A Machine for Growing: Relocalising Agriculture to an Urban Context

Abstract

Agriculture is the most fundamental industry to our survival. With out being able to produce good nutritional food we can not exist. But increasingly this industry and the role it plays in our lives is changing due to its industrialisation driven by the access to cheap and, currently, abundant energy resources. Cheap fuel has given rise to large-scale, fossil fuel intensive, globalised food distribution systems that undermines the role of local food production in a sustainable food network. This thesis proposes that by integrating agriculture back into our communities we can create a more sustainable, secure and accessible food production system.

This thesis explores ways that we can use architectural design to relocalise agriculture into an urban context. It investigates how architecture could be used to develop a framework that could support local food production in an urban environment. Through exploring the relocalisation of agriculture the project develops architectural characteristics that enable it to integrate with its surrounding contexts. This integration is further explored by developing an environment to facilitate public engagement with the processes that the framework supports.