Historically, Bedford-Stuyvesant has been considered a food desert. Typically, initiatives that aim to reduce food insecurity are led by outside groups without input from the community, this project proposes increasing quality food access through urban farming at a commercial scale run by and for residents of Bed-Stuy. Our design proposes a ground floor commercial farmer’s market to sell healthy and affordable produce grown in the building’s greenhouse spaces, bridging the neighborhood’s Hasidic community and residents of the Marcy Houses. In developing the greenhouse spaces, we researched non-recovery hydroponic drip systems in both trays and tubes, augmented by grow lights as needed and an agrivoltaic system on the roof, satisfying a green roof and drainage requirement, and to increase agricultural and photovoltaic productivity.
School of Design | Graduate Interior Design
Student: Cole Bernstein, Sadie Noone
Faculty: Ron DiDonno
The center of the building is a 7-story non-recovery drip hydroponic greenhouse that serves as community agricultural infrastructure to address food insecurity.
