pei yu

green heart hall

The GREEN HEART HALL aims to serve the Baton Rouge local community with access to healthier foods, which can lead to healthier lifestyles. The south especially suffers from obesity due to lack of access to healthy foods and education programs that promote healthy habits. The Food Hub expands on different vegan and/or gluten free restaurants to choose from, including a teaching kitchen that houses classes to educate the community on how to do it at home.

The food hub is divided into 3 main programs that extend from urban to public, public to semipublic, and public to private. These programs educate, commune, and create experiences for Baton Rouge locals to have access to healthy living programs.

The main food hall houses multiple healthy choice restaurants that serve locally on site grown vegetables and herbs. The food hall has an open space surrounded by glazing that have shaded mechanisms that filter sunlight through to maintain a comfortable temperature.

The indoor greenhouse is a small interior space that educates the locals on vertical farming. Vegetables are in planters hung vertically along the wall at a sloped angle to collect rainwater. Rainwater is gathered in the gutter, when it overflows, the water travels down the side of the glass panels and then drips down a metal louver that travel to the planters. When there is enough water in the planters, the excess water will be filtered out.

 The exterior space consists of steel columns to wood beam structures that also houses trellises with plants that grow and change with the city’s seasons. This is a very public area for families and young adults to gather and enjoy the sunshine or even have a picnic. The space includes concrete structures that also acts as seating space. The porous ground acts as a retainage space for rainy seasons.

Each plant wall along the walkway houses a different type of vegetable and/or fruit. These are locally grown, used, and sold in the Green Heart Hall. The teaching kitchen has access to these vegetables to be used in their classes. This program hopes to bring together the Baton Rouge Community to live a healthier lifestyle.