Molly woods

urban food fluency

The Plank Road corridor, blighted and neglected, is set to become a source of renewal for the surrounding North Baton Rouge community. Lack of food resources, particularly healthy food resources, typically plague low-income areas. The Plank Road Food Hub aims to end the insufficient food and health education, while also providing healthy foods to the community. The teaching kitchen and garden directly provide valuable knowledge about food. Meanwhile, the roof garden, hydroponic farm, and commercial kitchen provide food for the market. The farmers market gives opportunities for local residents to sell their own products directly to the public. Through education and support, this facility creates a more food-fluent community.

The new food hub provides support and education for the Plank Road community. The main market will sell fresh foods grown at the food hub, as well as packaged health foods not found at current markets around the site. The farmers market provides a space where small-scale farmers can sell their crops. The metal paneling systems open to provide awnings. The other panels have benches for the visitors with shelves to block the sun. The area surrounding the farmers market outside will become a communal space and welcome food trucks and other vendors. Finally, the teaching gardens are raised planter boxes located in between the market and the adjacent existing building. These gardens allow local gardeners to share and educate on how people can grow healthy foods at their own home.

The hydroponic farm, commercial kitchen, and roof farm work to provide bulk amounts of food to sell at the market. This allows the market to be mostly self-sustaining. The hydroponic farm allows for certain crops to grow quickly and efficiently. The roof farm provides a space for plants that cannot be grown in the hydroponic system to be grown and harvested. The green roof system also allows for the collection of storm water for the crops. The commercial kitchen acts as a space for the products grown on the site to be processed for sale at the market.