Biomimicry - FrogTown AgriHub Process Book

Biomimicry: The FrogTown AgriHub JENNA BOWER, SCOTT CROTZER, STEVEN LANGFORD, SIDDHANT PATEL SDES 739: Biomimicry Methodology / Winter 2018

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CONTENTS

1. project introduction 2. design team 3. intro to biomimicry 3. scoping 4. discovering 5. creating 6. our project 7. evaluating

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Biomimicry: The FrogTown AgriHub JENNA BOWER, SCOTT CROTZER, STEVEN LANGFORD, SIDDHANT PATEL SDES 739: Biomimicry Methodology / Winter 2018

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INTRODUCTION TO OUR PROJECT

Tapping into nature’s geniusis evolving into an essential tool for creative professionals in all design fields. Understanding the importance of establishing sustainable living in the 21st century, students investigate biomimicry introspectives, frameworks and existing case studies in a Sustainable Design class in Biomimicry Methodology at Savannah College of Art and Design.

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The Team SCOTT CROTZER JENNA BOWER Flower child currently pursuing an MFA in Design for Sustainability with a concentration in Management at SCAD with a background in Graphic Design from the University at Buffalo.

Commercial designer with twenty years experience in adaptive reuse of industrial spaces into viable restaurant, nightclub and event venues. Historic Preservation SCAD Alumnus now pursuing a MFA in Design for Sustainability with a focus on the built environment.

SIDDHANT PATEL STEVE LANGFORD Nature geek and urban agriculture enthusiast with a background in business and economics. Now pursuing an MA in Design for Sustainability with a focus on conservation and regeneration of the natural environment.

With a background in architecture, have designed residential and commerical spaces. A natural dot connector, currently pursuing MFA in Service design at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

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INTRODUCTION TO BIOMIMICRY METHODOLOGY

There is no doubt that humans are, by nature, inventive, clever, and driven. We are not alone in that either. Every species that has survived time has does so through nearly 4 billion years of evolution. In these nearly 4 billion years, these organisms have developed a vast range of strategies and symbiotic relationships that not only support their own life, but also through their deeprooted connections to the rest of their surrounding ecosystem, create conditions where life begets life.

They have learned to not overdraw their resources, to use and value diversity, to take advantage of opportunities through organic succession, and to return any surplus that they produce.

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Biomimicry Methodology Our own species, on the other hand, has grown to value our own cleverness and ambition over the needs of the rest of our ecosystem. We have distanced ourselves from the natural world, losing our familiarity with its forms, processes, and systems, and we have come to believe our own inventions to be superior to those of nature’s 3.8 billion years, many of which, with our great cleverness, we still do not fully understand. With the technologies and political systems that have emerged since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century and the globalization that has subsequently followed, we have lost our ability to distinguish between quantity and quality of growth.

Rather than a system that encourages life, what we have created is a system that discourages

life; A system that leaves not just the surrounding environment robbed of its nutrients and diversity, but populations across the entire global ecosystem robbed of the opportunity to thrive.

However, by quieting our own cleverness and looking to nature for inspiration for how to solve the problems that we, as just another part of the greater natural system, are confronted with, we can begin to realign the values of our cultures with those of the natural world. We can begin to reconnect with the natural world. Biomimicry, as suggested by Dayna Baumeister in Biomimicry Resource Handbook: A Seed Bank of Best Practices (2014), “ushers in an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her. [A] shift from learning about nature to learning from nature

[that] requires a new method of inquiry, a new set of lenses, and above all, a new humility” (p. 8). It requires a conscious emulation of nature’s genius.

It requires looking to nature’s beauty, elegance, and effectiveness for inspiration for not just the designs of products and services, based on lifeenhancing forms and functions, but the design of entire systems, from how we do business and how we generate energy to how we heal ourselves, feed ourselves, store data, and even live together. It offers an opportunity to shift perspectives of these systems and inspire entirely new ways of thinking - thinking that will not only encourage sustainable living and thrivability, but thinking that will create resiliency in the face of the dynamic turbulences that come with being part of the complex adaptive system that is the natural world.

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PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind & find my soul.�

- John Muir Biomimicry Thinking There are some 30 million species that exist on Earth today, all of which are alive because of the biological functions and strategies that they have evolved to have over these past 3.8 billion years.

They have survived mass extinctions, cataclysmic natural disasters, even rapid climate change and habitat destruction.

The history of a place and its environment is told slightly differently all across the world, and over those 3.8 billion years, nature has evolved slightly differently according to the different conditions of each place at each different time. Life adapts to changing conditions, and while all life may share the same genetic coding, the differing history of each place has come to tell a different story.

Nothing on Earth has ever been, or will ever be, exactly as it once was. It has always been, and will always be, ever-changing.

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While we cannot hope to fully understand, in any reasonable period of time, how nature works all of her wonders, there are certain patterns that we can become more aware of, and from there, we can begin to work out the details. There are many similar shapes and mechanisms found throughout nature, from reactions to predators and techniques to distribute water or even general form that are found frequently enough to be considered deep principles. Capillary action, for example, the distributing of water through the use of surface tension to control the movement of the liquid, is considered a deep principle. Then, some deep principles, such as being locally attuned and responsive or being resource efficient, are found even more commonly throughout nature, and are determined to be more fundamental to sustaining life in the long term. In biomimicry, these are referred to as Life’s Principles.

Life’s Principles Nature as model; Nature as measure; Nature as mentor It is with Life’s Principles that biomimicry offers a guiding philosophy for how our species can better reflect the natural world from which we have distanced ourselves. These principles offer a set of standards, emulating the success stories of life, to help us raise the bar that we have allowed to gradually lower, which itself is a common pattern and trap in systems. These are not overly scientific concepts or terminologies, but rather characteristics and relationships that can be witnessed by anyone who takes a moment to better experience the interconnectedness of life other than our own - by anyone who takes a moment to open their eyes and see the world as a place teaming with life rather than just an inanimate space.

Life’s Principles begin by looking at the natural world, Earth, as being subjected to certain basic operating conditions, such as sunlight, water and gravity. These are just part of life. They are givens. We may not fully consider them on a daily basis, but we very much are subjected to them, either directly or indirectly, on a daily basis. The others include limits and boundaries, such as with finite resources, cyclic processes, such as seasonal storms, and that dynamic non-equilibrium that is the ever-changing state of the Earth.

It is these fundamental operating conditions to which organisms adapt and evolve. Life’s Principles then, are the overarching patterns that are found among these some 30 million species living and thriving all across and throughout this vast, diverse planet, from bacteria floating in the deepest depths of our oceans to mountain lions roaming the highest elevations of our ranges.

As a model, nature’s genius offers inspiration for innovative strategies and designs. As a measure, it offers a benchmark against which we can evaluate how well our designs compare against the designs of nature. But most of all, as a mentor, it offers a shift in perspectives towards one that recognizes that the world is itself a system composed of many deep rooted connections and other subsystems. A mentor that teaches us how to live in a manner that allows life to not just sustain itself, but thrive.

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PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.�

- John Muir

Biology to Design There are two primary approaches to Biomimicry Thinking: Challenge to Biology and Biology to Design. The first, Challenge to Biology, is typically used when there is a specific problem that needs to be addressed and those attempting to address the issue look to strategies in the natural world for inspiration. In Biology to Design, however, we are to allow our innate fondness for nature direct us.

We have deep roots that connect us to the natural world, regardless how separate we may see ourselves. For some, this innate fondness may be buried deep down inside of us, but an affinity for nature is still in our DNA. While there are probably a few strategies found in our local ecosystem that we have grown not too fond of, there are still millions of other organisms and strategies found in the natural world, at least some of which can inspire even the most disconnected.

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Biology to Design focuses on just that. It is an approach to biomimicry thinking centered around connecting with nature and then taking inspiration from its wonders in whatever fashion the observer sees fit. This can be inventors or entrepreneurs, those still exploring their own design process, those interested in potential strategies for new innovations, or those seeking to share the exciting process of learning to design in emulation of nature’s genius. It is an approach that helps spread the excitement of ecological thinking with those who may be unfamiliar.

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INTRODUCTION TO SCOPING

Scoping is a phase which takes place before the design process starts. The main idea of scoping is identifying challenges and an area of focus, collecting data, analysis setting goals and making sure sure each team members understand the focus of the project. It brings an opportunity for each team member to fully understand the project goals, standard of performance, hierarchy of the task as the goals within the project. “When it comes to creating a sustainable design, the scoping phase is the time to set the bar as high as possible to start, recognizing the current system we are all tied to will likely eat away at the edges of that expansive vision” (Baumeister, 2014). The final product of scoping would be a project brief which identifies and explains the background, context, goals and constraints.

This section includes: Systems Thinking: How We Came Together Initial Function Cards • Birdcatcher Tree • Toucan • Sea Oats • Leafcutter Ants Biology to Design: Defining Our Context Personas

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PHOTO VIA PEXELS

Systems Thinking HOW WE CAME TOGETHER AS A GROUP In the beginning of the quarter, we were each asked to find and research an organism and a specific strategy that we found intriguing in order to discuss it with classmates. Upon discussing these strategies, it became clear that each member of the team was inspired not just by form or process, but by systems.

For example, the bill of a toucan bird, which accounts for 20 to 50 percent of the bird’s surface area, has a rich supply of blood vessels running along its surface. This allows the Toucan’s bill serve as a means of radiating heat in order to keep the core temperature of the body stable.

Similarly, the birdcatcher tree produces seeds coated with a thick mucus which sticks to insects and birds attempting to feed on them. Often, these birds cannot escape the seeds now glued to their body, which results in an inability to fly, and eventually, starvation. After which, their bodies decompose beneath the tree and serve as a natural fertilizer. This is a common seed dispersal strategy found throughout the natural environment, but it is also a unique technique to capitalize on an external source of nutrient flows and store it for their own use.

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Birdcatcher Tree

Toucan

Sea Oats

Function: Reproduction and Fertilization

Function: To regulate the body temperature through the process of thermodynamics.

Function: To grow their root system as the dunes grow taller and add stability to the sandy structure of the dunes.

Strategy: The bird catcher tree uses hooks and a sticky substance to spread its seeds Mechanism: The seeds of the Bird Catcher tree have hooks and secrete a sticky substance allowing the seeds to attach to birds who are landing on the tree’s branches to feed on the seeds. The mechanism is so effective it can result in the attachment of too many seeds to a hungry bird causing the bird to become immobile and dye on the ground surrounding the tree and the bodies of the birds function as fertilizer if the birds end up dying and not able to spread the seeds.

Design Principle: Our design principle is to spread the ideas taught in our AgriHub by making them so sticky they adhere to anyone that enters the facility giving them the ability to spread and fertilize the neighborhood in which it stands.

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Strategy: The balance of internal body temperature is important in order for the proper systematic function of the body.

Mechanism: The toco toucan possesses the largest beak relative to body size compared to other birds.

The beak consist of small blood vessels closer to the surface of the beak which helps its regulate the body temperature. The beak of toucan is thought to be a sexual ornament as well as a refined way for feeding.

The toco toucan has the remarkable capacity to regulate heat distribution by modifying blood flow, using the bill as a thermal radiator.

Design Principle: This mechanism can help us regulate the temperature of the buildings a complete different way compared to the termite nest.

Strategy: Grow vertically while adding horizontal stability.

Mechanism: Sending out shoots of roots horizontally as it grow vertically as the top of the plant gets covered more and more by additional sand. This allows the plant and the dune to grow taller together. Dunes are a major part of island ecosystems and protect the coastline from erosion and from major storm surges during tropical storms.

Design Principle: Focus on both vertical and horizontal growth to add stability to the system.

Leafcutter Ants 1 Strategy: Queen leaves old colony stored bits of parental fungus garden mycelium in her infrabuccal pocket, which is located within her oral cavity.

Design Principle: Replicate or take inspiration from successful strategies.

2 Strategy: Each female mates with multiple males to collect the 300 million sperm she needs to set up a colony.

Design Principle: Diversity, redundancy.

3 Strategy: Queen begins new farm by finding an underground lair (like an abandoned groundhog burrow), planting fungi on top of masticated leaf tissue.

Design Principle: Start small; grow by chunking.

4 Strategy: Larvae grow and caste develop (4 types of roles).

Design Principle: Build a diverse, specialized team.

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Strategy: Gatherers constantly shift food plant to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

Strategy: Gatherers adapt behavior and which plant to feed the fungi based on its needs.

Strategy: Smaller ants manage garden by fertilizing, cultivating, weeding and remove toxic fungi.

Design Principle: Diversify resource consumption so as to not draw down resources, understanding carrying capacity (through some sort of feedback).

Design Principle: Respond to the needs of dependents/ environment and adjust behavior and resource consumption accordingly.

Design Principle: Observe and interact with environment.

8 Strategy: Dispensable members manage waste by transporting to landfill and shuffling waste around which aids in decomposition process.

Design Principle: Most dispensable members are responsible for the most hazardous roles; Composting waste.

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PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Defining Our Context In moving from biology to design, the next phase required brainstorming potential contexts to apply these new found strategies, which began with a comparison of the strategy cards and design principles associated with each strategy. Systems of food production and the spreading of colonies had the team brainstorming ideas that ranged from the colonization of Mars, to creating a socialist society, to using the elderly to do the work that no-one else wanted to do, as in the case of the leaf cutter ants. Hippie communes, cults, and cloning were also included in one of the lists. The team went as far to devise strategies the leaf cutter ants actually weren’t even performing, specifically, the young leaf cutter queen beginning her colony in an abandoned groundhog hole, which wasn’t the case at all. However, this directed the team towards the adaptive reuse strategy of the burrowing owl, which then gave rise to the idea of transform16

ing an abandoned and unused building in a food desert. This was similar to the idea of agronauts (astronaut farmers) on Mars, but much more manageable. This ultimately became the focus of the Biology to Design project.

THE ANT HILL / THE ANT FARM: Adaptive reuse meets urban agriculture to provide a seed bank of best practices for sustainable living. It is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, information, and underutilized urban spaces to create a network of urban gardens throughout the local community. In also emulating the strategy of the leaf cutter ants to use their elderly and other dispensable community members to manage their toxic waste, the Ant Hill/ Ant Farm would also provide live/work opportunities for homeless who wish for an opportunity to pick themselves back up.

HOMELESSNESS: According to the Housing Authority of Savannah, Chatham County’s homeless population is growing constantly. Between 2013 and 2016, homeless populations increased from 4,193 to 4,513, while 14,998 community members are listed on the waiting list for subsidized housing.

FOOD DESERTS: According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 23.5 million Americans live in low-income areas more than a mile from a supermarket.

Such areas often have up to 30% more convenience stores, which tend to lack healthy items, than do middle-income areas.

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Personas

Savannah is certainly a unique town.

With its history as both a planned city and a terminal port town with an emphasis on historic preservation, tourists from all parts of the world visit to experience its culture. It is not rare for some of these individuals to soon after decide to move to Savannah, and then not long after, decide to move away. In addition, in also serving as host to one of the largest art and design schools in the country, Savannah has a regularly cycled, and very diverse, population. With the biology to design proposal being to develop and agrihood community hub that promotes a healthy food system and eating habits, as well as employment for homeless community members, the following personas were created based on class, education, income, and knowledge.

Maker

Buyer

Name: Allan Smith Age: 34 Occupation: Habitant / Homeless Veteran Originally from: Tampa, FL

Name: Sarah Kaye Age: 19 Occupation: Student Originally from: Salt Lake City, UT

Allan is a homeless veteran living in downtown Savannah. After his service, he came back to the States and found little access to affordable housing and a lack of a support network from family, friends and peers. He started struggling with substance abuse, which caused him to run through what little he had in savings. He gets most of his daily food and sleep at the Old Savannah City Mission. Allan also attends services there as often as he can and has gone through their substance abuse program to take control of his addictions. He heard about the AgriHub through his network of homeless peers and has recently applied to the live/work program to hone his skills with woodworking in hopes of one day starting his own business.

Sarah moved to Savannah a year and a half ago. She is studying animation at Savannah College of Art and Design. Currently, she lives at Boundary Village with two two other roommates.

Because she does not want to rely on her parents, Sarah works as a hostess/waitress at a high end restaurant in her free time. She is a very independent and an outgoing woman. When she is not working, Sarah prefers to read, clean, or go out with her friends.

“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) states that the nation’s homeless veterans are predominantly male, with roughly 9% being female. The majority are single; live in urban areas; and suffer from mental illness, alcohol and/or substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders. About 11% of the adult homeless population are veterans.”

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Sarah is very conscious about her health. She likes to stay fit and goes to gym at least five days per week. She is very careful about the ingredients used in the products she buys and is a big advocate for buying organic vegetables and produce. Some of her more prefered produce stores are Whole Foods, Brighter Day, and the Forsyth Farmers Market, but she is excited about this new “AgriHub” she’s heard is opening across the street from her apartment.

Farmer

Learner

Aquaponics

Name: Farmer Jon Age: 30 Occupation: Farm Manager Originally from: Savannah, GA

Name: Jerome Brown Age: 13 Occupation: Middle School Originally from: Savannah , GA

Name: Timothy Brown Age: 36 Occupation: Manager Originally from: Savannah, GA

After finishing up graduate school and earning his M.S. in Biology, Farmer Jon spent three years in the Peace Corps working with a rural village in Ghana and helping to develop more efficient and productive agricultural practices for their community. With the region’s arid climate, Farmer Jon and his team had to think very creatively when it came to building soil, cycling nutrients, and conserving water, and so once his time in the Peace Corps came to an end, Farmer Jon had strong hands-on, practical knowledge and experience to bring back home to the U.S. and share with his own community.

One of three boys of Timothy Brown, Jerome is a bright and energetic young man. He has a love of the outdoors and enjoys growing things and learning about farming. This passion was ignited when he grew a tomato plant in his science class at Bartow Elementary. His class also has their own worm composting system and he is one of its elected managers, meaning he’s in charge of keeping the worms happy. Jerome dreams of growing up to be a scientist and wants to do his part make the world a better place. He is always on his siblings about using straws and hates the amount of trash floating around his neighborhood. Since his mom and dad have started the training program at the AgriHub, it has become his new favorite spot for afterschool programs, as well, where he relishes in the opportunity to learn about agriculture, especially composting.

Tim was born and raised in Savannah. He lives in a two bedroom, one bathroom house located in Yamacraw village. His family includes of his wife, three children, and his parents. Tim’s full-time job is as manager of the Family Dollar Store, where he earns about $42,000/year. As the the main income provider for his family, he barely manages to put anything into savings. Both Tim and his wife both signed up for the aquaponics training program in exchange for a few hours of work each week collecting community compost and working sanitation for the interior space. Once they graduate from the 10 week training program, they will be able to build their own system and sell their produce to the AgriHub directly or at the AgriHub market.

Farmer Jon is an avid conservationist. He enjoys riding his bicycle to work, spending as much time outside as possible, and going on spontaneous day or weekend trips whenever he gets the chance. However, running the farm at the AgriHub keeps him tied down most days, and until he can find a train a capable assistant manager, neither he nor the farm can afford for him take too many days off in a row.

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INTRODUCTION TO DISCOVERING

The primary goal of the discovering step is to diversify thought. Our team expanded our mindsets to accommodate a plethora of concepts with multiple influences. We researched social, environmental and economic data trends to identify needs that our animal strategies could help address. With a project brief in mind, case studies addressing the same scenarios were studied and compared by their weaknesses and success according to our design principles. This allowed for a large amount of information being gathered.

The information gathered during this phase was analyzed and plotted using a comparative analysis chart and results were documented to use later in our creation phase of the project.

This section includes: iSite Fieldtrips Case Studies • Biomimetic • Non-Biomimetic • Comparative Analysis Function Cards • Function Card Matrix

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iSites Whitemarsh Island Preserve The team traveled to Whitemarsh Island Reserve to connect with nature and perform the first of many iSites activities. The idea was to simply relax in nature for thirty minutes and observe, taking in the sounds, smells and feels of the site. We were encouraged to note questions in our sketchbooks as we identified various forms, processes, and systems that we found interesting. Following the individual time spent with nature, we partnered up with another student and conducted another exercise, where one student was blindfolded and lead to a some chosen organism to feel, smell, taste, and hear the different qualities that could not be seen. The partner not blindfolded was to then write down 10 descriptive terms the blindfolded person was giving while analyzing the organism. The descriptors were read back to the blindfolded person, who was to then speculate their function based on the descriptors.

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Tybee Island The Tybee Island field trip was an exploration of the various ecosystem services around Tybee, including how sea oats and dunes act as a barrier for the community further inland.

While exploring other marshland areas, students gained a first hand encounter of how when silt mixes with sand, it results in a quicksand like effect, which resulted in a number of students and our Biologist at the Design Table to sink to almost a knee depth before being pulled from the sand. The team learned about several organisms on the trip, including the Pink Titan Barnbicale, which is a very invasive species that can grow to enormous sizes.

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Cabbage Island On a very cold and wet boat trip to the chain islands surrounding the mouth of the Savannah river, students were asked to perform an exercise based solely on the communication skills of one student to another. With the two students sitting back to back, one student chose an object and, without letting the other person see the object, described the object to the other in order for the other to be able to sketch what was being described. These were then compared to the actual object. This exercise stressed how crucial clear communication can be in any relationship, especially in a client-designer relationship. Before the end of the trip, students were asked to find a particular niche, or area, on the island, observe its interactions and elements, sketch them, and then research them back at home. Students were amazed to find how many different niches on such a small island consisted of tightly packed shells that resembled the leaves of the cabbage plant.

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Altamaha River The Altamaha River was a canoeing trip down an area where rivers converge in a tri-county area. The river is constantly reinventing itself as it curves and cuts new paths and swallows trees and rocks as it changes directions. Observations were made both from the canoe and from exercises, including an observation iSite in which the students were asked to take perspectives from three different positions.

These included starting first on hands and knees, then on just knees, and finally, standing. Observations are taken in each position for five minutes and documented in the sketchbook. The exercise taught students how, from the same space, you can see very different points of view from three different elevations. The trip ended with a stoic and once in a lifetime tour of the ‘cathedral of cedars’ raising out of the swamp like pillars holding up the roof of a historic cathedral. The peace and quiet of the movie-set depiction of a little seen swamp area was the culmination of this amazing three hour paddle down the river.

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INTRODUCTION TO BIOMIMETIC CASE STUDIES

In order to better understand what already exists, the team decided to look at structures that were designed with biomimicry in mind. The following case studies looked to nature for inspiration as a way to construct their built forms. In some cases, it was to reduce their environmental footprint, and in other cases the whole structure was built to support more life. From these case studies we were able to glean how biomimetic strategies are being used in the built environment.

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Algae (BIQ) House Hamburg, Germany The algae house is the world’s first algae-powered building located in Hamburg, Germany. Commonly known as the “Big House”, the building features a bio-adaptive algae facade. According to Arup, an internationally acclaimed design firm, the facade of the building uses fast growing algae in a bioreactor scenario reacting to the bright sunlight to provide extensive internal shading. ‘Bio-reactors’ produce biomass that can be harvested and used to capture solar thermal heat. The façade collects energy by absorbing the light that is not used by the algae and generates the solar thermal heat. These can be used as energy sources to supply power to the building by using photosynthesis as a driving dynamic response to the amount of solar shading required.

The micro-algae growing in the glass louvres provide a source of clean, renewable energy.

The Algae Big House became a source of inspiration for how the use of a plant based system, influenced originally by the leaf cutter ants, could be used as a source of energy for the building as well as food for the community in the design of the AgriHub.

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PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Eden Project “From Pit to Paradise”, the Eden Project in Cornwall, England uses the inspiration of the form of bubbles to design two biomes housing the largest rainforest in captivity with stunning plants and exhibitions. We chose this space as a case study because of it’s biomimetic form and also it’s adaptive reuse of an abandoned China clay mining crater. This revolutionary project inspiring the team to make the AgriHub not only an adaptive reuse project involving the adoption of a brownfield area as a site but also a community project that, “connects us with each other and the living world, exploring how we can work towards a better future.”

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PHOTO VIA HUFTON + CROW

The Gherkin London, UK The Gherkin is one of London’s most recognizable buildings. The 500,000 square foot structure has become a iconic housing structure with a flourishing community that has been called ‘the most civilised skyscraper in the world’. Inspired by the sea sponge, the tower has an air ventilation system resembling the sponges strategy of directing water to flow through its ‘body’. The Gherkin is supported by an exoskeleton structure designed to allow ventilation to flow through the entire building. The low energy air flow system allows for the cool air to flow up through the spiraling wells and help to passively cool the building. The AgriHub’s design would use the passive design of the historic building drastically cut energy use as inspired by this building.

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INTRODUCTION TO NON-BIOMIMETIC CASE STUDIES

In addition to biomimetic case studies, we also looked at non-biomimetic case studies that were similar to the agricultural hub we had started to envision after our Scoping phase. These case studies helped us to better understand how people attempting to create living spaces for community involvement, rather than just biomimetic designs that are static built forms.

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The Redd Portland, OR The Redd, located in a revitalized industrial neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, serves as a hub for the regional food economy of the Pacific northwest. It aims to support local food enterprises and connect chefs, foodservice directors ,and entrepreneurs to independent farmers, ranchers and fishers in the region. In serving as an event space, The Redd has hosted over 500 events in one year and 5 million visitors since their doors opened in 2001. As an added feature, it also includes a circulating air flow between businesses to help heat and cool the building more efficiently.

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PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Dignity Village

Portland, OR Dignity Village, which began as a tent city with strong opposition from city counsel, has since evolved into a self-organized, self-governed community that provides transitional, or permanent, housing for up to 60 people and even includes a few employment opportunities.

Dignity Village supplements its operating budget with a variety of entrepreneurial projects. Over the years, the Village has raised money through plant sales, tie-dyed t-shirt sales, and flea markets. For a number of years, members of Dignity Village ran a hot dog stand in downtown Portland, called “Dignity Dogs,� through a partnership with Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon. These fire starting buddies are available for sale, as well as seasoned hardwood.

These fire starting buddies are available for sale, as well as seasoned hardwood. Currently, our most successful microenterprise programs are scrap metal recycling and firewood sales. Seasoned firewood can be purchased at Dignity Village seven days a week.

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Farm London Dalston, London, UK An urban agricultural hub with a cafe, arts venue, mini-aquaponics farm, a flower and plant shop, chicken coops, and indoor community garden spaces → Farm London seeks to grow as much as they can in and on every inch of the building they occupy, and would like to see their “farm in a box” expand to London rooftops, basements, and empty lots.

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Analysis

After analysing our biomimetic and nonbiomimetic case studies against each other and our design principles, we saw that the non-biomimetic case studies actually ranked higher on our matrix. While the biomimic case studies were inspired by some form or process found in nature, they did not emulate more than just a few of Life’s Principles. They may have taken environmental considerations into account, but they did not put much thought into social or economic considerations. They often lacked inclusivity and multifunctionality, and therefore, were ranked lowest on Adapt to Changing Conditions. The non-biomimetic case studies, on the other hand, which focused primarily on adaptive reuse and multi-functional design, seemed to have an innate ability to take these abandoned, inanimate spaces and transform them into living places.

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Comparative Analysis 10

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EVOLVE TO SURVIVE

ADAPT TO CHANGING CONDITIONS

3 LOCALLY ATTUNED AND RESPONSIVE

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INTEGRATE DEVELOPMENT WITH GROWTH

BE RESOURCE EFFICIENT

USE LIFE FRIENDLY CHEMISTRY

The Redd

Gherkin

Dignity Village

Algae House

Plant Chicago

Eden Project

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INTRODUCTION TO FUNCTION CARDS

The following pages show a catalouge of all of the different species and strategies that we encountered and researched throughout our process. While not all of them became a part of our final solution, they did help guide us on our path and point us in the right directions.

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Birdcatcher Tree

Toucan

Leafcutter Ants

Function: Reproduction and Fertilization

Function: To regulate the body temperature through the process of thermodynamics.

Function: Replicates successful fungal-based agricultural society that lives in balance with surrounding ecosystem and returns surplus nutrients to the environment

Strategy: The bird catcher tree uses hooks and a sticky substance to spread its seeds Mechanism: The seeds of the Bird Catcher tree have hooks and secrete a sticky substance allowing the seeds to attach to birds who are landing on the tree’s branches to feed on the seeds. The mechanism is so effective it can result in the attachment of too many seeds to a hungry bird causing the bird to become immobile and dye on the ground surrounding the tree and the bodies of the birds function as fertilizer if the birds end up dying and not able to spread the seeds.

Design Principle: Our design principle is to spread the ideas taught in our AgriHub by making them so sticky they adhere to anyone that enters the facility giving them the ability to spread and fertilize the neighborhood in which it stands.

Strategy: The balance of internal body temperature is important in order for the proper systematic function of the body.

Mechanism: The toco toucan possesses the largest beak relative to body size compared to other birds.

The beak consist of small blood vessels closer to the surface of the beak which helps its regulate the body temperature. The beak of toucan is thought to be a sexual ornament as well as a refined way for feeding.

The toco toucan has the remarkable capacity to regulate heat distribution by modifying blood flow, using the bill as a thermal radiator.

Design Principle: This mechanism can help us regulate the temperature of the buildings a complete different way compared to the termite nest.

Strategy: Diversify resource consumption and compost fungal-ridden waste Mechanism: Leaf cutter ants respond to the biochemical reactions of their fungal farm to determine which nutrients it wants and needs while also not overconsuming too much of one particular plant so as to not cause it irreparable damage.

Design Principle: Respond to the needs of the environment while providing the local community with diverse and resilient food system

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Sea Oats

Burrowing Owl

Crocodile

Function: To grow their root system as the dunes grow taller and add stability to the sandy structure of the dunes.

Function: Nesting Habits

Function: Regulating temperature in Nest for Egg Development

Strategy: Grow vertically while adding horizontal stability.

Mechanism: Sending out shoots of roots horizontally as it grow vertically as the top of the plant gets covered more and more by additional sand. This allows the plant and the dune to grow taller together. Dunes are a major part of island ecosystems and protect the coastline from erosion and from major storm surges during tropical storms.

Design Principle: Focus on both vertical and horizontal growth to add stability to the system.

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Strategy: While some species dig their own burrows, like those in Florida, the owls in the west prefer to adaptively reuse the old burrows left by prairie-dogs, ground squirrels, kangaroo rats, armadillos, or skunks.

Mechanism: Find empty burrows abandoned by other animals.

Design Principle: Reuse abandoned structures to implant new life.

Strategy: Crocodiles cover their nests with sand, dirt, and rotting vegetation which keeps their eggs warm during incubation.

Mechanism: The natural process of decomposition produces heat that is trapped in the nest as it travels upward and gets trapped on top of the eggs by the layers of earth.

Design Principle: Composting can create a way of heating water supplies for residences and staff.

Fungi

Duckweed

Namibian Beetle

Function: Decontamination of the environment

Function: Filters and Purifies Water

Function: Water capture

Strategy: Absorbs organic nutrients, metals, radionuclides, and other pollutants from water and into its cellular tissue, or biomass

Strategy: Harvest condensation from dew and fog through the use of the natural body form

Strategy: Break down solid particles into molecules that can be absorbed as nutrients and used for fuel to grow Mechanism: Fungi excrete a digestive enzyme that breaks down solid particles into molecules that can be absorbed as beneficial nutrients Design Principle: Encourage fungal growth in contaminated environment in order for mycelium to breakdown toxins and remediate the soil.

Mechanism: Duckweed is a simple flowering aquatic plant without an obvious stem or leaves.

As a bioremediator, duckweed effectively filters contaminants such as bacteria, nitrogen, phosphates, and other nutrients from naturally occurring bodies of water, constructed wetlands, and wastewater.

Duckweed grows twice as fast as any other hyacinths covering large areas allowing it to filter water rapidly.

Design Principle: Use the rapid growth and bioremediation properties of duckweed to filter graywater on site, allowing filtered water to be used for irrigation and harvested duckweed to be used as a supplemental food stock for fish in aquaponics system.

Mechanism: Namibian Desert Beetles capitalize on dew and fog that drifts through the atmosphere in early mornings. In these early morning hours, they climb to higher elevations and raise their backside high in the air, where condensation collects and is directed to their mouths via their the hydrophobic and hydroscopic bumbs and grooves on their shell.

Design Principle: Attach water capturing mesh nets to a tall, elevated structure in order to harness humidity in the atmosphere.

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Male Sandgrouse

Spanish Moss

Termites

Function: Water Capture and Hydration

Function: Water capture

Function: Passive cooling

Strategy: Male sandgrouses travel great distances to collect water to bring back to their offspring

Strategy: The plant thrives on rain and fog and any airborne or waterborne dust and debris.

Mechanism: Sponge like feathers absorb moisture.

These coiled feathers are hairlike extensions found on the underside of a male can absorb and transport almost two tablespoons of water. The offspring have specialized bills allowing them to ‘milk’ their fathers feathers, providing them the much need water required for hydration.

Mechanism: The surface of the plant is covered in tiny grey scales used to trap water as the plant needs it. The tissue of the plant can hold more water than it needs helping it to thrive during dry periods. Water plumps up the tissue after the rain, giving the plant a more green appearance but as it drys out it returns to a gray color.

Strategy: The termites achieve this by constantly opening and closing a series of heating and cooling vents throughout the mound over the course of the day.

Design Principle: Use water absorbing materials to capture and store water

Design Principle: Help mediate moisture levels inside the historic building in the “greenhouse” areas.

Mechanism: A system of carefully adjusted convection currents controls temperature by sucking air in at the lower part of the mound, air moves down into the enclosures with muddy walls, and up through channels to the top of the termite mound. The termites constantly dig new vents and plug up old ones in order to continue to regulate the inside temperatures of the mound.

Design Principle: Renovate the existing passive cool system of the original building design to incorporate the termite technology.

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Mushrooms

Bromeliad

Salt Marsh Grass

Function: Seed dispersal

Function: Water and energy

Function: Filters water

Strategy: Attract tick bugs seeking to mate to spread reproductive spores

Strategy: Leaves capture water and perform photosynthesis

Mechanism: The mushrooms glow with luminescent chemical that resembles the same glow that tick bugs produce when they are trying to attract a mate by making their bodies glow. Attracted to the light the mushrooms are producing, thinking they are going to find a mate, the tick bug becomes covered with the reproductive spores of the mushroom and as it leaves it scatters the spores creating new mushrooms in its wake.

Mechanism: In addition to containing the chlorophyll that allows leaves to perform photosynthesis, the leaves of some bromeliads, such as pineapples, have a convex shape that curves away from the surface they grow on. This allows water to be gravity fed into a central tank.

Strategy: As water flows through the salt grass from surrounding watersheds, it absorbs nutrients and minerals needed for growth

Design Principle: Make the AgriHub attractive to the community to draw them in and disseminate what they have learned while at the Hub to the surrounding community, including making their own grow spaces at home.

Design Principle: Shape solar canopy to also catch and direct rainwater

Mechanism: With salt marsh vegetation unable to absorb enough of its needed nutrients from its surrounding soil, as surface run-off flows through the marshes, much of the nitrogen and phosphorus contained in the run-off is filtered out by the vegetation Design Principle: Filter contaminants from water using wetland vegetation

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05

INTRODUCTION TO CREATING

According to the Biomimicry Resource Handbook, the creating stage exists as the high profile piece of the designing process resulting in a new product or design. It is creating something contemporary, assembling in a new way, discovering, and formulating.

Ideating during the creation step remains the most entertaining as the team includes an assimilation of research results from secondary, and primary research including case studies to help direct brainstorming sessions focused on the design solutions. Biomimicry follows the same discipline for the creating phase as other methods requiring and spawning results in their development of solution. The most important question to ask during this ideation phase is “How would nature solve this?�

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Primary Research Our primary research included a site visit of the largest, intact, antebellum railroad complex in the world, the Central of Georgia railroad system. The team was able to tour the facility with the help of a tour guide and some hard hats.

During our site visit, we realized that this indeed was the perfect space for our concept to live, and that the ideas we had been conceptualizing actually already had roots in this space.

The site also has great access to the transportation system in Savannah, with a bus stop located on Jones street, on the backside of the massive building. The site is very accessible for pedestrians and cyclists with its proximity to downtown, and is actually located in a food desert, even with it being located in the downtown area.

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PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

History of Central of Georgia Railway Our primary research included a site visit of the largest, intact, antebellum railroad complex in the world, the Central of Georgia railroad system, with some of the buildings dating from 1855. The complex, which extends across Louisville Road, once totaled almost eight acres and includes a roundhouse, carpenter’s shop, and paint shop, just to name a few. The paint shop, completed in 1925, was rebuilt on the footprint of the coach shop which burned in 1923. The team thought this abandoned section, now called the paint shop, was the perfect to focus our project on based on size, passive design features, including a saw toothed roof and lots of natural lighting from the giant windows adorning all sides. The site also needs large sections of soil remediation with testing in the past showing arsenic levels 90 times over safe levels. A huge section of earth has already been excavated leaving a severe drop in elevation of close to twenty feet.

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Interior spaces are subdivided on the first floor to include offices and workshops as well as a separate print shop running the entire length of the longest North side of building.

The first level of the structure is partly underground on the East end. In the original design massive fans in the underground section brought cooler air into the space, acting as a passive cooling system.

Large water capturing facility is already onsite underneath a one hundred and twenty five foot smoke stack erected in 1855. The underground water storage is estimated at a total of 80,000 gallons of water that once supplied a shower area and toilets with water for the employees living and working onsite. The live work situation was supported at one time with an on site garden that was started in 1900 and once grew fresh produce

for the community that worked there. The original site also included over four hundred workforce cottages accommodating the workforce needed to run the complex. Only three of the structures remain today. The living, farming and water storage allowed the complex to survive for over a hundred years with its closing in 1963.

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Concept: The FrogTown AgriHub Taking inspiration from the fungal-based agricultural society of leaf-cutter ants and the adaptive reuse strategies of the burrowing owl, the FrogTown AgriHub transforms the old Central of Georgia Railway (CGR) in Savannah, Georgia into a community agricultural hub with a focus on bioremediation of the local urban ecosystem. More than just remediating the effects of the historical toxic and wasteful practices on the natural environment, it aims to also remediate the built environment of the devastating social and economic impacts of urban decay that has followed deindustrialization in cities across the country. What once served as a means to catalyze man’s ecological destruction is transformed into something that brings natural environment back into the built environment, and facilitates the growth of a resilient community that recognizes its place in the natural ecosystem.

When buildings such as the CGR paint shop were originally designed and constructed, while the environmental costs of operations may not have been fully considered, environmental threats certainly were. The companies investing in these industries wanted to capitalize on these expanding markets for as long as they could, and therefore, the structures were designed for longevity. What’s more, with the lack of energy intensive heating and cooling technologies of today and the vast number of workers and industrial machinery that occupied these places at the time they were constructed, these structures had to also be intentionally designed with passive cooling ventilation and adequate natural lighting, meaning that they are also extremely energy efficient. However, while the foundations and bones of these structures have been able to withstand the test of time, most are in need of serious repair, and as they are also quite massive, cities often are at a loss with what to do with them.

Therefore, as with what often occurs with deindustrialization and urban decay, these spaces that once brought life to communities now sit unoccupied and unused, while many descendants of those that flocked to these urban environments

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seeking higher wages now suffer from high unemployment rates and homeless populations, not to mention a lack of access to fresh, healthy food sources. Moreover, as a result of toxic and wasteful practices of past eras that put little thought into the long-term consequences of their industrial practices, the surrounding environments have suffered great degradation and contamination, especially in the cases of port towns, terminal rail yards, and other transportation hubs, leaving the both the land and communities believed to be unusable and without hope. However, while these scars have left the local ecosystem impoverished and unbalanced, that does not mean that they are barren. They simply need to their system purged and a fresh start.

Life is resilient. It is usually more than capable of finding a way to grow in even the most desecrated of environments. It might be a slower progression, but life does eventually adapt to changing conditions.

Left to fend for themselves, without the regular removal of the various pioneer species that attempt to colonize disturbed areas, life will continue to grow and evolve. It may not be fit for consumption at first, but as evolution and succession progress, evidence and memory of past abuse begins to fade, allowing life to again thrive.

That said, it is also unnatural to attempt to fill spaces as large as the CGR paint shop and rail yard just because it’s there. When this does happen, it reduces opportunities for organic growth and adaptability, and can often result in elements that are disconnected and do not work together.

Therefore, in order to ensure the long-term success of such a vast space, the plan for the FrogTown AgriHub is to start small, focus on the successful growth initial projects, and then to grow by chunking, repeating successful patterns with appropriate variations. In time, as the connections of these different chunks grow and expand, the they begin to bond together into a resilient, healthy whole.

PHOTO VIA PUBLIDITEC.COM

PHOTO VIA GOTHAMIST.COM

PHOTO VIA DEZEEN

PHOTO VIA PUBLIDITEC.COM

PHOTO VIA GOTHAMIST.COM

PHOTO VIA DEZEEN

Live/Work Space

Print Shop Art Gallery

Indoor Market

Aquaponics

Workshop Space

Outdoor Market

Double stacked shipping containers provide living space on top and workshop space on the bottom for craftspeople in need of transition housing or perment housing and studio space to start earning a livelihood.

Art gallery space for local artists to bring in community members to experience their work and help the space gain exposure to the community that can begin to utilize it and see its potential.

Indoor market is the zone where the freshly grown vegetables and fruits are sold. The buyer can pluck vegetables fresh from the plant, weigh them and pay the price.

In aquaponics, space is used to cultivate fish and plants in a closed ecosystem. The fish consume the duckweed, and excrete ammonia as their waste.

This ammonia is pumped with water to adjacent soilless media grow beds.

Beneficial bacteria then break down the ammonia into nutrients absorbed by the plant and at the same time purify the water.

The shop allows for people to understand the processes happening in the AgriHub and how they are related to the system.

The education makes the Hub work and then allows those that experience it to spread it to their own neighborhood and community.

A community space where the AgriHub will be able to sell its produce and start creating a revenue stream. Produce sold here would come from the aquaponics system as well as the outdoor farming.

MAKER & HABITANT What would he do?

Use the upstairs space to create his permanent or temporary home and use the bottom space to set up his own personal workshop and market shop space to sell his woodworking creations.

What would he get?

A safe space to live and work, as well as access to fresh grown produce for a healthy diet.

MAKER & HABITANT BUYER What would he do?

Sarah uses the studio to create her larger pieces of work to be apart of her keystone project for her BFA at SCAD. What would she get?

The AgriHub provides a community space and art gallery for her to display her work and have it professionally photographed for her portfolio. The Print Shop Gallery provides exposure of her work to the community that normally may not be available to a student that is just starting her professional career.

What would he do?

Is responsible for maintenance of the containers made from wooden planks to grow more plants and sometimes run the cashier.

What would she get?

For his work, Allen gets paid monthly, has a place to stay and can stay healthy by eating the freshly grown vegetables and fruits.

FARMER What would he do?

Aquaponics training and 10 week certification program.

What would he get?

A 10 week training program that will teach him how to develop his own aquaponics system at home and be able to sell his produce at the AgriHub market.

MAKER & LEARNER What would he do?

Jerome enjoys after school classes in the workshop spaces that are now teaching him to build outdoor raised garden beds out of reclaimed materials.

What would he get?

Providing these afterschool programs to Jerome and his peers helps to alleviate after school boredom keeping Jerome off the streets while giving him valuable skills to create a grow space at his own home.

BUYER What would she do?

Walk across the street from her apartment at Boundary Village to buy fresh produce once a week.

What would she get?

She would get access to fresh, local produce and be able to interact with members of the community that she wouldn’t normally get to engage with in her circle at SCAD and feel more a part of the community.

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Urban Farming and Bioremediation Implementation of the FrogTown AgriHub begins with cultivating an outdoor urban farm in the 2-acre space that once served as the rail yard, as well as the development of an on-site Farmer’s Market. While these projects grow and mature, this then allows the interior of the space to developed, which will be slightly more energy intensive. Current plans include both a rooftop rainwater collection system and an atmospheric water generator, a solar canopy covering the parking lot, commercial and educational aquaponics system, makerspace and classrooms for workshops, and an art gallery and event space, with the long term objective to develop a live/work space for community members who would like assistance transitioning towards more sustainable livelihoods.

Unfortunately, as the railyard’s historical use has resulted in extensive contamination of immediate environment, and although much of the contaminated soil has been excavated and removed, the vegetation that is grown directly in this soil will not be safe for consumption until it has been fully remediated. Therefore, in order for the railyard to serve as an urban farm space, vegetation will have to be grown in impermeable raised beds so that toxins are not able to be absorbed by plant life that will soon after be consumed by visitors to the AgriHub. Sticking with the history of CGR and in an effort to use all locally available materials and energy, these beds will actually be an adaptive reuse of retired shipping containers, sourced from the nearby Port of Savannah. With these containers split in half along the four sides, they will make ideal raised beds. By then adding a layer of gravel or other porous substrate, followed by a geotextile fabric to segregate the gravel from the top layer, which is the soil. WIth an irrigation line extending from the surface of the soil and then down and throughout the length of the bed, as water is fed into the beds, it is distributed evenly throughout the reservoir. Through what is referred to as capil50

lary action, from here, the water is able to wick up to the soil above the geotextile fabric, where it can then be absorbed by plant roots.

These beds not only greatly increase the water storage capacity of the rainwater collection system installed on the roof of the paint shop, but they are also self-watering and low maintenance, reduce moisture evaporation from the surface of the soil, making them much more water efficient, and as they also serve as a sub-irrigation system, meaning that water is supplied to the plants from below, encouraging roots to grow deeper and stronger in search of moisture, promoting a stronger, healthier, and more robust plant.

In addition to these beds, however, there remains the issue of remediating the soil of the toxins that still remain after the the upper layers of Earth have been removed. In order to do so, a number of efforts will be included to help bolster microbe populations in the soil so that they can consume and break down these toxins as they themselves feed and grow, all the while improving the fertility of the soil and promoting an increased biodiversity both above and below ground. First, all space that is not immediately occupied by plants will be heavily layered with organic matter in order to encourage fungal growth. Fungi, one of the two primary building blocks of all life on Earth, feeds on carbon-rich organic matter such as woody debris and is very effective at breaking down toxic pollutants. By adding this organic matter to the soil, this both encourages fungal populations to grow and spread throughout the area, but it also reduces moisture evaporation from the surface, providing the microorganisms within in the soil with greater access to moisture that they can use to grow and thrive. Adding this organic matter, or more commonly mulch, is a strategy that mimics the natural way that leaf litter falls to the forest floor, providing a habitat for not just fungi, but also larger

worms and insects, as well as beneficial bacteria, the other fundamental building block of life.

By then also including dense plantings of non-edible flowers, shrubs, and trees throughout the outdoor farm as a small-scale urban reforestation effort, biodiversity is increased even further through the nutrients that these plants generate and excrete as waste, which then become fuel for microbial activity. In addition, as the foliage of these plants grow, die, and fall to the ground, these leaves, and branches, can be left in place and serve as a supplemental supply of mulch. With the foliage of the plants also serving as additional habitat and food sources for larger critters, such as birds and insects, this further increase the biodiversity with their own nutrient cycling, as well as providing a small effort towards reducing the urban heat island effect through the moisture that evaporates from leaves during photosynthesis. As this requires increased access to moisture, there calls for a need for greater water conservation and infiltration into the soil. Therefore, where the soil excavation left a large basin-like depression just below the parking lot, the AgriHub will construct a marsh wetland which can also serve as the site’s graywater filtration. With the Savannah Children’s Museums current plans to expand the museum and install an simulated marshland exhibit in the building adjacent to the paint shop, the inclusion of a real-life example of these systems in the outdoor farm area seems more than appropriate. Through the water filtration abilities of included wetland plants, such as marsh grass and duckweed, as the various graywater sources (does not include human waste water) flows into the constructed wetland, these plants absorb nutrients from the newly supplied waste water to be used to for photosynthesis or to form new cellular tissue and grow stronger and larger, thereby filtering it of contaminants. As this water is filtered, it seeps into the surrounding soil, where it can be filtered even further while also

SOLAR ARRAY

CONSTRUCTED WETLAND

WATER CAPTURE

SHIPPING CONTAINER RAISED BEDS

FARMERS MARKET

BOU

increasing the moisture content of the immediate water table, thus providing the additional non-edible plants in the field below with the required increased moisture supply.

In cases of heavy rains that run the risk of flooding the wetland, there will also be a control channel that will allow water to be diverted if levels ever reach the designated level. Once the water level reaches this channel, it will flow out of the wetland and into a series of bioswales, or more simply a series of trenches and berms, that have been laid out along the contours of the large slope that remains after the excavation, which provides a strong illustration of the extent to which this soil was once so contaminated. As water that flows from either

NDA

RY ST.

the overflowing wetland or from the runoff coming from above the slope, it begins to pool in these trenches, allowing it to slowly seep into the soil rather than rushing off down into the farm area, flooding plants, or into the streets, where it will wash away pollutants emitted from car exhaust and brake pad erosion, among others, and carry them into various water sources, such as streams, rivers, oceans, etc. As with the constructed wetland, as water is allowed to infiltrate the soil, it is both filtered and is used for microbe populations to continue growing and breaking down the contaminants in the soil.

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Composting

Farmers Market

By also including community composting stations in the outdoor farm area, the AgriHub is able to close yet another loop. Compost is the natural process by which organic breaks down in nature.

As nitrogen-rich material mixes with carbon-rich material, this allows both fungi and bacteria, the other fundamental building block of life on Earth, which feeds on nitrogen-rich material, to break down this organic matter as their populations grow, thereby allowing larger organisms of the soil food web to move in and begin feeding on the bacteria and fungi. As these populations then grow, the nutrient cycling between these various organisms create a nutrient-rich material that can serve as a natural soil amendment and fertilizer to improve soil development and plant growth.

However, the aim of the FrogTown AgriHub is much more than to just remediate the soil of its historical abuse. In order to create a truly sustainable and resilient system, there must be social and economic remediation, as well. To do so, there must be a way to not only bring community members in to interact with the AgriHub, but to also aid them in absorbing both what is grown and promoted here and inspire them to share it with those in their own immediate neighborhoods. As with the leaf-cutter ants, who harvest vegetation from the surrounding environment and transport it back to the colony where it can be broken down and processed by their fungal garden, the AgriHub will also include a centralized space for harvested vegetation to be brought and serve as a nutrient supply for community members who venture to the AgriHub Farmer’s Market. This not only provides community members who live in an area that lacks immediate access to fresh, healthy produce with such a supply, but it also allows community members to become more familiar with the AgriHub as a community gathering space and form an attachment to the space as they watch it grow. As they continue returning to the AgriHub and become more aware of the various practices being implemented and why, they then also slowly become more familiar with various means of securing more sustainable livelihoods.

This not only increases soil fertility and water retention, but it also filters water of pollutants and improves water quality, reduces dependence on chemical fertilizers, enhances plant growth, and therefore, increases the amount of greenhouse gases that are absorbed from atmosphere by plants and are then stored in the soil. By also allow community members to use the AgriHub composting stations, this is also reducing the amount of household waste that is sent to landfills, where it is subjected anaerobic conditions and generates methane. By incorporating community composting then, the Agrihub actually takes something that, with our traditional waste management practices, generates greenhouse gases and reverses it to absorb greenhouse gases.

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Outdoor Market A community space where the AgriHub will be able to sell its produce and start creating a revenue stream. Produce sold here would come from the aquaponics system as well as the outdoor farming.

BUYER What would she do?

Walk across the street from her apartment at Boundary Village to buy fresh produce once a week.

What would she get?

She would get access to fresh, local produce and be able to interact with members of the community that she wouldn’t normally get to engage with in her circle at SCAD and feel more a part of the community.

Solar Canopy, Rainwater Collection, and Humidity Harvesting As part of the AgriHub’s mission to reach a net positive ecological footprint, a key component is the ability to catch and store the resources that nature provides. While passive cooling and natural lighting of the paint shop do increase the efficiency of the space and reduce energy demands, there will still be various needs for electricity. To address this, the AgriHub features a solar canopy installed over the parking lot in the northeast section of the property. This allows the AgriHub to preserve the use of the parking lot while also taking advantage of its open, unshaded space to generate electricity.

By then also designing the roof with a reversed pitch, similar to how Bromeliads direct rainwater to their base, the solar canopy also doubles as a rainwater collection system that feeds directly into the constructed wetland, both preventing runoff and providing more moisture for bioremediation purposes.

Similarly, with the existing form of the sawtooth roof of the paint shop, the roof is already designed to direct the flow of rainwater to a few specific areas, and with its massive 60,000+ sq ft footprint, this surface area provides a massive rainwater collection capacity. A second water collection system, inspired by the fog harvesting strategy of the Namibian Desert Beetle, is to be constructed around the existing water tower. It is a relatively simple system, consisting of a polyester mesh net supported with a lightweight frame. As moisture in the atmosphere, such as in the grossly humid summer air in Savannah, blows past the tall, vertical system, condensation forms on the surface of the mesh net and is directed down into the

tank at its base. With the installation of a series of rather large cisterns, and eventually the restoration of the 80,000 gallon cistern that already exists below the water tower, as well as the constructed wetland and the reservoirs within the raised beds, the FrogTown AgriHub has more than enough diverse water collection and storage systems to sustain both its indoor and outdoor activities.

Gallery & Makerspace It is clear that implementation of the entire FrogTown Agrihub plan will require extensive repairs and restoration of the paint shop, and this will certainly be a very costly effort. Following the growing by chunking approach, the indoor space itself, too, will be developed in incremental phases, and will be done in a manner akin to its original use. This begins with the restoration of the print shop, which will be revived as an art gallery and event space. Like with the farmer’s market, this allows community members an opportunity to come into the space and become familiar with its unmet potential while also promoting local artists, not to mention allowing the AgriHub to begin generating a revenue stream to help finance future renovations. Over time, as restoration efforts expand, the large area adjacent to the print shop, which includes spaces originally used for offices, the capacity of the art gallery and event space grows, while also providing areas that can be used for both classrooms and office spaces. The next area, which once served as a workshop, and even still contains a few old industrial workbenches, will be restored to its former glory and continue on as a workshop in the form of a community makerspace.

Workshop Space

The shop allows for people to understand the processes happening in the AgriHub and how they are related to the system. The education makes the Hub work and then allows those that experience it to spread it to their own neighborhood and community.

MAKER & LEARNER What would he do?

Jerome enjoys after school classes in the workshop spaces that are now teaching him to build outdoor raised garden beds out of reclaimed materials.

What would he get?

Providing these afterschool programs to Jerome and his peers helps to alleviate after school boredom keeping Jerome off the streets while giving him valuable skills to create a grow space at his own home.

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Aquaponics With only 2 acres of space for the outdoor urban farm, a portion of which must be allocated to nonedible plants for bioremediation purposes, in order to provide an adequate supply of fresh produce to justify the proposal of an urban agricultural hub and facilitate any measurable difference in the local foodshed, the AgriHub also includes a large scale, commercial, and educational, aquaponics system installed in the basement closest to the museums proposed marshland exhibit. Aquaponics, a combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (soilless gardening), is an ancient agricultural technique that capitalizes on the symbiotic nutrient cycling between fish and plants.

With its highly efficient and productive yields, and subsequently, high returns on investment, aquaponics has recently seen a rapid resurgence in the agricultural community.

With this system, each grow bed is connected to one or more fish tank, whereby the water containing fish waste is pumped from the tanks into the grow beds to supply the plants with needed nutrients, which then filter the water before it is returned to the fish tank. When the water is pumped from the tank into the grow beds, beneficial bacteria living in the soilless medium convert the ammonia excreted from

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the fish as waste into usable nitrogen for the plants, which absorb this all-natural, nitrogenrich fertilizer through their roots and use it for their own metabolic processes. As these nutrients and solid particles are absorbed by the plants, this now filtered water slowly drains back into the fish tanks, providing the fish with a clean, healthy environment. In addition, by utilizing the rapid growth of the duckweed in the constructed wetland as a supplemental food source for the fish, the AgriHub is able close another loop and further reduce both environmental and economic costs of daily operations.

In comparison to traditional agricultural techniques, aquaponics systems consume 9095% less water than traditional agricultural systems, require only 10% of the land, and with the implementation of renewable energy, results in no negative environmental effects. Aquaponics systems are most commonly used to grow various greens and herbs in production settings, but with the inclusion of a more human-hearted design for the educational section, which features an aquarium-like tank for the fish surrounded by terraces of vegetation, experimentation and versatility will be encouraged in order to help promote ecological experimentation among community members.

Aquaponics

In aquaponics, space is used to cultivate fish and plants in a closed ecosystem. The fish consume the duckweed, and excrete ammonia as their waste. This ammonia is pumped with water to adjacent soilless media grow beds. Beneficial bacteria then break down the ammonia into nutrients absorbed by the plant and at the same time purify the water.

FARMER What would he do?

Aquaponics training and 10 week certification program.

What would he get?

A 10 week training program that will teach him how to develop his own aquaponics system at home and be able to sell his produce at the AgriHub market.

Aquaponics System This diagram show a top down view of the aquaponics system in the basement of the paint shop. The system contains massive space for production, as well as more accessible and visual display for educational purposes for visitors.

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Live/Work Space The last component of the FrogTown AgriHub is the development of a live/work space on the top floor of the paint shop. As this space is currently used for train car repairs and restoration, unlike the rest of the facility that sees no activity on a regular basis, this has been saved for the final phase of the project. The purpose of this space is to begin the transition of the AgriHub into its next stage of succession, in which it becomes a hub for an urban village. In again alluding to the historical character of the CGR paint shop and railyard, as well as the greater Savannah area as a whole, the dwellings within this live/work space will be an adaptive reuse of shipping containers sourced from the nearby Port of Savannah retrofitted as tiny homes and studio spaces.

In the center of this space, the entirety of which exceeds 60,000 sq ft, this proposal suggests including an indoor ecological garden, which will receive more than adequate sunlight with the restoration of hurricane proof windows on the sawtooth roof, creating a vibrant, oxygen-rich environment, as well as a constant food source with which community members can wander through and graze as they please.

For those who have fallen on hard times, this live/work opportunity can serve as a transitional space for them to pick themselves back up. Some may wish to learn various trades taught in the workshops offered on the floor below, others may wish to learn to farm. Some may wish to make use of the makerspace and sell their own products at their growing village market.

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For those who simply wish to better develop the means of securing more sustainable livelihoods, this space offers an opportunity to live with a lower ecological footprint and learn to foster community interaction. Rather than teaching community members about homestead life, it aims to teach community members about building community and growing together. Sustainable livelihood in an urban environment cannot be accomplished individually. It must be a community effort. It requires cooperation and compassion, creative thinking, and an overall shift in perspective towards one that recognizes our place in the natural ecosystem - that the built and natural environment are not separate, but rather, very much intertwined. It offers an opportunity to immerse oneself in a place that attempts to bring the natural environment back into the built environment and create a regenerative urban village.

Live/Work Space

Double stacked shipping containers provide living space on top and workshop space on the bottom for craftspeople in need of transition housing or perment housing and studio space to start earning a livelihood.

MAKER & HABITANT What would he do?

Use the upstairs space to create his permanent or temporary home and use the bottom space to set up his own personal workshop and market shop space to sell his woodworking creations.

What would he get?

A safe space to live and work, as well as access to fresh grown produce for a healthy diet.

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INTRODUCTION TO EVALUATING

Evaluating is essentially ensuring you’ve designed with nature in mind. It is a “quality control” check to ensure that your design passes a sustainability test, as well as an audit to check for missed limits and opportunities. Ideally, the measuring tools used in the evaluating phase were specified in the scoping stage as Life’s Principles. This provides the legitimacy and standards to return to the creating phase for improvements if Life’s Principles are not met.

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Evaluating FrogTown AgriHub with Life’s Principles Life’s Principles begin by looking at the natural world, Earth, as being subjected to certain basic operating conditions, such as sunlight, water and gravity. Others include limits and boundaries (i.e., finite resources), cyclic processes (i.e., seasonal storms), and the dynamic non-equilibrium that is the ever-changing state of the Earth. It is these fundamental operating conditions to which organisms adapt and evolve.

Life’s Principles then, are the overarching patterns that are found among these some 30 million species living on this diverse planet, from bacteria floating in the deepest depths of our oceans to mountain lions roaming the highest elevations of our ranges.

1. Does the design evolve to survive… ...by replicating strategies that work?

Leafcutter Ants Don’t Overdraw Resources: Leaf cutter ants alternate plants harvested to feed to their fungal gardens in order to both not cause detrimental harm to one particular plant as well as to maintain a balanced diet for their dependent fungi. They also compost their waste to remediate it of toxins and dispose of it in a manner in which it enriches the soil of their environment.

Localized Food System: The AgriHub features both an outdoor farm and indoor aquaponics systems that provides a diverse and localized nutrient supply for the surrounding community while also incorporating as many closed loop systems as possible, such as with that of aquaponics and composting waste streams Bioremediation and Composting: As a more literal adaptation of the fungiculture of the leaf cutter ants, the AgriHub also incorporates a bioremediation process by encouraging fungal growth throughout the soil of the outdoor farm, as well as promoting an increased biodiversity overall. As waste

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is cycled through the composting process, it can then be used as an additive to the soil, whether in garden beds or on the soil being remediated.

Burrowing Owl Adaptive Reuse: Just as the burrowing owl takes advantage of the properties inherent in an abandoned nest, the Agrihub takes advantage of the way older manufacturing buildings made use of passive technologies and have memory of sustainable technologies. The owl is saving the embodied energy of the burrows abandoned by skunks, armadillos, and prairie dogs. The Agrihub will be doing the same by using a brownfield building in an old industrial section of the city - bringing life back into something that was forgotten and abandoned Namibian Beetle Water Capture: Replicating strategies that were already included on-site, the Agrihub plans to restore and even expand the existing 80,000 gallon water collection system of the building and smoke stack. Eventually as the site grows and becomes fully functional, the water needs of the large indoor and outdoor farm can be supplied by the cistern.

Additional water can also be collected from the humidity in the air, especially in the mornings, with water capturing nets added to the 3 story structure, following the strategy of the Namibian Desert Beetle.

Termites Passive Cooling: Termites build on the north/south axis to benefit the use of direct sunlight not beating down on the largest surface area. The east/west side of the termite hill is the thinnest to reduce surface area exposure and to help with keeping the structure cool. The building is built on the north/south axis as well, avoiding direct light from coming into the saw-toothed roof while still allowing natural light to penetrate the interiors dark centers. The basement of the structure was already passively designed for cooling, and we plan to restore the large fans in the basement located underground to mimic the ventilation techniques of the termites, as well.

...by reshuffling information?

Bird Catcher Tree Educating and Inspiring: Education Programs will be provided to constantly update and improve the information being taught at the Agrihub. This can be attributed back to the leaf cutter ants because all members of the colony are taught specific jobs and this information will be constantly spread to new people via the Agrihub. As the community attends the programs and learns to spread what they have learned to build their own community gardens and hubs, they will be emulating the young queen leaving the parent colony and beginning her own farm. The stickiness and unavoidable adherence of information to people that enter the Agrihub also resembles the strategies of the bird catcher trees. ... by integrating the unexpected?

Preserve Histories: In order to make the best use of what is already in the space, graffiti on the interior of the building that once represented vandalism, as well as the railroad manufacturing workers spray painted notes on the pillars, will be refocused as part of the heritage of the Agrihub - a remembrance of who and what made this place what it is today.

On-Site Remediation: Outside the Agrihub, a depression that lies at the top of the field (from where contaminated soil was removed en mas) will be repurposed as a constructed wetland for greywater filtration, while the hill that slopes below it will be restructured with bioswales, or trenches laid out along the contours of a land. As rain creates surface runoff, these will allow more water to seep into the soil and be filtered, rather than rushing down the hill and into the streets, where it will wash toxic pollutants into storm drains and out into the natural environment.

Children’s Museum: During our primary research site visit, we learned that

the Savannah Children’s Museum is looking to expand into the front room of the building and create an indoor wetland replica. We decided to incorporate this information into our project and respect their current plans by not adding another use for that space as a part of our proposal.

bioremediation technique, the Agrihub aims to continually add organic matter to the soil and encourage fungal growth, as well as microbial activity overall, in order to restore life to the soil that was previously stripped of all toxic contaminants, leaving barren, mostly lifeless land.

Georgia Railroad Museum: During our primary research site visit, we also learned that Georgia Railroad Museum workers use the top floor for renovating old train cars that they acquire, so out of respect for their space we have incorporated that work space into our final proposal.

From the social perspective, the Agrihub also seeks to foster more sustainable livelihoods in those that visit by encouraging community members to become more familiar with the food production process and educating them on how to begin gardening themselves, thereby reducing their dependence on food with significantly higher production and transportation costs. For those who were previously unemployed or homeless, it also offers an opportunity to pick themselves back up while also helping grow the long-term sustainability of their community.

2. Does the design adapt to changing conditions… ... by embodying resilience through variation, redundancy, and decentralization?

Diversity of Food Production: By including a diverse source of food production systems, such as with outdoor soil farming and an indoor aquaponics system, which includes both fish farming and vegetation, the Agrihub is better able to respond to shocks should something go wrong with one of the systems. From a more micro scale, by including a diverse array of plantings, the Agrihub has a better chance of withstanding pest infestations and disease that might wipe out more vulnerable crops. by incorporating diversity?

As the point of the Agrihub is to serve as a hub, the Agrihub aims to attract community members from all over the area. It will offer a wide range of activities, workshops, and educational programs, and be adaptable depending on the needs of those who wish to use the space. From a more literal perspective, the Agrihub will also promote increased biodiversity in the urban environment through diverse plantings, creating a more diverse habitat and localized food web. ... by maintaining integrity through self-renewal?

By emulating the leaf-cutters fungiculture as a

3. Is the design locally attuned and responsive… ...by using readily available materials and energy?

Renewable Energy: As part of creating a closed loop agricultural hub, the Agrihub includes solar panels installed on the large roof as the primary energy production system, inspired by the photosynthetic process within plant life, the water filtration abilities of duckweed and natural wetlands to filter graywater, the metabolic process of microorganisms within the soil to break down toxic contaminants, as well as the nutrient cycling found at the edge of rivers and streams to promote greater yields with aquaponics, and rainwater harvesting to take advantage of a resource delivered directly to the Agrihub. Not to mention, the use of a massive, abandoned and unused industrial building. ...by cultivating cooperative relationships?

Community Collaboration: As a hub, the Agrihub seeks to bring diverse groups of the community together to learn and reflect on the symbiotic relationships between organisms within an ecosystem. It aims to foster collaboration and

cooperation between community members in order to help the community grow the community, just as the leaf cutter ants develop castes to share work loads and maintain a healthy, balanced, and sustainable society.

Live/Work Functionality: As with how leaf cutter ants live and work within their agricultural hub, the Agrihub will also include live/work opportunities and educational activities to teach community members about encouraging a healthy environment. Similar to that of the leaf cutter ants releasing hormones to guide other community members towards the next plant to be harvested from, the Agrihub also hopes to encourage community members to work together to establish their own urban farms in their own neighborhoods.

Print Shop Art Gallery: In our proposal, we have mapped out a timeline to ‘grow by chunking’ as we realized that with such a big space we would have to start small and grow the diversity of programming over time. We also learned that using the building as an event space for art exhibits could bring in artists, but that in other cities this has caused gentrification and eventually led to the artists being kicked out of that space to make room for site development. We are proposing to keep the Print Shop as an art gallery for local artists to create a win-win relationship to ward off gentrification. ... by leveraging cyclic processes?

As the Agrihub attempts to incorporate as many closed loops systems as possible, there are many different cyclical processes incorporated, from the cycling of nutrients in the aqauponics system and composting of waste to even the seasonal use of the space.

Aquaponics: In aquaponics, as the fish consume the duckweed that has been harvested from the constructed wetland, which also serves as graywater filtration, the fish excrete ammonia as their waste. This ammonia is pumped with water from the fish tank to adjacent

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soilless media grow beds. Beneficial bacteria living in the grow beds then break down the ammonia and convert it into nitrites, followed by nitrates. The plant roots in these grow beds absorb the nutrients for their own metabolic process, filtering the water of toxins before it is returned to the fish tank, where the cycle begins all over.

Composting: In the composting process, as food waste is generated from both inside the Agrihub and from the surrounding community, this organic matter is piled in layers of carbon and nitrogen, or browns and greens, and allowed to be broken down by cyclic processes of the microscopic life within the pile. As bacteria and fungi feed on the organic matter and their populations grow, other larger microorganisms begin to feed on the newly increased populations of bacteria and fungi, allowing their own populations to bolster. As this activity continues, the organic matter breaks down further and further until it becomes a dark, nutrient rich material that can be added to soil to help increase the microbial activity within that specific area. As this activity increases in the soil used to grow crops, these nutrients are then absorbed by the roots of plants, where they are used by the plant to grow bigger and taller and produce fruit, flowers, vegetation. This vegetation is then harvested by a cyclical influx of workers, students, and volunteers on the farm before being distributed back to the Agrihub restaurant or to community members who have returned for the next seasonal yield from the farm. In incorporating composting toilets and humanure, that is yet another loop closed.

Rainwater Collection: By also including a large rainwater collection system, the Agrihub also takes advantage of the natural water cycle. As moisture evaporates from the surface of soil, leaves, streams, oceans, etc., condensation in the form of clouds gather in the atmosphere before falling back down to the ground in the form of precipitation.

As this water falls, a portion of it will be harvested by the Agrihub collection system, where it will be used for various purposes throughout the structure. Some will be used for irrigation, others for more domestic purposes. The water that is used for irrigation will

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soon thereafter be evaporated right back up to the atmosphere. That which is used for more domestic purposes, will eventually flow back out of the Agrihub into the constructed wetland to be filtered by the duckweed and other marsh plants growing in the graywater filtration system. Some of the water here will be evaporated, while some will sink into the soil, where it will provide nutrients and energy to the microorganisms slowly working to break down the toxins and contaminants remaining from previous industrial practices. In cases where the water level of the wetland is slightly higher, some of this water may flow out of the overflow channel into the bioswales, where the evaporation and bioremediation processes occur.

For rain that is not captured by the rainwater collection system, as the runoff flows down towards the farm, it will be captured and channeled by the bioswales or by the constructed wetland, and then by the bioswales. Repeat evaporation and bioremediation process here.

As a social space, it is likely that demand for the Agrihub will be cyclical/seasonal, as well. This ranges from attendance and needs based on seasonal and weekend farmers markets to holiday parties in the event space. ...by using feedback loops Aside from the typical feedback loops required in agriculture, in incorporating aquaponics, an even greater monitoring of information will be required to ensure the health of the system. Aquaponics systems are very fragile and if issues are not caught and corrected in a timely manner, the entire crops can be lost, especially fish. Another key feedback loop included in the Agrihub will be monitoring the contamination levels of the soil that are attempting to be remediated.

4. Does the design integrate development with growth… ...by combining modular and nested components (fit multiple units within each other progressively from simple to complex)?

Shipping Container Live/Work Space: On the side wall of the top floor, we plan to have live/ work space consisting of double stacked shipping containers. The top container will serve as living space while the bottom can serve as working/studio space and allow farmers market visitors access to this space during market hours so that the people living there can sell their goods. ...by building from the bottom up (assemble components one unit at a time)?

Programming Timeline: Because our site is so large, we are proposing to ‘grow by chucking’ so that programming components can be slowly added one by one until the space is fully functioning with all empty spaces being activated.

We’ve put together interior and exterior timelines that can be done in conjunction with each other, funding permitting. ...by self-organizing (creating conditions to allow components to interact in concert to move toward an enriched system)?

The Urban Farm Community Social Capital

5. Is the design resource efficient (material and energy)... ...by recycling all materials (keeping all materials in a closed loop)?

Adaptive Reuse: The building as a whole is being ‘recycled’ and incorporates the strategy of the burrowing owl recycling the burrows. By repurposing an abandoned structure, and proposing that other abandoned

manufacturing sites like this, can be adaptively reused, we are ensuring that these valuable building materials don’t end up in a landfill.

6. Does the design use life-friendly chemistry‌

Composting: The system of the Agrihub is designed to mimic the strategy and function of the leaf cutter ants with their zero waste agricultural system.

...by doing chemistry in water (using water as solvent)?

...by fitting form to function (select for shape or pattern based on need)?

...by building selectively with a small subset of elements (assemble relatively few elements in elegant ways)?

Roof Design: Saw toothed roof design used to provide light to the inner sections of the large building. The location of a section of the first floor to be underground allow for the cooling functions resembling the termites in functions and form.

Elements used to begin the remediation of the soil will begin with simple wood chips and correct layering of simple materials. Water processing will also be done with swales and the use of duckweed.

Urban Garden Design: Fits the shape of the excavated land and uses bioswales to catch runoff. ...by using multi-functional design (meet multiple needs with one elegant solution)?

Agrihub: *literally see everything above and below this line*

Aquaponics nutrient cycling

Grow by chunking - Grow incrementally - Quality of quantity ...by breaking down products into benign constituents (using chemistry in which decomposition results in no harmful by-products)?

Graywater filtration/constructed wetland Runoff prevention and filtration - deep mulching and bioswales

...by using low energy processes (minimize energy consumption by reducing requisite temperatures, pressures, and/or time for reactions)?

Passive Cooling: Passive cooling of the termites and using the north/ south access design of the adaptive reuse structure following the strategies of the burrowing owl and the termites whom build in the same orientation.

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