British studio Hugh Strange Architects has transformed an agricultural barn in Somerset, England, into a family archive building by inserting a new timber structure within the dilapidated brick and stone shell.
Located on a working farm amongst a mixture of barns and sheds dating from the nineteenth century through to the present day, the building was designed by Hugh Strange Architects to store the architectural archives of the client and farm.
The architects stabilised and repaired the walls and roof of the old stone and brick barn, before inserting two new timber structures inside.
Both of these new structures were constructed from a single layer of cross-laminated timber panels, which required no insulation, external cladding or internal lining. They are identical in volume, but subtly differentiated in their fenestration and fit-out.
“We choose timber because it provides a stable environment for the drawings in the collection – both thermally and in terms of relative humidity,” Hugh Strange told Dezeen. “It is also a wonderfully warm material and has many sustainability benefits.”
The south building provides a drawing archive and display space and is light from above by a skylight.
The north building provides an office space and features large French windows that offer views to the woods outside.
In contrast to the engineered spruce construction, the buildings are fitted out with hardwood floor mats made from timber felled from the surrounding woodlands and dried in the neighbouring wood store.
Inside, wall-mounted timber display cases are used to display drawings from the archive. “The edges are detailed with hessian and the stitches are deliberately not cut off on the back side to reveal the process,” said Strange.
Here’s a project description from Hugh Strange Architects:
Architecture Archive, Somerset
Site & Brief
Located within the context of a working Somerset farmyard, the new building provides an office and store that houses the client’s architectural and family archives.
The project sits within an agricultural valley in a mix of buildings that includes a large farmhouse, a converted Dairy Cottage, a traditional wood store and a mix of barns and sheds that date from the 19th Century, through the 1970’s, to a recently completed cow shed.
Layout & Form
The dilapidated walls and roof of an old stone and brick barn have been removed and the remaining walls carefully stabilised and repaired.
Within these walls two timber structures have been inserted with a single new roof over-sailing the whole composition and providing a covered entrance. The two new timber buildings are identical in their volumes but subtly differentiated in their fenestration and fit-out.
The south building provides a drawing archive and display space and is predominantly top lit by a generous roof light.
The north building provides an office space and is characterised by large French windows that offer views to the woods outside. To the rear of the building a modest external space is provided, enclosed by the retaining wall to the sloping side of the valley, with a generous external stair providing access up to the surrounding woodlands.
Construction & Environment
The new building shell is constructed of a single layer of solid wood without insulation, external cladding or internal lining. The Cross-Laminated Timber panels range from 300mm to 420mm in thickness and simultaneously provide insulation and thermal mass, creating a stable internal environment for the archive in terms of its temperature and relative humidity.
The simple timber forms sit on a rough in-situ cast concrete base and are protected by a profiled cement roof similar to those of the surrounding barns. The vented space between the timber and the roof cladding prevents overheating during hot summer months.
In contrast to the engineered Spruce construction, the buildings are fit-out with hardwood floor ‘mats’ using timber felled from the surrounding woodlands and dried in the neighbouring wood store.
Rough-sawn cedar floorboards to the office and smooth-sanded and oiled ash and beech to the archive distinguish the different characters of the spaces.
Architect: Hugh Strange Architects Structural Timber: Eurban / Stora Enso Structural Engineer: Price & Myers Joinery: Andrew Balls Display Panels: Jude Dennis / Lars Wagner Construction Manager: Paul Rawson Budget: £250,000
This barn-like building in Slovenia by Ljubljana office Arhitektura d.o.o. contains spaces used for dispensing honey, processing dried fruit and hosting family festivities (+ slideshow).
The gabled multipurpose building on the outskirts of the village of Šentrupert was designed by Ljubljana office Arhitektura d.o.o. for a Slovenian businessman and also houses facilities for storing crops and tools.
The barn’s minimal appearance is influenced by the functional integrity and imposing presence of the pitched-roof wooden hayracks that are typical of rural Slovenia.
“The dimensions, appearance, colour and logic of inner division of the building are based on the tradition of the hayrack,” the architects explained. “Even though the building is intended for agricultural activities of the homestead it is also an elegant ‘protocol’ and symbolic architectural creation.”
The building’s exterior is designed to blend in with other farm buildings in the area, while integrating new sustainable technologies.
“The dark facade looks similar to old wooden barns in the immediate surroundings and also allows a discreet inclusion of the photovoltaic roofing into the basic volume of the building,” said the architects.
Located on the crest of a hill, the building’s long elevation faces a lawn around which the owner’s main property, an apiary and a wooden tool shack are also arranged.
A basement partly buried in the hillside contains the main functional spaces for dispensing and storing honey, pressing and storing fruit and keeping tools. A heat pump and bathroom with an integrated sauna are also situated at one end of this floor.
Four load-bearing pillars at the corners of the building allow for the ground floor’s large span, which creates a space reminiscent of the open drying area of a hayrack.
The sparsely furnished room features floor-to-ceiling windows along three walls, which provide panoramic views and can be opened on one side to connect the interior with the lawn outside.
Meetings or family meals can be conducted around a long table in this room, which also accommodates a galley kitchen, a fireplace, an entrance hall and staircase to the basement and first floor.
Upstairs, another mostly empty space is used for tasks related to the farm in summer and as a billiard and fitness room in winter.
The internal profile of the gabled roof is left exposed in this attic area, which is clad in the same ash panels used throughout the rest of the interior.
The owner is a successful Slovenian businessman who spends some of his spare time in the countryside. The property is situated on the edge of a small village on top of a hill, and consists of farm land, forest, residential building, barn house, apiary and wooden pavilion used as a tool shack. The client decided to replace the broken-down barn house with a new, multi-functional building, a sort of “modern Slovenian hayrack”. The building is intended for dispensing honey, sorting, handling and drying fruit, storage of crops and tools, while the spacious ground floor is intended as a meeting place to host partners from abroad and celebrate family events.
Although the client’s idea of a modern hayrack which would function both as a barn house and prominent protocol house seemed controversial at first, however, the idea revealed a great archetypal and development potential, which is inherent in the architecture of a hayrack in Slovenian cultural awareness. Professor Marjan Mušič compared hayracks with Greek temples due to their architectural purity and antique origin, as well as monumentality, derived from pure form. In terms of size, position and importance, the hayrack was a central structure of a homestead and the source of livelihood in general. This is where their almost sacral character stems from.
The beauty of hayracks should not be sought in luxurious décor but rather in their proportions, harmony of strict lines, functional credibility and installation in space, giving their surroundings a monumental character. This concept originates in the Antiquity and still has the expressive power for the modern times and new tasks.
The building was placed at the end of a ‘pier’, which concludes the site of the small village and from it panoramic views of the picturesque surroundings open up. Together with the residential building and the wooden pavilion this plot of land forms a large inner grassy courtyard of the homestead. The building has a semi dug-in basement, a ground floor and the attic. The construction basis is similar to that of the double hayrack with stone corner pillars. The corners of the new building feature four strong corner pillar structures, with a 12 meter bridge construction placed in between, thus allowing large unified spaces on the ground floor and in the attic. The construction is reinforced concrete with steel roofing.
The basement, accessible via pathway directly from the farm land, is designed for dispensing and storing honey, pressing and storing fruit, storing tools and similar. The basement also features a heat pump for heating and cooling the building, as well as a basement bathroom with a sauna.
The ground floor of the building is almost empty, which is similar to a hayrack. There is also a handy open kitchen, a fireplace, the entrance hall and a staircase connecting all three floors. The ground floor is glazed with large sliding doors which can be open wide and connect the ground floor with the natural environment or the backyard.
The first floor is mostly empty. In the summer the large space is intended for various farm chores, whereas in the winter time it is used as a billiard room and fitness. The first floor also features a mini guest bedroom with bathroom and a storage room.
The dimensions, appearance, colour and logic of inner division of the building are based on the tradition of the hayrack. The dark façade looks similar to old wooden barnhouses in the immediate surroundings and also allows a discreet inclusion of the photovoltaic roofing into the basic volume of the building. Due to the photovoltaics on the roof, the snow guards are replaced by wide jutting roofs placed above the ground floor openings. The interior is covered with bright ash tree panels which gives the impression that the interior is hollowed from a single piece of wood. Furniture is simple and accents clean lines of the spaces.
Even though the building is intended for agricultural activities of the homestead it is also an elegant protocol and symbolic architectural creation. With it the owner wishes to express a respectful attitude towards Slovenian cultural heritage and Slovenian constructional and architectural tradition and to the way in which buildings are placed into the environment. The bold construction of large spans which strikes us with hayracks also gives this new building an air of nobility, in harmony with the picturesque landscape of the surrounding pastoral scenery.
News: two British entrepreneurs are constructing a hydroponic farm in a network of tunnels under south London that could supply local restaurants and retailers with fresh herbs and vegetables.
Richard Ballard and Steven Dring’s Growing Underground project is located in tunnels beneath the London Underground’s Northern Line that were originally built as air-raid shelters during the Second World War.
Intent on demonstrating that it is possible to operate a commercial urban farm with a minimal carbon footprint, the entrepreneurs plan to transform 2.5 hectares of the disused air-raid shelter into growing space that will supply produce to London businesses, reducing the amount of food miles “from farm to floor”.
Ballard and Dring collaborated with horticulturalist Chris Nelson to develop a hydroponic system that makes the most of conditions in the tunnels and enables them to grow a variety of micro herbs, shoots, miniature vegetables and other foods.
The hydroponic farming method involves growing plants in a mineral-rich solution on specially constructed growing platforms under controlled temperature and lighting conditions.
The farm’s subterranean location means that the farmers don’t need to worry about pests and diseases, or Britain’s unpredictable weather.
After spending the past 18 months conducting growing trials in the tunnels, the entrepreneurs have launched a crowdfunding campaign that aims to raise £300,000 to support the business’ expansion.
“Integrating farming into the urban environment makes a huge amount of sense and we’re delighted that we’re going to make it a reality,” said Richard Ballard. “There is no ‘could’, ‘might’ or ‘maybe’ about our underground farm. We will be up and running and will be supplying produce later this year.”
The farm’s carbon neutral credentials are achieved by utilising low energy LED grow lights, locally sourced green energy, a recirculating water system and the 33 metres of earth above the tunnels, which helps maintain a consistent temperature.
Growing Underground founders Richard Ballard and Steven Dring
Growing Underground has received backing from celebrity chef Michel Roux Jr, who lives close to the farm’s entrance near Clapham North station.
“When I first met these guys I thought they were absolutely crazy,” said Michel Roux Jr. “But when I visited the tunnels and sampled the delicious produce they are already growing down there I was blown away. The market for this produce is huge.”
The disused underground air-raid shelter before refurbishment
The first crops grown at the farm will include pea shoots, rocket, mizuna, broccoli, red vein sorrel, garlic chives and mustard leaf, as well as edible flowers and miniature vegetables. Following further development it will become possible to grow crops including mushrooms and heritage tomato varieties.
Full-scale farming is set to commence in March, with the first produce expected to be available in late summer.
The tunnels will provide 2.5 acres of growing space
Hungarian art and design collective Szövetség’39 has unveiled a concept to reduce the impact of rising sea levels in the world’s delta regions by introducing a modular structure that will cultivate mangrove forests to form natural dams.
Anna Baróthy of Szövetség’39 worked in a design team that included biologist and diver Gergő Balázs, designer Janka Csernák and scientist Viktor Grónás to develop the CALTROPe concept, which seeks to prevent the loss of agricultural land caused when pollution and climate change provoke water levels to rise.
After carefully studying the biological qualities of mangroves, the designers found that the salt-tolerant plants act as a natural breakwater against tides, trapping river sediment in their strong roots and helping to prevent ecosystems from washing away.
“After having examined the processes of sedimentation, the hydrodynamic characteristics, and the ecological conditions, we concluded that the intentional retention of water-borne alluvium carried in big qualities by the delta rivers could be the key to compensate land loss caused by sea level rise,” explain the team in their design report.
The designers propose an structure that can be easily installed beneath the water’s surface, providing a modular infrastructure to house growing mangrove plants, which thrive in coastal habitats.
“The modules serve as containers and incubators for the young mangrove saplings that, getting stronger with time, will become self-supporting and form a natural dam,” said theteam.
The project is named CALTROPe – a mixture of the words caltrop (a kind of water chestnut) and rope. The first is a reference to the the curving shape of the objects, while the second refers to the lacy appearance of the modules when combined.
Made from a combination of concrete and organic materials, the structures are expected to crumble away after 15 to 20 years. By this point the plants will be strong enough to support themselves and the dissolved material will become part of the sediment.
“We believe that, when the sea level will go beyond a critical point, the quantity of sediment trapped will form sufficiently high dams to save the current lands,” said the designers. “The protected areas can also be used agriculturally or can be populated because their soil is rich in nutrients and they are solid enough.”
Another benefit of the structure is that it will create new habitats for oysters and prawns.
The project was recently named one of three overall winners in a design competition launched by the Jacques Rougerie Foundation, a non-profit organisation focussing on the relationship between architecture and the sea.
Here’s a project description from Szövetség’39:
CALTROPe: Grand Prix winner Hungarian architecture project in Paris
The Budapest-based Szövetség’39 creative team has won the Grand Prix in the category ‘Architecture and sea level rise’ awarded by the International Architecture Competition organised by the Jacques Rougerie Foundation. The young Hungarian designers’ project called CALTROPe answered the challenge caused by loss of territory due to the water level rise in an innovative and sustainable manner.
The aim of the project is to synthesise and balance the natural dynamics and forces of the delta regions applying an easy-to-install modular structure. CALTROPe is a lace-like structure that is able to catch and collect river sediment with the help of mangrove plants, so integrating natural and architectural elements. Working like a catalyst, it will provoke positive changes at the most critical shoreline points. With this cooperative, participatory and locally supplied work can also reorganise and socialise the local population in a constructive and self-supporting manner.
CALTROPe comes from the words ‘caltrop’ (water chestnut) and ‘rope’, ‘caltrop’ referring to the shape of the object, and ‘rope’, to the linear, lace-like installation principles.
The concept of CALTROPe has been set up by Szövetség’39 Art Base that focuses usually on especially complex artistic planning. In this case the members of the team were Anna Baróthy, leading designer and project manager of Szövetség’39, Gergő Balázs biologist and diver, Janka Csernák designer, Dr. Viktor Grónás senior lecturer of the Szent István University’s Nature Conservation and Ecology Department, diver, Peter Kovacsics graphic and animation designer, Viktor Pucsek and Peter Vető industrial and 3D designers. The project staff was Melinda Bozsó, designer of Szövetség’39, Daniel Csomor architect, Kata Kerekes graphic designer, Vera Krauth architecture student, Ábel Kurta and Veronika Szabó product design students and Nóra Lajkó student in fine arts and painting.
This spring the Jacques Rougerie Foundation announced an international architectural competition in three categories. The call for a total of 529 entries were submitted from 76 countries of the world, out of which CALTROPe won the grand-prix. The competition is named after Jacques Rougerie who is one of the world’s most innovative visionary architects. Rougerie is an expert in space and underwater structures – he has designed the soon-to-be first underwater museum in Egypt and the SeaOrbiter that is a cross between a skyscraper and a boat for exploring the unchartered territories of the earth’s oceans.
Concept diagram
Szövetség ’39 is an association of artists who primarily deals with complex artistic design. The subject matter of design typically related to some form of spatial situations, such as installations, artistic design of buildings, actions and artworks of plazas, public spaces. The current members of the group are: Anna Baróthy, Csenge Kolozsvári and Melinda Bozsó joined by artists and creative groups in the workshop as well. Szövetség ’39 is an open workshop-site and assures an open-mind, recipient ambient for the development of tentative concepts. Just as the Szövetség ’39 conveys new-thinking and innovative ideas through hosting related events, actions regularly in the workshop. The main profiles of the present members are: architecture, media-art, computer graphics, web design, experimental programming, animation and design of glass.
News: robotic tractors will create patterns across a field of crops on the roof of this pavilion that Italian architect Carlo Ratti has designed for the World Expo 2015 in Milan.
Working alongside engineering firm RecchiEngineering, Carlo Ratti Associati has designed the pavilion for agricultural brand New Holland, which plans to present an exhibition dedicated to sustainable farming at the international exhibition opening next spring.
Two self-driving tractors will be positioned on the gently sloping roof of the building, intended to demonstrate the growing role that robotics plays in agriculture.
“The idea of Earth Screening is not just about self-driving tractors that can draw patterns on the roof of the building,” said Ratti. “It is about how we can sense and respond to the conditions of the soil to a degree that was impossible before. This points to a future where an agricultural field could be considered as a giant base for ‘agricultural printing’, with major advantages foreseen in terms of plant biodiversity and resource preservation.”
Responding to the exhibition theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”, the zero-emissions tractors will be powered entirely by electricity generated onsite.
“In the same way as self-driving cars are expected to revolutionise urban mobility, advanced robotic technologies are reshaping agriculture, with a new wave of innovations helping us to better respond to local terrain conditions,” added the architect.
Diagrammatic section
The interior spaces of the pavilion will present an exhibition of other agricultural equipment using large digital displays.
“While the roof uses real moving tractors, inside the pavilion we tried to reproduce the working conditions of other key pieces of agricultural equipment – from tractors to combine harvesters – in a physical and digital way,” said Walter Nicolino, an architect at Carlo Ratti Associati.
The pavilion will remain in place for the duration of the expo, which takes place between May and October, before being dismantled and reconstructed in a new location.
Perforated walls and sliding timber doors feature in this stable in Uruguay by architect Nicolas Pinto da Mota (+ slideshow).
Nicolas Pinto da Mota designed the stable for the owner of a horse farm in Soriano, western Uruguay.
Wooden beams are left exposed on the underside of a gently sloping steel roof, which shelters eight concrete horse pens and a central corridor.
A veterinary area and a storage room for saddles are located at one end of the building, along with extra storage space.
Narrow timber doors are set at intervals along the concrete brick walls of the building, giving each horse a direct exit to the paddocks outside.
“Measurements, sizes, provisions and heights are a consequence of the needs thoroughbred horses have to circulate and move,” architect Nicolas Pinto da Mota said.
At night, light shines through the brickwork perforations, which gradually increase in size across the facade.
This project consists in extending a set of buildings in which there is a horse farm. The farm already had some sheds and other precarious constructions based in the typical scheme of nave with gable roof.
These constructions prefigured the first approximation to the scale and typology of the new building. Neutrality and a certain lack of leadership give the building the chance to dialogue and establish a wise relation with the context.
Also there is an exploration in the technique, which gives a step forward based on the traditional brick constructions.
The choice of the materials and the axial disposal of the program where chosen to provide the horses a stable way of life. The program contemplates two different areas: an area of boxes and another of veterinary and saddles room.
Measurements, sizes, provisions and heights are a consequence of the needs thoroughbred horses have to circulate and move. This where taken into account to determine the height and the structure measurements of the building.
Customer: Alvaro E. Loewenthal Structure: Enginee. Fernando Saludas Construction team: Della Mea Camblong S.A. Project year: 2011 Construction years: 2012-2013
Tomato vines suspended over conference tables and broccoli fields in the reception are part of working life at this Japan office by Kono Designs (+ slideshow).
New York firm Kono Designs created the urban farm in 2010, in a nine-storey office building in Tokyo to allow employees to grow and harvest their own food at work. Dezeen spoke with company principal Yoshimi Kono this week to hear more about the project.
“Workers in nearby buildings can be seen pointing out and talking about new flowers and plants and even the seasons – all in the middle of a busy intersection in Tokyo’s metropolitan area,” Kono told Dezeen. “The change in the way local people think and what they talk about was always one of the long-term goals of the project.”
The creation of the new headquarters for Japanese recruitment firm Pasona consisted of refurbishing a 50 year old building to include office areas, an auditorium, cafeterias, a rooftop garden and urban farming facilities. Inside the 19,974 square metre office building there are 3995 square metres dedicated to green space that house over 200 species of plants, fruits, vegetables and rice.
Kono told Dezeen that all of the food is harvested, prepared and served on-site in the cafeterias – making Pasona’s Urban Farm the largest farm-to-table office scheme in Japan.
Pasona employees are encourage to maintain and harvest the crops and are supported by a team of agricultural specialists.
“My client has a larger vision to help create new farmers in urban areas of Japan and a renewed interest in that lifestyle,” Kono told Dezeen.
“One way to encourage this is to not just tell urban communities about farms and plants, but to actively engage with them through both a visual intervention in their busy lifestyle and educational programs focusing on farming methods and practices that are common in Japan,” he added.
The building has a double-skin green facade where flowers and orange trees are planted on small balconies. From the outside, the office block appears to be draped in green foliage.
“The design focus was not on the imposed standards of green, where energy offsets and strict efficiency rates rule,” said Kono. “But rather on an idea of a green building that can change the way people think about their daily lives and even their own personal career choice and life path.”
Inside the offices, tomato vines are suspended above conference tables, lemon and passion fruit trees are used as partitions for meeting spaces, salad leaves are grown inside seminar rooms and bean sprouts are grown under benches.
Plants hang in bags surrounding meeting desks and there are vines growing within vertical cages and wooden plant boxes around the building.
Ducts, pipes and vertical shafts were rerouted to the perimeter of the building to allow for maximum height ceilings and a climate control system is used to monitor humidity, temperature and air flow in the building to ensure it is safe for the employees and suitable for the farm.
“It is important not to just think about how we can use our natural resources better from a distance, but to actively engage with nature and create new groups of people who have a deep interest and respect for the world they live in,” said Kono.
“It is important to note that this is not a passive building with plants on the walls, this is an actively growing building, with plantings used for educational workshops where Pasona employees and outside community members can come in and learn farming practices.”
Yoshimi Kono studied architecture in Tokyo and was a chief designer with Shigeru Uchida at Studio 80 in Tokyo and later became partner at Vignelli Associates in New York. He founded Kono Designs in 2000.
Located in down-town Tokyo, Pasona HQ is a nine story high, 215,000 square foot corporate office building for a Japanese recruitment company, Pasona Group. Instead of building a new structure from ground up, an existing 50 years old building was renovated, keeping its building envelope and superstructure.
The project consists of a double-skin green facade, offices, an auditorium, cafeterias, a rooftop garden and most notably, urban farming facilities integrated within the building. The green space totals over 43,000 square feet with 200 species including fruits, vegetables and rice that are harvested, prepared and served at the cafeterias within the building. It is the largest and most direct farm-to-table of its kind ever realised inside an office building in Japan.
The double-skin green facade features seasonal flowers and orange trees planted within the 3′ deep balconies. Partially relying on natural exterior climate, these plants create a living green wall and a dynamic identity to the public. This was a significant loss to the net rentable area for a commercial office. However, Pasona believed in the benefits of urban farm and green space to engage the public and to provide better workspace for their employees.
The balconies also help shade and insulate the interiors while providing fresh air with operable windows, a practical feature not only rare for a mid rise commercial building but also helps reduce heating and cooling loads of the building during moderate climate. The entire facade is then wrapped with deep grid of fins, creating further depth, volume and orders to the organic green wall.
Within the interior, the deep beams and large columns of the existing structure are arranged in a tight interval causing low interior ceiling of 7′-6″. With building services passing below, some area was even lower at 6′-8″. Instead, all ducts, pipes and their vertical shafts were re-routed to the perimeter, allowing maximum height with exposed ceilings between the beams.
Lightings are then installed, hidden on the bottom vertical edge of the beams, turning the spaces between the beams into a large light cove without further lowering the ceiling. This lighting method, used throughout the workspace from second floor to 9th floor, achieved 30% less energy than the conventional ceiling mounted method.
Besides creating a better work environment, Pasona also understands that in Japan opportunities for job placement into farming are very limited because of the steady decline of farming within the country. Instead, Pasona focuses on educating and cultivating next generation of farmers by offering public seminars, lectures and internship programs.
The programs empower students with case studies, management skills and financial advices to promote both traditional and urban farming as lucrative professions and business opportunities. This was one of the main reason for Pasona to create urban farm within their headquarters in downtown Tokyo, aiming to reverse the declining trend in the number of farmers and to ensure sustainable future food production.
Currently, Japan produces less than one-third of their grain locally and imports over 50 million tons of food annually, which on average is transported over 9,000 miles, the highest in the world. As the crops harvested in Pasona HQ are served within the building cafeterias, it highlights ‘zero food mileage’ concept of a more sustainable food distribution system that reduces energy and transportation cost.
Japan’s reliance on imported food is due to its limited arable land. Merely 12% of its land is suitable for cultivation. Farmland in Pasona HQ is highly efficient urban arable land, stacked as a vertical farm with modern farming technology to maximise crop yields.
Despite the increased energy required in the upkeep of the plants, the project believes in the long term benefits and sustainability in recruiting new urban farmers to practice alternative food distribution and production by creating more urban farmland and reducing food mileage in Japan.
Using both hydroponic and soil based farming, in Pasona HQ, crops and office workers share a common space. For example, tomato vines are suspended above conference tables, lemon and passion fruit trees are used as partitions for meeting spaces, salad leaves are grown inside seminar rooms and bean sprouts are grown under benches.
The main lobby also features a rice paddy and a broccoli field. These crops are equipped with metal halide, HEFL, fluorescent and LED lamps and an automatic irrigation system. An intelligent climate control system monitors humidity, temperature and breeze to balance human comfort during office hours and optimise crop growth during after hours. This maximises crop yield and annual harvests.
Besides future sustainability of farmers, Pasona HQ’s urban farm is beyond visual and aesthetic improvement. It exposes city workers to growing crops and interaction with farmland on a daily basis and provides improvement in mental health, productivity and relaxation in the workplace. Studies show that most people in urbanised societies spend over 80% of their time indoors. Plants are also known to improve the air quality we breathe by carbon sequestration and removing volatile organic compound. A sampling on the air at Pasona HQ have shown reduction of carbon dioxide where plants are abundant. Such improvement on the air quality can increase productivity at work by 12%, improves common symptoms of discomfort and ailments at work by 23%, reduce absenteeism and staff turnover cost.
Typical office floor – click for larger image
Employees of Pasona HQ are asked to participate in the maintenance and harvesting of crops with the help of agricultural specialists. Such activity encourages social interaction among employees leading to better teamwork on the job. It also provides them with a sense of responsibility and accomplishment in growing and maintaining the crops that are ultimately prepared and served to their fellow co-workers at the building’s cafeterias.
Section showing facade and balconies
Pasona Urban Farm is a unique workplace environment that promotes higher work efficiency, social interaction, future sustainability and engages the wider community of Tokyo by showcasing the benefits and technology of urban agriculture.
Established New York food critic and author David Rosengarten continues to surprise and delight foodies with his wit and passion for flavors of all types. He’s just launched his new line of special finds called “Gastronomic Selections,” and the first products are a trio of varietal chile extracts made…
Goat milk caramels from an artsy Vermont confectionary
Billed as a “farmstead confectionary,” Vermont’s Big Picture Farms is dedicated to blending the sweet creamy goodness of goat milk into candy. As founder Louisa Conrad explains, the short fatty acid chains found in goat’s milk make for a smoother taste in their caramels. Conrad runs the business with her husband Lucas Farrell, both trained artists who have since turned to goat farming, cheese-making and confections. While caramel—a relatively simple blend of sugar, cream, vanilla and salt—leaves little room for variation, we were taken aback by the divinely silky texture of the pillow-soft sweets.
While their caramels are similar in style to those made by San Francisco’s Happy Goat, Big Picture’s secret touch seems to lie in their relationship with their goats. Each has a name and a personality to match, and the spoiled herd changes pastures daily for better grazing. Due to variations in the goats’ breed and diet, the art of the caramel comes from Conrad’s ability to blend milks from different animals in order to get the desired taste. For the packaging, Conrad draws portraits of the goats and Farrell works it into the label.
“If you’ve hung around goats long enough, it would be impossible not to name them,” says Conrad of the brand’s beloved faces. “It’s stiff competition being the cover goat. We try to be democratic about it; no goat gets featured more than once.”
Big Picture Farm goat’s milk caramels are available from their online shop. Interested eaters can keep track of farm life—and news the upcoming chai flavor—on the Big Picture blog.
Our interview with Charlene Wang on her socially responsible tea brand
In a cozy showroom nestled in the alleys of old Beijing, we met Charlene Wang of Tranquil Tuesdays upon her return from the spring harvest of white peony tea in Fujian province. Wang has combined her passion for tea and her background as a US State Department human rights officer to create her brand, which aims to bring back the purity of ancient tea tradition. Traveling to the hot spots of tea in China, she builds personal relationships with local family farms and to source the best natural tea in the country.
Her company is a social enterprise that works closely with people in rural China, providing training, encouragement and support. At the same time, Charlene works with young designers from Jingdezheng, China’s epicenter for the best pottery to refine the experience of style related to tea culture. We talked to Wang to learn more about her thoughtful venture.
Excellent tea and beautiful teaware hold represent the essence of what you called “pure releaf”—what is the idea behind this concept?
The cool idea comes from my sister, and I immediately found it brilliant! I feel “pure releaf” perfectly embodies all the values we want to offer. I think the phrase gives the idea of tranquility, calmness, purposeful quiet, a kind of refuge feeling which is a strong part of traditional tea culture. And then it’s “pure” because we concentrate only on natural, unscented, unblended tea, so just pure tea.
Your varieties include White peony tea, Organic Jadesword Green Tea, Tieguanyin Oolong tea, Keemun black tea, ancient tree raw Pu’er—how do you source all these teas? Do you plan to expand your collection?
We need to travel to the area, to see different farms, to meet people and build relationships before we even think of ordering tea from them. Sometimes I travel off season, to meet farmers and see how they take care of their land. In Fujian I was there seeing the leaves been picked and how they made. They only pick one season instead of the usual three, in order to preserve the quality of the plants. I build a friendship with my suppliers and we often share some of the key moments of their work. For Oolong tea, I stayed at a farmer’s house for a week during the fall harvest. I was on the second floor of a local family’s workshop and every morning I could wake up to the smell of freshly made Oolong.
We want to add other qualities of tea to our collections but it requires a lot of work and for the moment we’re a bit overloaded. I’d love to add a yellow tea in the near future.
Tranquil Tuesdays is also about teaware, how did you start your cooperation with studios in Jingdezhen?
I had several trips to Jingdezhen, which is nationally considered the home of traditional Chinese porcelain. The first time I was there as a tourist and I was totally amazed. Some local young designers have been able to take this tradition of craftsmanship and add a modern feeling to it. The first artist I’ve been working with is Zhang Min, who’s taking the traditional blue and white theme from Ming dynasty and kind of twisting it to give a natural breath of life to our teaware. Then I met Ke Zhongxiang, who’s making the celadon line, and I was fascinated by his creative studio’s setup, in the simplicity of his small workshop some of his artworks really stood out. Zhu Xuan is making our crystalline glaze line, bringing back an ancient special technique of glazing zinc oxide before firing, to produce an unique effect where crystals spontaneously form on the surface, making each piece unique.
Do you just source products from them or you participate in the whole design process?
I was inspired by their collections and I love their personal style, we’ve been working closely to build our own lines. They all run small workshops and our cooperation often requires a long time. We define each single piece together, we adjust the proportions, sometimes we work online on QQ (the most-used Chinese messenger), sometimes they also make drawings live online using their kids tablets! I also travel back there, we discuss details personally and I can also see our teaware getting out of the community kiln. We work together from the beginning to the end to build our current feeling.
How would you define the “pure releaf” aesthetic?
The idea is to take very classical, traditional, ancient art and porcelain-making and give it a kind of contemporary twist. We aim to make a fresh vision of what it means to be Chinese. Most of Europeans and Americans identify Chinese styles with flashy colors and a kind of kitsch style but if you go back to the roots of Chinese culture there are several examples of fine simplicity. To give an example, celadon has been China’s most prized porcelain since the Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.), when it was largely traded with the Middle East. Until the 14th century, no one outside China and Korea was able to produce it, but sometimes, when people see the stunning beauty and simplicity of Chinese celadon handcrafts, they ask if it’s Japanese!
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