Design begins with careful understandings of goals, context, constraints, and opportunities. We listen, we map, we draw, we imagine, and we test our ideas.
Design thinking guides us through complex inter-related elements and implications typical of food systems. We do not aim to create simple, neat, or universal solutions, but instead admit the depth and rich complexity of the world and the people we design for.
Community Food Lab provides services such as community engagement, mapping and assessments, urban and project design investigations, charettes, trainings, and feasibility studies. We bring value to clients and partners in the form of realistic design recommendations and collaborative capacity building that deliver the multiple benefits of local food systems.
Projects
We worked with the Town of Morrisville to build feasibility and development strategies for a new farmers market pavilion. We're also consulting with the Town on a three-year Rex Endowment grant to link the new farmers market, regional greenways, and outreach to low-income populations in Morrisville.
Along with multiple partners, stakeholders, and like-minded organizations, Community Food Lab is working to create a shared vision for a vibrant local food corridor defined by its participants. Corridor can be imagined as a civic engagement project, a food justice initiative, and a catalyst for the local and regional food systems.
Working for Durham's Reinvestment Partners, this collaborative project with Jennifer Walker of Poiesis Design and Planning determined the feasibility of developing a 4500sf building into a community-based food hub. We are continuing to provide strategic support, consultation on the pre-design, interface with the project Architect, and help connect the Food Hub to other food system efforts on the block
We worked together with Sara Queen at NCSU's College of Design on this 12-month grant designed to facilitate University-wide collaborations in food studies. The project included faculty surveys, student and faculty workshops and design of an online collaboration tool.
We helped generate a key idea that helped motivate the project and shaped the outcome: that the neighborhood would benefit if local food principles were integrated throughout a multi-block revitalization effort. Beyond this concept, design effort stayed minimal and looked for cost-effective choices to improve the street character, increase safety, respect the residential neighbors, and present a new face to the community.
We synthesized the ideas generated by an NCSU horticulture studio charette process into a realistic vision ready for implementation.
We produced this set of images as early-phase visioning for Interfaith Food Shuttle's program expansion into the 14000sf building and surrounding landscape at the Hoke St Training Center.