Harvest Moon

An investigation into architecture’s potential to link vegetation growth and community activism for a food-desert community.

Harvest Moon is a project driven by food activism in East Harlem, using concepts of vegetation growth and vertical voids to reveal the process of growing food to passersby of the community. East Harlem lacks in initiatives like community gardens and urban farms where local residents can find daily fresh produce as well as accessible education about gardening their own food. This site is located in a food desert, so the design intent was to create a hub where local sources of food are grown responsibly, while advocating for safe healthy food for everyone and educating communities on what they can do to make positive changes.

The form is vertically carved into, according to monthly wind directions and the building’s orientation to the sun. The placement and overall shape of these vertical voids is determined by sun paths to maximize daylighting – this formal strategy sets the project up to function as a food growing and harvesting station.

The vertical voids are applied with a single rule: wherever there is a curved wall in relation to the sun path, that wall becomes glazed to maximize daylight, and behind that glazing are specifically-programmed spaces for vegetation to grow via vertical farming shelves. To rationalize vegetation and program together, potential areas of produce were organized on a scale of vegetation species that need minimum sunlight versus constant, which influences the types of activities happening around them. Areas on the rooftop and the ground have also been reserved to maximize growing surface area, similar to the harvesting yield of an agricultural field.