Rooftop Haven for Urban Agriculture

Rooftop Haven for Urban Agriculture Chicago USA

Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, Chicago USA

Client: Gary Comer Youth Center

Elevated Courtyard—This second-story garden helped children grow 1,000 pounds of vegetables last year.

Photo 1 of 10

Plan Diagram —The sleek, graphic design of the planting rows and skylights turns a working vegetable garden into a place of beauty.

Photo 2 of 10

Garden Stripes — Linear strips of recycled tire pavers are the framework for the garden and delineate the geometry of the corridor’s viewing windows.

Photo 3 of 10

Gardening as Curriculum —Structured programs for children showcase the ability for gardens to provide an array of educational opportunities.

Photo 4 of 10

Farm to Fork—This working garden provides vegetables for local restaurants, enhances collaboration with the center’s café and helps teach basic business skills.

Photo 5 of 10

Planting Time—V egetables and fruits cultivated in the garden are nurtured using tools designed specially for the roof's 18 foot soil depth.

Photo 6 of 10

North-South Section

Photo 7 of 10

Viewing Garden—Students and administrators benefit from views of the garden from within the center as they move from class to class.

Photo 8 of 10

Context—Lodged between a major roadway and residential neighborhood, the center has become a beacon for the entire neighborhood.

Photo 9 of 10

Safe Haven — Surrounded by walls on four sides and protected from the street, the second-floor roof garden is a safe, serene place.

Photo 10 of 10 Project Statement

The Gary Co mer Yo uth Center Roof Garden is an after-school learning space for yo uth and senio rs in a neighbo rhood with little access to safe o utdoor environments. Last year al o ne, it produced o ver 1,000 po unds of o rganic food used by students, lo cal restaurants and the center's

café. Sleek and graphic, it turns the typical working vegetable garden into a place of beauty and respite.

Project Narrative

―

This project is so simple and straightforward and is clearly a good collaboration between landscape architect and architect. It is redeeming.‖—2010 Professional Awards Jury

Located in Chicago's Grand Crossing neighborhood, the Gary Co mer Yo uth Center offers a safe, welco ming after-school space fo r indoor activity. I ts 8,160-square-foot green roof is a model fo r using traditio nally underutilized space fo r urban agriculture and exceptio nal in its balance of an aesthetic vision with practical needs. The garden pro vides the cro wning t ouch to an award-winning building reco gnized fo r its bold architecture.

The landscape architect worked closely with the architect and dono r to develop a visio n fo r a green roof to include a flo wer and wo rking vegetable garden, and suggested that the center emplo y a full-time garden manager to enhance educatio nal pro gram development and manage maintenance. The result is a garden used in extremely creative way s fo r horticultural learning, enviro nmental awareness, and food productio n.

While reducing climate control costs and pro viding an outdoor classroom, the green roof is able to withstand enthusiastic children digging fo r potatoes and carro ts with garden tools. Soils 18–24 inches deep allo w for viable food productio n, including cabbage, sunflowers, carro ts, lettuce and strawberries. Sharp differences between gro und temperatures and those on the roof mean that the rooftop is in a different climate zone and can be utilized thro ugho ut the winter. The resulting garden, only three years old, is still ev o lving.

Located o n the seco nd floor o ver the center's gymnasium, the garden is surro unded by the circulation co rrido r and classrooms of the third floor. Floor-to-ceiling windows transfo rm this wo rking garden into a highly graphic viewing garden as students mo ve fro m one classroo m to another. Plastic lumber made fro m recycled milk co ntainers fo rms pathways within the garden that align with the co urtyard garden's windo w frames. Metal circles scattered througho ut the garden serve as elements of artistic expressio n even a s the y function as skylights, bringing outdoor illumination to the building's gymnasium and café below.