Chryshanna Williams

tree canopy trails

Along Plank Road comes a new and creative way to harvest healthier food options. Tree Canopy Trails gathers the local community and busy Plank Road users alike to engage in a delicious opportunity that provides a healthier lifestyle and offers great connectivity for the community.

Throughout the site curved structural steel tree columns emerge from the ground supporting a space frame system, providing an open-air experience for all who walk beneath it. Within the tree columns various program spaces exist, including open-air spaces such as the farmer’s market and the outdoor café along with enclosed spaces including the community garden, the indoor café and the retail shops. 

Tree Canopy Trails focuses on three main focal groups: the adjacent neighborhood, the elementary to college age students nearby, as well as the everyday users of Plank Road. Tree Canopy Trails aims to provide a healthy, safe and enjoyable multi-activity zone that brings everyone within the local community together in a covered walkway experience.

As one of their after-school activities, cooking and food safety classes are available within the community kitchen. Housed within the former R&B Café, this kitchen can also be rented out for those who need catering space.  On the furthest East end of the site is the community garden, providing fresh produce for the adjacent neighborhood, however, access to this space is restricted to neighborhood residents using a gate code.

The commercial kitchen provides work experience for college students during their free time, catering local Louisiana cuisine to the indoor and outdoor cafes.

The outdoor lounge is located along the southern end of the site. Carved within the landscape, this space is multifunctional, providing amphitheater style seating, flood water drainage, and an exterior dining area.  

Tree Canopy Trails is a host to the local community as well as everyone traveling along the Plank Road corridor.