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table 162a local food hub for Vancouver

Stephanie AuB.ARCH, Carleton University, 2008

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Architecture Program.

Committee Members:Bill Pechet (Chair)George Wagner (GP1 chair)Rebecca Bayer

We accept this report as conforming to the required standard

........................................................ Bill Pechet .............................................................. George Wagner

© January 2012

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abstract

The affordability of food leads 94, 300 people a month in B.C. to visit a food bank (children representing 30% of this population.)1 Concurrently, the prevalence of obesity amongst Canadian adults has risen to a quarter of the popula-tion.2 There have been indications that the next generation will be the first to be destined with a shorter life span than their own parents due to these issues stemming from a poor diet.3

These statistics begin to define the situation in which the majority of the Canadian population faces: a health crisis. This topic has begun dominating the discussion in regards to our current daily practices and its effects on future populations: that is, the current inaccessibility of safe and nutritious food for all people. The term food security sum-marizes these issues. In general, food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy

1 Food Banks Canada. HungerCount 2010: A Comprehensive Report on Hunger and food bank use in Canada, and recommendations for change. Source[http://www.foodbankscanada.ca/documents/HungerCount2010_web.pdf]

2 Canadian Health Measures Survey: Adult obesity prevalence in Canada and the United States. Source [http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/110302/dq110302c-eng.htm] 3 Oliver, Jamie. Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize Wish: Teach Every Child About Food. 2010. Source [http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html]

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lifestyle.”4

This crisis has stemmed the emergence of many movements, for example the 100 mile diet, guerrilla farming, and even policy changes from the government level (in the UK, pop, hot dogs and food deemed ‘junk’ are banned from school cafeterias.) Yet this health issue is vast, and perhaps cannot be simply addressed incrementally by individual institutions. It is an issue which affects the general public, and therefore could be made a public responsibility. After all, our consumptive practices are at once individual yet highly reliant on the environment which we create around us.

Architecturally, this topic can be addressed by the investigation of public spaces of food. These spaces are some of the most frequented and are indeed made part of daily rituals. However, it seems their designs have never truly con-sidered the responsibility which they bear in terms of supplying the city with nourishment and thus, its health. In light of the current crisis of public health, the role of public food spaces could be thought of in new terms: to be educative and supportive of a new food culture which could remediate the sickness created by poor diet.

Much like the scale of the issue, the proposed architectural solution must reach to the extents of city as well as the individual. This dichotomy proposes a range for which is investigation can occur. If the task of changing the way Food Secure Vancouver: Baseline Report. Prepared by Serecon Management Consulting Inc. & Zbeetnoff Agro-Environmental Consulting. Prepared for Vancouver Food Policy Council.

(2009). Source: [http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/foodpolicy/tools/pdf/FoodSecure_Baseline.pdf]

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in which the city is fed is made into public responsibility, then the presence of this forum within the city necessarily demands a certain sense of centrality and awareness.

Food is cultural, and in such a multi-faceted country, it may be at times difficult to navigate the fundamentals of health and food. Food is defined by the territory of its origins, yet this is seldom addressed architecturally. It seems that the space within which food and people intersect requires a new set of design strategies to manifest what has been hidden by the homogeneity and apathy of grocery store outlets and chain restaurants. This proposed public food space could reveal an unseen narrative about food, and therefore, in a way, garner new public fascination with food which actually begins to nourish the city to health.

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table of contents

abstract .........................................iiitable of contents ...................viilist of illustrations ....................viiiacknowledgements ................ixdedication ...................................xcontext ..........................................12precedents .................................35design ............................................59bibliography .............................86

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list of illustrations

1. Palazzo Della Ragione in Padua.........................................................................................................132. Trajan Market. .....................................................................................................................................................143. Roman Forum ........................................................................................................................................................144. BC Productive Land Used for Food and Non-Food Production................................ 255. Food Availability in British Columbia ................................................................................................266. Lower Mainland Production as % of Food Available in Lower Mainland ............ 277. Seasonal Food Chart for Southwestern BC.................................................................................288. Kitsilano Farmers Market .............................................................................................................................359. Markthall Site Plan ...........................................................................................................................................3910. Building Section .............................................................................................................................................4011. Markthall Interior Perspective ..............................................................................................................4112. Ground Floor Plan ........................................................................................................................................4213. -2,-3,-4 LEVELS PLAN .................................................................................................................................4314. Eataly .....................................................................................................................................................................4615. Exterior of Torino Eataly ..........................................................................................................................4716. Interior of Torino Eataly. ...........................................................................................................................4717. New City Market ..........................................................................................................................................5318. Swiss Pavilion Assembly. Drawings by Michelle Lopez. ......................................................5519. Vancouver Farmers Markets - Schedule .....................................................................................5720. Kitsilano Farmers Market...........................................................................................................................5821. View of Warehousing. .................................................................................................................................5922. Site photos. ........................................................................................................................................................6123. Program ................................................................................................................................................................6224. Site access. ........................................................................................................................................................6324. Site strategy......................................................................................................................................................6425. Site strategy. .....................................................................................................................................................6526. Site plan ...............................................................................................................................................................6626. Site model. ..........................................................................................................................................................67

27. Model .....................................................................................................................................................................6828. View towards entrance. ............................................................................................................................6929. Ground Floor Plan ........................................................................................................................................7030. Second Level Plan .......................................................................................................................................7131. Interior View .......................................................................................................................................................7232. Interior View. .......................................................................................................................................................7333. Building Sections ...........................................................................................................................................7534. View of exterior walkway .........................................................................................................................7635. View within commercial kitchen...........................................................................................................7736. Model .....................................................................................................................................................................85

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acknowledgements

Thank you Bill for your generosity with time and patience throughout the design process. Thank you George for sharing with me your depth in knowledge of food and architecture. Thank you Herb Barbolet for providing me with insight into the local food industry of Vancouver. Thank you Nick for all your help in the shop. Thank you Erica for your support throughout and your willingness to listen. Thank you Yuko for helping me explore the food spaces of Vancouver. Thank you Andrea helping in our kitchen. Thank you Mani for helping me through the unexpected.

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dedication

For both my parents, who were first to provide me with food which would eventually nourish my curiosity into food and architecture.

context • 11

context

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Historically, public food spaces played a larger role in civic life. Markets began as not only the food hub for cities, but often served the cultural, social and political centre. In A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussant-Samat, Rome’s Trajan’s forum, built in AD 109, is described as the predecessor for contemporary city planning schemes, as the space worked as “the brain, heart, lungs and belly of the city, with life breathed into the whole by the ruling factor of money.”1 The forum originally began as a market space and was expropriated and leveled in order to transform into the new forum, which would contain legal centre, with open-air law courts so that everyone would know what was going on in them, and intellectual centre with libraries and academies...a commercial centre occupying a five-storey building with terraces which united the functions of stock exchange, big department store, galleries of specialist shops and warehousing, and which even had ponds for the sale of live fish... Trajan’s forum had everything, including restau-rants.2

Much like the Greek Agora, the Roman Forum was a massive public space which encompassed all activities of daily life, “where people can buy or sell merchandise or opinions, talk to their acquaintances, see and be seen, all under the 1 Toussant-Samat, Maguelonne. A History of Food. Pg 294.2 Toussant-Samat. 294.

context • 13

1. Palazzo Della Ragione in Padua.

2. Trajan Market.3. Roman Forum

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context • 15

aegis of the civil and religious institutions.”3

The Forum was designed by Syrian Greek architect Apollodorus of Damascus, under the rule of Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trainaus, also known as Trajan, the Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD.

Steel exemplifies the pairing of market space with civic function in the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua. Completed in 1219, the 24 m vaulted interior hall on the first floor was occupied by the medieval Paduan Commune. Straddling on either side of the building was a public market, a function which has remained to this day. According to Steel, “hall and market were a perfect reflection of the urban hierarchy: politics supported by commerce, and the mutual depen-dence of one upon the other.”4

In both instances, the grandiosity of the market schemes was a reflection of their role in civic life; a space holding the nourishing goods for the entire city would seem to be necessarily permeated with the central judicial and political activities, the other ordering functions of a city.

THE EMERGENCE OF THIS CRISIS

3 Toussant-Samat. 294-295.4 Steel. 122.

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The industrialization of the food production process has greatly contributed to the food landscape in which we find ourselves in today. Though as large of a role it serves in producing our food, the general public knows very little about this process.

Historically, the public space of food was once intermingled with daily life, and the narrative of food origins could not be something of ignorance.

Steel iterates that in pre-industrially built cities, public spaces were the only place which could sell food. This was done mainly because at the time, the scarcity of food led to under table deals which were obviously illegal. Addition-ally, good food would often be manipulated with poorer quality food in order stretch the profitability of a potential sale. Opening the exchange of food onto the space of public streets reduced the incidence of these illegal transactions by enabling the public with the role of ethical and moral enforcement.

For Steel, the public spaces began to be literally shaped by the food pathways into the city. For example, she de-scribes how street names could give clues as to what was being sold there (“Friday Street” being the day – and place – to buy fish.) And if you lived by a public market, it was easy to see where your food was coming from, because

context • 17

they would literally be marched into the city. One interesting example of the effects of spatial relationships with pro-grams is the journey of animals in London, where “…animals bound for London could lose 100lb in weight, and had to be fattened up again before slaughter. Fattening was a specialist occupation in the suburbs, and breweries had a nice sideline in feeding cattle on spend grain.”5

The parading of live animals through the streets, along with all other activities in the public market, made the pub-lic space into something of a spectacle. This spectacle added a sense of both comic and tragic into daily civic life. Comic because of the juxtaposition of sights, sounds and smells of each day within one space; tragic because of the realization that the spectacle had ended when the stalls became vacated and the public spaces emptied when the market closes at night. Of course, this would continue day to day, such that these public spaces were injected with life created by these diurnal patterns.

Eventually, these animals were no longer necessary in the city centers. This occurred with the invention of the steam engine, and as Steel points out, “some of the first train passengers were pigs and sheep.”6 With the ability to ship the food into the cities, cities were no longer bound by the logistics of traditional food transport; they were emancipated

5 Steel. Pg 68.6 Steel. TED.

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from these restrictions and could, in essence, grow to any size.7

Another reason for the expulsion of live animals from urban centres to the peripheries has to do with the improvement of standards of living. Dorita Hannah, in her essay Butcher’s White, writes about the history of the abattoir in the meat packing district of New York. For her, the slaughter of animals in buildings known as “shambles” were not only dis-liked because they “became controversial and contaminated sites of waste, from which blood flowed onto the streets and unpleasant smells of live and dead animals hung in the air”8 but also because the notion of slaughter had become disassociated with the sacred sacrifice. For her, “...sacrifice continues to have a real function in society because it protects the community from its own violence, restores harmony, reinforces the social fabric, and establishes order”9 and thus “because the abattoir had lost its links with the sacrifice, and therefore the sacred, it became associated primarily with the profane. The public considered it an unclean place and consequently one to be avoided...”10

The public’s lack of knowledge about the production of food leads to the creation of obscure mental landscapes which we can only render with pastoral ideals. These notions are derived from images that reference a period before farm-ers moved into the cities; before production became industrial. Consumers, losing the valuable spatial understanding 7 Ibid.8 Hannah, Dorita. Butcher’s White, in Eating Architecture. Pg 289.9 Hannah. Pg 290.10 Hannah. Pg 292.

context • 19

of food place, seldom directly confront the spatial repercussions created by the production of their food. Farm land-scapes no longer represent pastoral ideals but involve ecologies of machinery.

Author and journalist Michael Pollan has written extensively on this topic, and in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma reveals many of the conditions which have led to our current consumptive habits. One of the main points he raises is the monopolization of the corn industry into a few hands of farmers, largely subsidized by the government. At times, he compares the development of cities to the development of the corn industry, for example how “[t]he postwar sub-urbs would never have been built if not for the interstate highway system, as well as the G.I. Bill and federally subsi-dized mortgages. The urbanization of America’s animal population would never have taken place if not for the advent of cheap, federally subsidized corn.”

This subsidization of corn production has led to the growth of the industry so excessively that corn by-products are now omnipresent in products which aren’t even food. What is troubling is that the unnecessary excessiveness of food production leads to an economic incentive to market products for in turn, excessive consumption. What is uneconom-ical about this approach is that it takes 10 calories of energy to produce just 1. What is most uneconomical is that the consumption of these manufactured products plays a role in the health crisis we face today by contributing to obesity, diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases. Speaking in dollars, these health issues cost $300 billion of combined

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government spending in the United States and Canada. Speaking in life cost, obesity and being overweight contributes to 16% of population mortality.11

Despite the detrimental effects of consuming these products, they remain to be some of the most accessible foods. They are cheap and highly marketed; therefore, their appeal is not for their nutritive values but for many other reasons. There is certainly a correlation between demographics and obesity rates, and it seems that lower income, lower edu-cation populations are at greater risk.12

Aside from marketing, another reason explaining the resiliency of these processed food types in our culture is their compatibility to the ways in which are cities are planned. The relocation of housing from an “interior” condition of dense urban settlements to an “exterior” condition of peripheral suburbs necessitated a new method of feeding this population. As the automobile gave means for this sort of sprawling development, it gave access to a new type of grocery store - large supermarkets which could be built to the scale of the vast lands available in the suburbs. Corner grocers were no longer required because people simply abandoned the notion of walking through their communities (or rather, communities abandoned the notion of being walkable.) The food supply of these communities was consoli-

11Behan, Donald F. & Cox, Samuel H.. Obesity and its Relation to Mortality and Morbidity Costs sponsored by Society of Actuaries. 2010. Pg 37. Source [http://www.soa.org/files/pdf/research-2011-obesity-relation-mortality.pdf]

12 Tjepkema, Michael. Adult Obesity in Canada: Measured Height and Weight. Source [http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-620-m/2005001/pdf/4224906-eng.pdf]

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dated into one location of the supermarket. Architect and author Carolyn Steel, in her book Hungry City, states in what seems like a foreboding tone “[t]he reality is that supermarkets have a stronghold over not just the grocery sector, but the entire infrastructure that supplies our food. Without them, we would struggle to feed ourselves; and that makes their position close to unassailable.”13

Proximity lost a sense of value in new lifestyles which became increasingly dependent on automobiles as transport. This disassociation easily allows consumers to take for granted where their food is coming from. Processed and packaged foods are easily shipped and stocked into the aisles of supermarkets. They are easily packed into cars and also easily stowed away into pantries. This idea of stock piling is discussed by Karen Ann Marling in her essay As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s. Marling describes how during the Cold War era,

[consumers] delighted in pictures showing American families surrounded by all the groceries they would con-sume in an average year. Like the endless shots taken in well stocked supermarkets, such photos celebrated abundance, insisted on its reality, and served to ward of whatever threatened American’s kitchens of tomor-row, crammed with instant mashed potatoes and ready-to-heat-’n’eat, homestyle frozen Salisbury steaks.14

It seems as though this sort of mentality has never left the suburban communities which could afford the space to the 13 Steel, Carolyn. Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives. 2008. London: Vintage Books. Pg 67.14 Marling, Karen Ann. As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s. 1994. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pg 251.

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storing of these foods. It also seems that this sort of mentality is what easily feeds from the abundance of processed foods in grocery store aisles. Reciprocally, the industry will continue to produce for this mentality.

For North America, two very young countries have yet determined their own idea of “food culture.” Without deep set rules of food, their populations are easily swayed by fad diets and marketing schemes. Supermarkets, who are run by a very few yet control the supply of food to a very large population, have the capacity to influence food culture be-cause of this. In fact, it seems that they are the food culture of North America. They make up the majority of contem-porary public food spaces, yet they lack a contribution to the development of a meaningful food culture.

THE CURRENT CONDITION OF THE CRISIS: VANCOUVER’S FOOD SYSTEM

A food system can be defined by distribution, consumption, recycling/disposal, production and processing of food.

In a study that began in 2008, the Vancouver Food Policy Council in collaboration with Serecon Management Consult-ing Inc. and Zbeetnoff Agro-Environmental Consulting Inc, strove to understand what if meant to have food security in Vancouver.

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Food security means the accessibility – physically and economically – to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for every-one. Taken into a greater context, this could also encompass the notion of a resilient food system, “adaptive and can meet the food related human, cultural, economic, social and environmental needs of the individual and community.”15 The latter can be seen as a planning methodology which projects itself into the future by looking at all aspects which affect food allocation in cities.

The main criticism of this report was that the current food system in B.C. and Canada

“...is profit driven and, for the most part, based on a globally competitive model of efficiency and low costs. The system is not necessarily driven by the needs of the local community nor does it directly address issues of food security. Food access by all members of the community is largely presumed. Segments of society that are visibly unable to afford their food needs are supplied through food charities. In addition, the food sys-tem is also wasteful, with almost half of the food being lost or destroyed between initial production and final consumption.”16

The report looks at food security in three fundamental terms: affordability (income, cost of food, affecting at the scale

15 Food Secure Vancouver: Baseline Report. Prepared by Serecon Management Consulting Inc. & Zbeetnoff Agro-Environmental Consulting. Prepared for Vancouver Food Policy Council. (2009). Source: [http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/foodpolicy/tools/pdf/FoodSecure_Baseline.pdf]

16 Ibid.

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of community), knowledge (education and training on nutrition and health, affects food security at the scale of the individual), and the food system (efficacy of production, land use, processing, dist., and marketing system, affecting at the scale of a region.) Food Security in Vancouver BC produces essentially all its own supply for milk, eggs, and poultry BC produces nearly enough fish and vegetables to meet its supply needs. Because of seasonality in production and production that is specialized in limited number of products, a proportion of BC food production is exported, with resupply by imports to meet total demand. In Vancouver there is a need for both locally grown and imported food due to climate and physical limitations. Import-ing food is also seen as risk allocation by providing an alternative source in case of crop failures. Economically, the diversity is also seen as providing price competition. Seasonality of food production is important in BC because of its climate. Greenhouse production has been imple-mented, but due to costs associated with heating and lighting, there is simply more economic incentive to import food.

BC Productive Land Used for Food and Non-Food Production

Livestock

Vegetables

Fruit

Other Food Crops

Sod and Nursery

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4. BC Productive Land Used for Food and Non-Food Production.

-200,000 0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000

Vegetables

Fruit

Milk

Eggs

Fish

Chicken

Beef

Pork

Lamb, Sheep

Coarse Grains

Total Food Available in BC

BC Exports (Domestic)

BC Exports (International)

BC Imports (Domestic)

BC Imports (International)

Production in BC (tonnes)

Food Availability in British Columbia26 • Table 162

5. Food Availability in British Columbia

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Supply Gap

Lower Mainland Food Production

Total Available Food in Lower Mainland

Vegetables

Fruit

Milk

Eggs

Fish

Chicken

Beef

Pork

Lamb, Sheep

Coarse Grains 0%

9%

33%

10%

97%

43%

90%

101%

21%

23%

400000

300000

200000

100000

0

100000

200000

Beef Fish Dairy Fruits VegetablesCerealProducts

Pulses &Nuts

Sugars &SyrupsPork Lamb Poultry

2005 Food Demands for Metro Vancouver

2005 Food Production in Metro Vancouver

Supply Gap

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6. Availability of Lower Mainland Production as % of Food Available in Lower Mainland

PRESENTS

SOUTHWESTERN BC SEASONAL CHART

VEGETABLES J F M A M J J A S O N D FRUIT J F M A M J J A S O N DArtichokes ApplesAsparagus ApricotsBeans (Fresh) BlackberriesBeans (Dried) BlueberriesBeets Cherries (pie)Broccoli Crab ApplesBrussel Sprouts CranberriesCabbage-Green & Red CurrantsCabbage-Savoy & Red GooseberriesCarrots GrapesCaulißower KiwiCelery MelonsChard-Swiss NectarinesCorn PeachesCucumbers PearsFennel (Bulb) PlumsGarlic (Fresh) PrunesGarlic (Dried) QuinceKale RaspberriesLeeks Rhubarb - FieldLettuce Saskatoon BerriesMustard Greens StrawberriesOnions-GreenOnions-Red/Yellow MEAT & DAIRY J F M A M J J A S O N DParsnips Dairy ProductsPeas EggsPeppers BeefPotatoes - New BuffaloPotatoes - Red, Russet, Yellow ChickenPotatoes - White DuckPumpkin GoatRadishes LambRhubarb-Field OstrichRutabagas PheasantSalad Greens PorkShallots RabbitSpinach TurkeySquash-Summer Note: Frozen meat products are available year round. Squash-WinterTomatoes HERBS J F M A M J J A S O N DTurnips-White Bay LeavesZucchini Basils

ChivesSEAFOOD J F M A M J J A S O N D Chives-garlicClams ChervilCod: PaciÞc CilantroCrab Dill -leafCrab: Dungeness Dill-seedFlounder/Sole: PaciÞc EpazoteHalibut: PaciÞc Fennel-leafHerring Fennel -SeedLingcod LavenderMussels Lemon GrassOysters: PaciÞc Lemon verbenaPrawns: Jumbo Marjoram- sweetPrawns: Spot MintsSableÞsh (Black Cod) OreganoesSalmon: Chinook/King/Spring ParsleysSalmon: Chum RosemarysSalmon: Coho (Northern) SagesSalmon: Pink Savory-summerSalmon: Sockeye Savory-winterSardines: PaciÞc ShisoScallops SorrelShrimp: Side Stripe Tarragon-frenchShrimp: West Coast ThymesSpring DogÞshTuna: Albacore ETC. J F M A M J J A S O N DNote: Frozen seafood is available year round. Grains

Honey = Greenhouse Grown This guide is general information, Mushrooms = Stored/Dried/Frozen availability can change due to weather. Nuts

www.getlocalbc.org www.farmfolkcityfolk.ca

© 2011 FarmFolkCityFolk

28 • Table 162

7. Seasonal Food Chart for Southwestern BC.

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The majority of fruit production in Vancouver consists of cranberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Ex-tended to the BC region, this includes apples, cherries, grapes, and pears. BC produces enough of these fruits to supply 40% of its needs, although only half of it reaches the local market, with the rest being exported. Additionally, if we were to keep all these fruits produced in the local market, it would require a major shift in diets, and the seasonal production would have to be frozen or stored to last year-round. This brings to point the potential for alternate crop production or further greenhouse technologies. Grains produced in BC are currently used to feed livestock, even though it has the potential to supply 36% of the production demand. The report suggests that higher quality grains produced can be used for human consumption and the remainder designated for feed. Not all land is available for agricultural purposes, and not all agricultural land is used for food production. According to data compiled from Statistics Canada Agriculture Census Data and Land Use Inventories (LUIs), we can begin to see the allocation of land use in the landscape which surrounds various municipalities in the Lower Mainland. The high-est proportion of land used in the lower mainland is in tame hay production (for livestock feed.) Approximately 20% of land in the Land Use Inventory database is being used for non-agricultural activities, while an additional 6% of land could be used but is currently in idle state. The data is compiled

30 • Table 162

Greenhouses only account for 0.038% of land use and are used for vegetables, flowers, herbs and propagation. Pro-duction is highly intensive - greenhouse vegetables out-yield field vegetable production by 28 times (437 tonnes ver-sus 15.4 tonnes per ha.) 53% of greenhouses are used for vegetable production - 80% of this production is exported to the United States. These statistics indicate that the majority of land in the Land Use Inventory has already been put to use, thus the ability to increase agricultural production may not be to that great of an extent. This also indicates that there may be in-creased desire to utilize the existing agricultural landscape with more efficient and sustainable practices. The report doesn’t find a direct correlation between sustainable farming practices with improved food security. For example, conservation tillage, cover cropping, integrated pest management, beneficial re-use of agricultural waste products, etc. do not necessarily develop into “practical methodologies for establishing the meaningful linkages be-tween uptake and food security outcomes.” (38) Demand for food is measured by Statistics Canada on the basis of disappearance or consumption. Food disappear-ance statistics are based on a study completed for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) by Serecon Management Consulting in 2005. Disappearance is the amount that is originally produced at the production level before it enters the

context • 31

value chain. The value chain entails transportation from the field, processing, at retail, and in the home - and through this process, a large portion of food is put to waste. According to Statistics Canada (Canada Food Statistics Database, 2005), consumption can be as low as 20% of the original production quantity. The consumption of beef, for example, is 43% of the disappearance quantity; vegetables are commonly 50%. Supply Gap is defined as the difference between local food production capability and total food consumption needs.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN Growers, fishers, producers and processors Fresh and processed crop products and fish are shipped directly to packers, shippers, and wholesalers. Packers are involved in washing, packing, grading and cooling of products. Producers may pack their own products and bypass packers. Almost all fresh meat and poultry products is sent to packers or buyers for slaughtering and packing, prior to entering the food distribution system. Shippers The link between packer and wholesaler. Their role is to transport goods, and in BC, dominates the supply network for

32 • Table 162

food products imported from the US. Brokers Act as agent on behalf of producer, shipper or buyer. Locate food supplies to sell or buy and negotiate the sale. Most heavily involved in importing food (from US or off-shore). Wholesalers Procure food products from the above players and also directly from importers. The products are then marketed to retail sector. The largest retail companies have their own wholesaling departments. Small retail companies often purchase products from smaller wholesalers (AKA “jobbers”) who purchase/repackage products originally purchased from larger wholesalers. Retailers These companies sell directly to food product consumers and are represented by groceries, supermarkets, corner stores. In 2005 the retail sector accounted for about 60% of total commercial food sales in BC ($10.2 billion). The dominant

Precedents • 33

supply route of food to food retailers is through wholesalers, who often are both processors and brokers.

CONFRONTING THE CRISIS

The current food system in North America seems to be working to some advantage, which could only explain its tenaciousness in spite of its own creation of clearly illogical consequences. For one, our lifestyles have become accustomed to the convenience of these one-stop supermarkets. In an average supermarket, one can have their prescriptions filled, film developed, and banking needs accomplished all in the same location as where they pick up their food. As the markets of Urr once contained all necessities for civic life, supermarkets have taken the same idea. The supermarket methodology, however, is much different. For one, these spaces are acontextual. The homogeniza-tion created by the supermarket removes origins from food, and in the consumers’ minds, these foods are located in florescent lit aisles, not farms. The origin of food is even further obscured by the placement of nutritional data on food packaging. This type of information views all foods as grams of protein, fat and carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, yet does not distinguish between origins of ingredients and methods of production.

Additionally, the markets of antiquity served a social function for the city, becoming the space where all city dwellers converged. Even today, farmers markets still retain that sense of social function. In her book, My Life in France, Julia Child recounts her excursions to the Parisian markets:

34 • Table 162

Indeed, shopping for food in Paris was a life-changing experience for me. It was through daily excursions to my local marketplace on la Rue de Bourgogne, or to the bigger one on la Rue Cler, or, best of all, into the orga-nized chaos of Les Halles - the famous marketplace in central Paris - that I learned one of the most important lessons of my life: the value of les human relations.17

Today, other forms of social interaction have taken form in other parts of the city – small neighborhood cafes, the local gym, the computer, etc. These spaces occur in pockets throughout the city in a decentralized manner. This arrangement compliments our individual lifestyles, where we can easily customize daily routines in order to maximize efficiency. Today’s grocery store is the least likely place many would attempt to become socially engaged with their fellow shoppers.

The counter argument is to simply understand the consequences this convenience creates. It is immediately econom-ic in many senses – for time and even for budgets – yet, projecting into the future, time and budget may not even be relevant when we begin to consider the irreparable environmental effects of the industrial farming practice, or devastat-ing human life costs. Food in the current lifestyle is a commodity, but to give it appreciation for its qualities as basic nourishment and an investment into health will rely on a large cultural shift. This is why there is a distinction between

17 Child, Julia. My Life in France. 2006. New York: Anchor Books. Pg 70.

context • 35

the cultures of the farmers market and the supermarket. For Steel, this distinction is clear:

Wherever food markets survive, they bring a quality to urban life that is all too rare in the West: a sense of belonging, engagement, and character...We only lavish time and money on [food] when we are ‘treating our-selves,’ not as part of a daily routine. That is why we respond so well to food tourism, why we love to shop in markets when we go abroad...18

In an alternative model, one can imagine the consumer confronting these sorts of information that have become lost. One method could propose a direct spatial relationship between all these disaggregated food spaces - and by doing so, ground food into a place.

The necessity for the association of food with place is in part a method of contextualizing the issue at hand. The cur-rent food system of B.C. and Canada has created many levels of separation from the point of food production to the point of food consumption. Food production itself is by very nature cyclical and diurnal. The seasonal variations with fruits, vegetables and even animals (the slaughter of lambs occurring around Christmas following their natural repro-ductive patterns of spring birth) are easily taken for granted when Vancouver imports nearly half of its food. In the supermarket, consumers are faced with fruits and vegetables in greater variety than ever before. Traced back to their

18 Steel. Pg 111.

36 • Table 162

“origins”, these items are farmed in vast monocultures, compartmentalized in green houses. This systematic process seems to dismiss needs for reciprocal input and output reflecting a natural, seasonal ordering pattern. Pollan com-pares the industrial model to the holistic farming model of “Polyface Farm”:

Industrial processes follow a clear, linear, hierarchical logic that is fairly easy to put into words, probably because words follow a similar logic: First this, then that... But the relationship between cows and chickens on [Polyface Farm]...takes the form of a loop rather than a line, and that makes it hard to know where to start, or how to distinguish between causes and effects, subjects and objects.19

The inability to distinguish causes and effects may be a true indication of a cyclical system. And perhaps this idea of seasonality and cycle is the first piece of information that needs to be understood in order to mitigate the prob-lems of our current food systems. Production and consumption have come out of sync with one another. While the consumption of food – including purchasing and eating – follow daily and cyclical patterns, production has become guided by its own economic terms. Given the fact that people operate on diurnal patterns – especially in the ways in which we eat – implies the importance of its representation in the spatial patterning of the proposal. The placement of oneself into the cycle of food will unveil the weight of individual action – in both positive and negatives terms, and can be used bring to light some issues such as food security and the need for resilient food systems.

19 Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. 2006. New York: Penguin Press. Pg 212.

context • 37

The culture of food in North America, still greatly un-established in terms of its own resiliency, may also find a new trajectory. Currently dominated by themes of fast food, “instant” meals, and appropriations of other cultural culinary ideas, there are many things left to be desired about our local food culture. If the first steps of changing the ways in which we eat have to do with the understanding of cyclical food production processes, then the second may involve the imbuing of appreciation for this food. Education and demonstration can be made into spectacle – which is what markets once used to be – and by adding this level of program to a public space, enliven and add brevity to what many feel daunted by – the art of cooking. Eating is an occasion that is sating, anticipated and desirable. As Julia Child describes her first meal in Rouen, it seems as though she had become awakened in a way:

I closed my eyes and inhaled the rising perfume. Then I lifted a forkful of fish to my mouth, took a bite, and chewed slowly. The flesh of the sole was delicate, with a light but distinct taste of the ocean that blended mar-vellously with the browned butter. I chewed slowly and swallowed. It was a morsel of perfection.20

The idea that food can be so transformative is an idea that could be conveyed spatially, such that the setting in which this transformation occurs exemplifies the occasion. Marco Frascari describes the lack of “taste” in contemporary modernist architecture, and how the

20 Child. Pg 17.

38 • Table 162

…rigorous design morality imposed by the form-function polarity of the modern movement has reduced architecture to its untouchable structural and functional bones... The ethical stance of both the modern and the postmodern theories aim to produce buildings that “look good” over a predetermined life span. In this sense, their built products are similar to another set of products generated under the spell of modern times: the edibles produced by fast-food chains. They are a feast for the eyes but there is no possibility, no reason, to take the time and pleasure to taste them.21

Thus, formally, taste has a means of manifestation. It can be made into something which is tactile not solely as an oral sensation, but also as visual and spatial. I believe that this last quality is essential to consider when one speaks about the design of public food spaces.

21 Frascari, Marco. Semiotica Ab Edendo, Taste In Architecture, in Eating Architecture. Pg 192.

8. Kitsilano Farmers Market

Precedents • 39

precedents

40 • Table 162

2004, the EU began to introduce legislation that will eventually prohibit the sale of all fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and fish outside of a climate-contolled environment.

A new markethall encompassing food, leisure, living and parking.

100 “Fresh units” - market stalls, shops and restaurants - approximately 20m2 each20 (4600m2 total) Food and food related stores6 (1600m2 total) Catering locations1500m2 AH supermarket300m2 Gall & Gall and Etos1200m2 Cooling storage and preparation areas126 Private apartments 70 - 250m2 102 Rental apartments 70 - 150 m21200 Parking stalls

The site is located on Binnenrotte, adjacent to the largest outdoor market in the Netherlands.

MARKTHAL// MVRDV

ISSUE

PROGRAM

SUMMARY

Precedents • 41

The form consists of a great arc - 70m x 117m and 40m in height

The standard “fresh unit” is 5m x 4m, with 3m pathways inbetween each. Operators can utilize multiple units. These fresh units will supple-ment the existing 460 outdoor stalls. And in addition to selling food, the stalls will also sell flowers and plants. It will be open six days a week, from 0900 to 2000.

On the ground floor and first floor of the hall, the sides are occupied by 20 stores (approximately 4600m2) and catering establishments (1600m2). Food and food related stores include wine shops, bakeries, butchers, and caterers. The focus of these stores will be “slow food” (artisanal and organic products) and will be present in both the Market Hall and the Great Market Square. The -1m level will be occupied by the supermarket Albert Heijn (1800m2). Approximately 8 restaurants will be located on the first floor (Oriential, Italian, Spanish, and Moroccan food) with a cafe partly on the ground floor. Terraces on the first floor surrounding the hall provide views into the market. Additionally, these spaces an be transformed on weekends for performances and art exhibitions.

Parking located under the hall services visitors to the Market Hall, as well as visitors for the outside market, library, Hoogstrat and Koopgoot. “The garage will be with luxurious public toilets.”

At -1 is a seperate room reserved for vans bringing in food for the “fresh units.” Vendors have access to the market with elevators.

The indoor fresh units are meant to satisfy the new legislation regulating food vending, though their temperatures will not deviate largely from

42 • Table 162

the exterior environment.

An article written in Azure used this project as an example of “Designs on Food.” Author Aaron Betsky summarizes that MVRDV’s design of this market exemplifies Dutch design by its efficient land use, mix-match of functions, and simple constructional elements with logic to produce a strong form.1 One of his main critiques stemming from these qualities is its lack of a clear relationship to the surroundings (one of the oldest sites in Rotterdam). Not only formally unresponsive to the site, the programming of the living spaces does not seem to reflect its context; currently, the people who frequent the market are immigrants - who are these upscale apartments addressing?

For myself, the critique lies in the market itself, which does not address the diurnal patterns of daily life. The market space is highly untrans-formative, thus as the building appears as a spectacle because of it’s unusual form in the context, there really is no spectacle occuring within. The design is infact highly choreographed. In such a prescribed public space, it is hard to imagine how the public is given autonomy and a role in the pursuit of a new food culture.

1Betsky, Aaron. A Homey Food Hall, in Azure Magazine. May 2010.

De Hoogstraat was voor de oorlog de belangrijkste winkelstraat van Rotterdam, met prachtige gebouwen (o.a. de Rotterdamse Passage), die vrijwel allemaal zijn gebombardeerd. Dit gebied is nu weer in opkomst o.a. door de restauratie van het Huf pand, de bouw van Blaak 31 en de bouw van de Markthal.

Omgeving0 50 100 150 200 m

N

Precedents • 43

9. Markthall Site Plan

Doorsnede

44 • Table 162

10. Building Section

Precedents • 45

11. Markthall Interior Perspective

Begane grond

Grotemarkt

Bin

ne

nro

tte

46 • Table 162

12. Ground Floor Plan

Op het –1 niveau is tevens (expeditie)ruimte gereserveerd voor bestelbusjes voor de bevoor -rading van de versunits. Deze ruimte is volledig gescheiden van het publieks parkeren. Vanuit deze (expeditie)ruimte kunnen de marktlieden hun waren via goederenliften direct in de Markthal brengen. De bevoorrading van de versunits zal zoveel mogelijk voor opening van de Markthal plaatsvinden. De bevoorrading van de supermarkt geschiedt met 2 liften, opgenomen in het straatbeeld van de Binnenrotte. Van daar gaan de goederen naar het magazijn op –1.

Garage –1

Garage –2 / –3 / –4

BESTELBUSJES

SUPERMARKT

Precedents • 47

13. -2,-3,-4 LEVELS PLAN

48 • Table 162

Quality products are often available only to a privileged few due to many factors including cost and accessibility.

A supermarket which brings together values of local, sustainable eating and Italy’s famous standards for shopping, food prepa-ration and presentation. Eataly proposes the best of artisanal quality products with affordable prices by reducing the supply chain of goods between the producer and the distributor; this allows an opportunity to reduce the cost of quality products. This “democratization” of food is their main stance.

The objective of Eataly, according to their website, is to increase the percentage of those who feed themselves with knowledge. Having the ability to choose products with an understanding of the origins of the raw materials, they argue, is currently only a very low percentage of people.

The Eataly attempts to adopt this philosophy in twofolds: on one side is of the supply of products both in forms of distribu-tion and forms of opportunities for dining; on the other side, the educational aspect that teaches the principle that “eating well helps people live better.” Healthy, clean and fair eating are principles derived from the slow food argument. They can also be regarded as obstacles for smaller producers who do not have access to these means.

There are currently three location world-wide: New York, Torino, and Tokyo.

EATALY

ISSUE

PROGRAM

SUMMARY

Precedents • 49

The main critique would focus on the architectural form - can the form break away from the conventional appearance of a supermarket? What sort of program adjacencies could help to reveal novel food experiences?

50 • Table 162

14. Eataly

Precedents • 51

15. Exterior of Torino Eataly16. Interior of Torino Eataly.

52 • Table 162

Vancouver city is considered to have the most local food markets and farmers markets per capita in Canada, with over com-prising an economy of $10 million in the year 2008. They have grown a rate of 30% per year which translates to 3,500 acres of BC land in production of food for Vancouver (Tara McDonald 2008). These markets are visited by 250,000 people each year. Currently the local food markets of Vancouver do not have a centralized point of distribution for their goods - they lack long-term security and a space. Many markets are at capacity - an indication that within Vancouver city their is a large demand for local food but a lack of infrastructure to support it. For example, the Vancouver Winter Farmers Market at WISE Hall needs an ad-ditional 10 000 sq. ft. to support the demand for local food in the winter time.

The New City Market is a proposal set forth by Vancouver Farmers Market and the Local Food First consortium. It is a perma-nent, centrally located building intended to be a “physical place designed to drive local food consumption and production by providing a link between the rural suply and the urban demand in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland.” (Every Bite Counts: Climate Justice and BC’s Food System).

The central tenets of this proposal are:

• Filllocalfoodinfrastructuregapsinthelocalfoodvaluechainbyconnectingand

NEW CITY MARKET//

Precedents • 53

enabling a spectrum of local food producers, processors and buyers;• Serveasalocal-food,one-stopshopforawide-rangeofpurchasers;• Fosterthegrowthofsmalltomediumlocalbusinessesacrossthefoodandagriculturesystem;• Beacentreforinnovationandentrepreneurialgrowthforthelocalfoodcommunity;• Becomealocusofcelebrationandexperiencemakingvisiblelocalfoodandagriculture;• Beastate-of-the-artgreenbuildingwithintegratedinfrastructuresystems;and• Featureothercomplementaryfunctionssuchasofficespacetoserveasasharedfacilityforfoodsystemnon-profitsand a central resource site for emerging neighbourhood food precincts throughout Vancouver.

The main program for the 35 000 sq ft New City Market space includes:

1. MARKET HALL1,858 m2 (20,000 ft2)[ 60 vendors] INDOOR929 m2 (10,000 ft2) [40 vendors] OUTDOOR

- Peak season (May - October) both indoor and outdoor to be fully occupied; Winter season will mostly see indoor occupancy- 7,000 regular visitors and 15-20 chef customers daily

2. WAREHOUSE750 m2 (8,000 ft2) > 465 m2 (5,000 ft2) COOLER SPACE > 140 m2 (1,500 ft2) FREEZER SPACE

54 • Table 162

- efficient ways to store food (energy and cost)- available for non-for-profit storage- flexible hours for receiving

3. COMMERCIAL KITCHEN375 m2 (4,000 ft2)

1) Preparation Area 2) Processing Area

- Services start-up businesses, caterers, food trucks, farms, educational and non-profit groups.- Equipment requirements include: sinks, refridgeration, freezers, dish washers, steel tables, ovens, burners, etc..

4. EATERY280 m2 (3,000 ft2)

- Partnership with restaurant

5. OFFICE SPACE2,500 m2 (27,000 ft2)

- For the Vancouver Farmers Market

Precedents • 55

- Shared office spaces but multiple, independent organizations

Specifically, the architectural requirements that the report indicated include:

• Greenbuildingtechnologyandsustainabilityeducationaspartofbuilding(e.g.graywaterlandscapes).• Backofhouseisfrontofhouseandthereispermeabilitybetweeninsideandoutsideareasaswellastransparencybetweendifferentuses. • Facilityisaccessibleforallmobilitytypesandishuman-scaleandwelcomingtoall(e.g.signsindifferentlanguagesthatspeakstofood experience). • Designedtobeflexible,changeable(i.e.walls)andtobeopen,airy,andinterconnected,conduciveTolearning/gatheringaswellasto reduce/mitigate potential conflicts (e.g. noise from distribution centre), and adaptable to all seasons. • Accessiblefortrucks,thepublic,bikes.• Specificdesignideas:coveredoutdoorspace,retractabledoor,outdoorkidspace,demonstrationgardens,permanentspace(ven-dor) stalls vs. temporary stalls, edible landscaping, central advertizing wall, explicitly model food system though building design. • Possibilityofreuse/repurposethebuilding.• Flexibleofficespacewithsharedsupportfacilities.• Flexible,bookablespacethatisn’tfood-themedbutcouldconnectotheruserstofood(i.e.officepartybookings,workshops)

Currently, planning firm HB Lanarc Consultants has produced a report called New City Market: A Food Hub For Vancouver Visioning Report, prepared in collaboration with the vancouver Farmers Markets, Local Food First, the Vancouver Food Policy Council, and funded by the real estate Foundation of BC in April 2010. At this point in their proposal, they have yet to secure a site, though they have indicated the industrial

56 • Table 162

land located at Main + Terminal to be of their best interest for this particular program. When speaking to Herb Barbolet, he indicated that the appeal of this site is twofolds: it’s location on industrial land with pre-existing rail lines will assuage the need for new transportation infrastruc-ture. As well, the site’s proximity to larger institutions including the Great Northern Way Campus which will house all the major post second-ary institutions of Vancouver. The pairing of large institutions with food is important for Barbolet because as he points out, 2% of the food economy in the city is comprised of local markets and farmers markets, while the other 98% is utilized by supermarkets, wholesalers, and institutional food suppliers that work for hospitals and schools. Thus, a potential exists to engage with an entire sector committed to the food industry to increase funding and support for local food systems.

Not included in this proposal is the idea of Food Precincts, the complimentary and equally necessary facilities that will act in collaboration with the New City Market to distribute food locally at the scale of the neighborhood. These precincts have the potential to exist in all 22 neighbor-hoods of Vancouver in the form of community centres, neighborhood houses and schools, meeting the specific needs of the diverse neighbor-hoods by providing and outlet for local food and food education. Barbolet notes that the food requirements for the DTES, for example, vary vastly from that of Kitsilano, and these food precincts will act to address these needs.

The programs which will encompass these Food Precincts include:• Pocketmarkets• Foodgrowing(communitygardens,ediblelandscapes,greenrooftops,etc.)• Foodbuyingclubs• Skills,educationandtrainingingrowing,processing,handlingandcookingoffood• Emergencyfoodresponsecentersfornaturalorhuman-causeddisasters

Precedents • 57

17. New City Market

58 • Table 162

SWISS PAVILION, EXPO 2000//PETER ZUMTHOR

“We called the Swiss Pavilion for the 2000 Hanover Expo Klangkörper Schweiz. [...O]ur basic idea was to offer something con-crete to Expo visitors [...] a place offering a tasty little something from Switzerland for thirsty or peckish visitors...”

“Taking the Expo theme of sustainability seriously, we constructed the pavilion out of 144 km of lumber with a cross-section of 20 x 10 cm, totalling 2,800 cubic metres of larch and Douglas pine from Swiss forests, assembled without glue, bolts or nails, only braced with steel cables, and with each beam being pressed down on the one below. After the closure of the Expo, the building was dismantled and the beams sold as seasoned timber.”

Peter Zumthor [http://architecture.about.com/od/greatbuildings/ig/Peter-Zumthor-/Swiss-Sound-Box.htm]

Architectural themes explored in this project include temporality, assembly and disassembly, transposition, and spectacle.

The assembly of the 144 km of Swiss larch and douglas pine did not utilize glue, bolts or nails. The 20 x 10 cm sectional pieces were stacked and braced with cables, compressed with a spring like structure, addressing the internal size fluctuations occuring in wood members.

Precedents • 59

18. Swiss Pavilion Assembly. Drawings by Michelle Lopez.

60 • Table 162

VANCOUVER FARMERS MARKETS

Over the last few years, the support for local food has grown significantly in Vancouver, with the popularity of farmers markets claiming 30-35% annual growth in the last four years. One big issue that they face, however, is a lack of permanence within the city - Vancouver farmers markets only operate a few months a year, on selected days a week in temporary sites throughout the city. This lack of a permanent residence within the city undermines the support for a local food economy - something which needs to be addressed urgently if we are to begin the mitigation of the processes created by the industrial food system.

A distribution warehouse would accommodate the linkage space between “rural supply” and “urban demand” which currently does not exist in a cen-tralized space within the city. The “rural supply” is comprised of small to medium scale producers who lack the capital for infrastructural investments, yet could benefit from a collectively operated space. The urban demand is made up of household buyers, institutions and members of the commercial sector.

A main value of farmers markets is that they provide a forum for direct interfacing between growers and eaters. One of the better known markets in Vancouver, Granville Island Market, is a valuable asset for the promotion of food culture - something which the city of Vancouver doesn’t seem to lack - however, it does not seem to address

KITSILANO FARMERS MARKET

WEST END FARMERS MARKET

MAIN STREET FARMERS MARKET

TROUT LAKE FARMERS MARKETWINTER FARMERS MARKET

Precedents • 61

19. Vancouver Farmers Markets - Schedule

62 • Table 162

20. Kitsilano Farmers Market.

Design • 63

design

21. View of Warehousing.

64 • Table 162

Design • 65

22. Site photos.

OFFICE2,500 m2 (27,000 ft2)

OUTDOOR MARKET HALL929 m2 (10,000 ft2) [40 vendors]

INDOOR MARKET HALL1,858 m2 (20,000 ft2) [60 vendors]

COMMERCIAL KITCHEN375 m2 (4,000 ft2)

WAREHOUSE140 m2 (1,500 ft2) FREEZER465 m2 (5,000 ft2) COOLER{743 m2, 8,000 ft2 total}

EATERY280 m2 (3,000 ft2)

- efficient ways to store food (energy and cost)- available for non-for-profit storage- flexible hours for receiving

- Peak season (May - October) both indoor and outdoor to be fully occupied; Winter season will mostly see indoor occupancy- 7,000 regular visitors and 15-20 chef customers daily

- For the Vancouver Farmers Market as well as- Shared office spaces but multiple, independent organizations

1) Preparation Area2) Processing Area

- Services start-up businesses, caterers, food trucks, farms, educational and non-profit groups.- Equipment requirements include: sinks, refridgeration, freezers, dish washers, steel tables, ovens, burners, etc..

- Partnership with restaurant

FOOD HUB

66 • Table 162

23. Program

PACIFIC CENTRAL STATION>Via Rail, Amtrak, Pacific Coach Lines, Greyhound

Lekiu Importing

Trimpac Meat Distributors /Van-Whole Produce

European Speciality’sFood Imports

MAIN STREET SKY TRAIN STATION

PRIOR ST

DUNSMUIR VIADUCT

W GEORGIA ST

MA

IN S

T

TH

OR

NTO

N S

T

STA

TIO

N S

T

NATIONAL AVE

MALKIN AVE

BIKE

TRUCK

RAIL

SKYTRAIN

Design • 67

24. Site access.

OUTDOOR / INDOOR MARKET

WAREHOUSING

OUTDOOR MARKET

OUTD

OO

R M

ARK

ET

INDOOR MARKET

68 • Table 162

24. Site strategy

OUTDOOR / INDOOR MARKET

WAREHOUSING

OUTDOOR MARKET

OUTD

OO

R M

ARK

ET

INDOOR MARKET

Design • 69

25. Site strategy.

UP

warehouse block

interior market block

seasonal central space

70 • Table 162

26. Site plan

Design • 71

26. Site model.

72 • Table 162

27. Model

Design • 73

28. View towards entrance.

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

d

d

c

c

b

b

a

a

74 • Table 162

29. Ground Floor Plan

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

d

d

c

c

b

b

a

a

UP

UP

Design • 75

30. Second Level Plan

76 • Table 162

31. Interior View

Design • 77

32. Interior View.

78 • Table 162

Design • 79

33. Building Sections

80 • Table 162

34. View of exterior walkway

Design • 81

35. View within commercial kitchen

82 • Table 162

STRENGTHENING VANCOUVER’S LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM

Especially here in North America, rather than being ‘relished’, food is more often scrutinized and regarded with a sense of wariness and uncertainty. Scientific data printed on all packaging has replaced a sense of enjoyment with food, and the commodification of food has taken away our sense of wonderment. There’s a separation between our knowledge of where our food comes from and what we’re eating.

Many critics look to our current food system and see the issues arising from there. Books like “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan or “Food Inc.” directed by Robert Kenner made aware the “hidden machinery” of the industrial food system and how the current production and farming practices employed to feed our nation should no longer be considered adequate. Chef Jamie Oliver foresees the current generation as the first to live a shorter life than their parents due to the rising number of food borne health diseases.

In the argument against industrial food, local food is perhaps regarded as the main contender. Eating locally in Van-couver means sourcing our food from smaller scale farmers that surround the GVRD. While they are almost capable of producing enough of certain foods for our population, our expectations for year round, inexpensive fresh produce means that we rely on large scale, global producers to meet these demands. The main challenge that these small

Design • 83

scale local producers face is finding ways to gain access to resources which could facilitate their presence in the city and hence, make a big difference in the way in which the city feeds itself. Currently, local food finds its outlets through alternate means such as specialized local food retailers and farmers markets throughout the city.

The site for my proposal is located north of Pacific Central train station off Terminal and Main St. The site is adjacent to existing food distribution centres and roadways designated for truck routes, and is easily accessibly by public trans-portation. It is also next to the current location of the Main Street farmers market.

Taking the programmatic requirements, I began by laying them out in different ways in order to conceptualize the interactions between who I saw were the main players: producers and the consumers. From there I applied these concepts directly to how they would access the site, and generated a parti for the site strategy.

The generation of the parti was attributed to how I saw the building as a counterpoint to existing “industrial food facili-ties”. The main example of this is how I saw the warehousing facility as not something to be put at the back of the building (similar to how you would find it at Safeway or Superstore) but rather as a way to showcase the food and the people who bring our food into our city. The daily pattern of unloading food can be something that consumers be-come aware of, and in a way could invite a dialogue between the producers and the consumers - something which has

84 • Table 162

been lost to the industrial system.

This dialogue could be facilitated by allowing access to the producers - both visually and physically:

- pathways and ramps leading to the loading dock, where sections of the loading/warehousing zone can be public space- the loading dock itself could be used as a space for impromptu exchanges where farmers could drop off their goods and sell directly off the dock as an extension to the market.

The commercial kitchen plugs into the grid established by the warehousing block. In that way, space for storage is established, as well as a loading or packing zone for caterers or food businesses needing that type of space. The rep-etition of the warehouse grid is continued to the exterior where a partially enclosed space can be used during outdoor market days for washing and temporary storage. The grid is further continued into the plaza of columns which would have canopies in the summertime, and could also be wired with electricity for use by the outdoor market vendors.

The interior market space is a continuation of the outside to the inside, much like the warehouse is a continuation of the road. In this way, the market activities that would be happening outside can spill into the interior space. The

Design • 85

central street functions as a seasonally covered, semi-enclosed space between the warehousing and interior market space.

The argument for local food is inherently linked to the idea of seasonality, cycles and change. In Vancouver, the avail-ability of locally grown food decreases in the wintertime and thus the need for market space would also decrease. However, in the summertime, when locally produced food is much more abundant, market space requirements would also increase; thus, in the summertime, this space would be occupied by vendors and their stalls. This space is also directly accessible to the warehouse by interior doors (thus the warehouses themselves can also function as a space where market exchanges could occur.)

The interior market space is activated by rotating walls, which pivot to allow access into the interior market spaces. They also function as shelves which can be used by the vendors as storage or retail space. This threshold space can signal and display the products that the vendors are selling.

The roof structure over this space is constructed of glulam with retractable fabric awnings. On nice summer days, the roof could be completely retracted so that the space has exterior qualities.

86 • Table 162

Across the street from the commercial kitchen is the kitchen for the eatery. Their spacial proximity creates the entry area, but also a visual dialogue between the chefs and cooks of both kitchens. The kitchen for the restaurant can be completely opened up into the courtyard during the summertime by large swinging windows, so that the two spaces could be transparent to one another.

The argument for local food is inherently linked to the idea of seasonality, cycles and change. The way in which we access our food can change the ways we think about how we should feed ourselves. Making certain processes trans-parent - such as the transportation of food into our cities, or the cooking and preparation of food - can help to generate interest and an appetite for locally produced food. The transformation of the building from winter to summer, from day to night, reflects the diurnal patterns of food and food production. It makes aware the seasonal variations which occur locally, and in this way, a sincere understanding of local food can be built.

Design • 87

88 • Table 162

Design • 89

36. Model

90 • Table 162

bibliography

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Design • 91

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Klanten, Robert, Ehmann, Sven & Moreno, Shonquis. ed. Gestalten. Eat Out: Restaurant Design and Food Experiences. 2010. Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag GmbH & Co.. Lee, Marc et al. Every Bite Counts: Climate, Justice and BC’s Food System. 2010. BC: CCPA.

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Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire. 2001. USA: Random House Trade Paperbacks.

Ruhlman, Michael. Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. 2009. New York: Scribner.

Serecon Management Consulting Inc. & Zbeetnoff Agro-Environmental Consulting. Prepared for Vancouver Food Policy Council. Food Secure Vancouver: Baseline Report. (2009). Source: [http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/foodpolicy/tools/pdf/FoodSecure_Baseline.pdf]

Steel, Carolyn. How Food Shapes Our Cities. TED talk 2009.

Steel, Carolyn. Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives. 2008. London: Vintage Books.

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Steingarten, Jeffrey. The Man Who Ate Everything. 1997. USA: Vintage Books.

Tjepkema, Michael. Adult Obesity in Canada: Measured Height and Weight. Source [http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-620-m/2005001/pdf/4224906-eng.pdf]

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. A History of Food. 1992. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

Vancouver BC Sky Train. South San Francisco General Plan. Source [http://www.docstoc.com/docs/37826944/11-Vancouver-BC-SkyTrain]

//images//

1. Bing maps.2. http://rodensor.com/images/site_graphics/Trajan%202.jpg3. http://www.rodensor.com/images/site_graphics/Map_of_downtown_Rome_during_the_Roman_Empire_large.png4-6. Statistics used to generate charts: Statistics Canada Agriculture Census Data and Land Use Inventories (LUIs). 7. Seasonal Food Chart – FarmFolkCityFolk. [www.farmfolkcityfolk.com]8. Image by author.9-13. http://www.mvrdv.nl/#/projects/261markethall214. http://www.shoppingblog.com/pics/eataly_opening_90110.jpg15. http://countrybred.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Eataly-Torino.jpg16. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lPpDbtyCfus/TlWOnG3cEdI/AAAAAAAAAHw/DLT-AEFjjjQ/s1600/eataly-torino-590.jpg 17.www.thecitylab.com

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18. http://www.kristinmueller.net/index.php?/built/19. Image by author.20. Image by author.

READING ROOM AUTHORIZATION

In presenting this report in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree in the Architecture Program at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Architecture Reading Room shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this report for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Chair of Architecture or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission.

Name of Author: Stephanie Au Date: 2012-12-18

Signature

Title: Table 162 - A Local Food Hub For Vancouver Degree: Master of Architecture

Program: Architecture

Year of Graduation Ceremony: 2012