Jayden Luk — Grow The City

Graduation Year — 2022

Email — jayden.luk@the-LSA.org

Tutors — Jesper Henriksson & Akari Takebayashi

Location — Regents Studio, Cambridge Heaths

Size — 4,550sqm

Objective —

Grow The City recognizes the absence of growing and biodiversity in London and takes advantage of underutilized and disused buildings, embedding growing amongst living and working. Through a regenerative infrastructure, agricultural business sites will be formed through interrogating architecturally and spatially the spaces that are available.

Motivation —

To create a circular economy in the future, there needs to be collaboration and cooperation between industries, working together towards a sustainable future. Food waste accounts for a big amount of total waste produced every year with the main source from prepared food and dairy products. A case for change in response by identifying food waste as the problem and using it as a catalyst to convert them into useful materials.

Strategy —

The key design strategies include the addition of elements to the existing building. As the commercial building stands on its own, the goal is to add value and create a better social environment to live in. The addition of housing blocks provides affordable homes and creates a live/work scenario. Extending the balconies to the current building facilitates better circulation and also turns the area into a destination for users, serving as an urban park within the city.

Impact —

The project aims to create a balance between lifestyle and agriculture. It challenges the typology of whether all housing requires agriculture. As food waste takes up an abundant amount of waste in our system, we can re-use these substances and convert them into useful energy within our city. To be able to grow your own food, or be part of a scheme that allows people to gain ownership and a healthy balanced lifestyle. The addition of green spaces and gardens creates a visible and psychological connection to a community and the fruits of its labour.