The award-winning firm WORK Architecture Company is designing the Edible Schoolyard at P.S. 216. Among its recent designs, WORKac was selected by the Museum of Modern Art in 2008 to transform the PS1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens into an urban farming project called Public Farm 1.
The Edible Schoolyard NY’s four major architectural elements complement the productive garden to create spaces for learning and food preparation. Working together as a series of interlinked sustainable systems, these elements produce energy and heat, collect rainwater, process compost and sort waste to create an entirely off-grid infrastructure.
At the heart of the project is the Kitchen Classroom, with three learning stations, builtin storage and a small office, all around three dining tables where up to thirty students can enjoy the meals they prepare. The kitchen’s butterfly-shaped roof channels rainwater for reclamation.
Connected to the south side of Kitchen Classroom is the Mobile Greenhouse: a lightweight polycarbonate structure that extends the garden’s growing season by covering 1600 square feet of soil in the fall and winter. By sliding it over the Kitchen Classroom in the spring, new crops can be planted in the same earth.
On the north side, the Systems Wall is a series of cylindrical spaces that include a 1550-gallon cistern for reclaimed water, composting and waste-sorting stations, dishwashing facilities, a tool shed and a chicken coop! Next to an outdoor oven and large picnic table in the garden is the Ramada—a round seating area, shaded and protected by a roof of photovoltaic panels, where children gather to become oriented for the morning lesson.
Here’s a look of the children gathering at the Ramada, a signature feature of every Edible Schoolyard, during the peak growing season in summer:
And thanks to the movable greenhouse, here’s the continued education during the winter months:
And in the fall, a garden full of pumpkins:
Based on the incredibly successful Kitchen Classroom in Berkeley, CA, our classroom will borrow from their model and incorporate further environmental lessons like rainwater collection, biomass burners, solar paneling and a chicken coop easily accessible from both the classroom and the garden:
An important part of the garden is a place where the children, the faculty and the community can commune for a meal and celebration. There is a large outdoor table and wood-burning oven for garden events throughout the year:
The incredible Public Farm 1 (P.F. 1) at MoMA’s P.S. 1, designed by WORKac, was the inspiration for their collaboration with the Edible Schoolyard New York:
