentum. I’ve given this issue a lot of thought and I’ve struggled with the material and energy demands required to grow nearly year-round in colder climates (it is costly in many ways to multiply and enlarge hoop houses, for example, to the scale we need to make a difference). To me, the unique contribution of this proposal is the simple, practical suggestion of using a large, existing and abandoned structure to accomplish this end result. What a radically obvious solution. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it already, but I will certainly broadcast the concept in the years ahead. Thank you Forrest!
tht looks pertty kool i would go there every day if i had a car!!!!!!!!!!!
this is the worst project that I’ve ever seen. why did that lady drink 4 bottles of wine? who let the dog in there?
its not the worst project at all. but, this is an obvious and simple solution. you’d need to elevate this above any street run off or heat island, yet still have deep enough soils. inner or suburb city pollution from vehicles could produce bad crops. i completely support the idea of “ripping out asphalt and putting in a park”. i wish all parking was underground anyway… and have some huge air movers under there pulling exhaust air back to the surface through some schweet filter’s of sorts.
great idea, good proposal. i’d like to see the restaurant rendering worked out a little further – it’s far too open, tables would be more dense, space behind the counter would be smaller, and, yes, the comments about the dog and the woman with 4 wine bottles are on point. that image is poorly realized and it undercuts the strength of you concept and the other images.
wow. thats great. would love to be able to actually see how my food was grown.
My prediction? In ten years the big box stores will be…
big box stores.
Big boxes are very efficient at what they were made for, and not particularly adapted to agriculture. Offer a farmer the chance to farm on a parking lot and he will turn you down.
This design shows no understanding of just how much food flows through a retail food seller. A two acre farm does not produce enough to stock a year round grocery store, and the production methods to increase yield (hydroponics, etc) are only economically feasible if you are charging $3 per pound everything you grow. At least!
Besides, when did we discover the demise of big boxes? All the ones I see are thriving, except for the occasional loser like Circuit City. (Who was beat out by the bigger box of Best Buy.)