Winchester Horticultural City

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D6 Project Brief Winchester Horticultural City Timothy Gentry 14/2/138 www.timspart2.wordpress.com

SITE CONTEXT | Winchester Master Plan

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Precedent | Floriade 2022 by MVRDV

Winchester Horticultural City Projected food shortages will mean future generations living in our town and city centres will need to be more resourceful and entrepreneurial in the ways in which they source their food.

In this context Winchester is now Horticultural City that is growing to embrace new methods of urban agriculture in an effort to be as self-sufficient as possible. A strategy developed by the city to utilise both urban and rural areas within the centre to maximise opportunities for farming flora and fauna locally is beginning to be realised. Of key importance to this strategy is the river Itchen and associated former navigation. This area is a long established trail for the enjoyment of local inhabitants and now also a productive source of produce.

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South England

Hampshire & The Isle of Wight

Southampton & Winchester

Eastleigh & Winchester

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Itchen Navigation, Winchester

Central Winchester

Bishop’s Palace & Wolvesey Castle

Site location

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New farming infrastructure functions in many ways as a holistic whole to make the city a more sustainable place to live. As the city centre lies in a valley between the South Downs to the east, and hills of Fullflood and beyond to the west, pollution from the motorway spills down into the valley and is absorbed by the water meadows. The water meadows, having been re-instated as both arable and pasture land, are not only used to grow produce but also help clean and purify water that would otherwise be polluted by fumes spilling into the valley from the adjacent M3 motorway to the east. The new, carefully managed, farming infrastructure filters pollution out of the meadows with the use of reed beds and pasture to the north of the city which then transitions to arable land where ‘cleaned’ water flows in the south. In this way farmed land provides both building materials for local farming infrastructure and projects as well as a clean source of water to grow food to help sustain the city.

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First floor east block hall in 1160

Wolvesey Castle (Old Bishop’s Palace) Ruins

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Compton Lock, Itchen Navigation

Water levels are carefully monitored and controlled with techniques similar to those used for what remains of the former navigation. Former locks and city mills have been converted into generators to supply a sustainable source of power for local projects. These have been built as part of the holistic solution to reduce, and potentially eliminate, the environmental impact of infrastructure built to supplement otherwise more environmentally friendly sources of food coming from the surrounding countryside.

A flooded Angkor Wat

The success of the future horticultural city relies greatly on successfully engaging local people.

Local people should have a strong sense of ownership of plans produced and projects built to ensure the sustainability of the scheme and reduce food miles. Goods produuced in this way are more likely to be consumed locally, something which a commercial farmer would never be able to guarantee due to fluctuations in price. The city masterplan will identify areas and methods for people to grow their own produce and will adopt an open-source or ‘free’ development model. Planning will thus adopt a supporting infrastructure role and a philosophy of enabling by providing people with easy access to the designs and tools to do things themselves.

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Mashambas Skyscraper Market

Central to the success of this scheme will be a new City Farming Head Quarters which will occupy the Old Bishop’s Palace, known today as Wolvesey Castle. The Palace will be reimagined and reinstated as an important resource centre for the city. It will provide local people with the skills, knowledge and food to sustain themselves as the Abbey Gardens to the north once did for the poor and needy in centuries past. To do this the Palace HQ will function in a variety of different ways. It will be a place for people to: 1. Administer the local horticultural city project, from which all aspects can be managed and coordinated as part of a holistic approach.

2. Teaching and learning providing people with farming knowledge.

3. Production will be both accommodated within and coordinated from the centre.

4. A source of construction techniques, products and materials.

5. A community hub for people to share their ideas and personal experience / adaptions of designs and services offered by the HQ. 6. A centre for people to coordinate local infrastructure projects; such as recycling points for food waste and opportunities to build vertical farms, i.e. building facades, disused tunnels / buildings.

7. A place for people to seek help in setting up and managing/ maintaining their related projects.

8. A market, shop or outdoor place to gather, sell produce grown in the water meadows or by local people, and hold community events.

9. A tourist link to the navigation reinforcing the city’s connection to its land and history.

10. A museum telling the story of the abbey old and new (walking tour?).

11. Warehouse storage for both food and building materials (reeds).

12. A profitable and sustainable farm.

A Mudhif - traditional Madan reed house

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Wolvesey Castle S.W.O.T. Analysis

A Mudhif - traditional Madan reed house

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

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Central location in the city masterplan and between water meadows

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Poor or convoluted links into the city for transportation

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Direct access onto the Itchen Navigation

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Not especially open in appearance, fortress-like

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Logical gathering point for storage of produce and for local events

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Little to no presence in the street scene

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Marshy / water-logged land

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Good links into the city by foot + bike

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Wind power not possible

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Surrounding arable land

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Great location for locals and tourism

Arable crops limited due to moisture present in land around the navigation

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Good clear view of the sun for the majority of the day and at all times of year

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Sheltered site from prevailing winds

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Solar thermal gains

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Good pasture land

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

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Historical precedent of the site gives it a sense of provenance

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Potential for the provenance of the site to engulf the project, obscuring the main aims

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Materials can be grown locally for use in construction

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Existign plan of ruins could be restrictive

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Historical plan of the building provides framework for the planning of the new building

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Lies within flood zone 2 from the Itchen

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Improved links into the city by foot + bike

Pollution from the motorway settling in the water meadows

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Holistic design strategy for the management of Winchester Horticultural City

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Exposure to the sun during summer months may need managing

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Open-source development model with the use of local resources

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Flat site means water is more likely to pool

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Promote local engagement and ownership of ideas within to increase a sense of community and ensure the project is sustainable

Water-meadow farms are sensitive environments, require careful management

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Sun-orientated energy strategy

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Flat site for easy access and manoeuvrability

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Aquaponic and / or hydroponic methods of farming could be easily accommodated

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Power can be generated from the river

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Building with farmed materials

Next Step The narrative of people and place is the drive and focus of this project. I intend to present it by storyboarding events in which the building provides the context. Starting from a macro scale moving into the micro and back out again as appropriate.

Further research is needed into crop yeilds, rotation and turnover as well as precedents and technology such as urban farming techniques (hyrdoponics / aquaponics etc) and construction with reeds. I also intend the project to fullfill other environmental goals by making sure it is buillt not just for people but for the wildlife that relies on an sustains the ecosystems on which the horticultural city depends. All of this will take place in an open-source narrative, where The Mashambas Skyscraper

local inhabitants take control of their environment and are a main driving force behind its development.

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