the ecotone
winter + spring 2023
partner project with Keiko Watanabe
studio ponitz
The Ecotone is a space where the Portland community can rebuild the lost connection with food through educational experiences, engagement, and reflection. The timeline of the food process is made visible and accessible, bridging the gap where modern life has left many without the resources to address their food security.
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Here, PDX can explore a new ecology of learning + growing and preparing + consuming; investing time in every aspect of the cycle, each other, and the future. This project fosters a unique environment that embraces the intersection of the fast pace of modern life with the slow food movement, while providing a space for community and mindfulness.
concept
Our initial conceptual exploration began by mapping out the lack of resources available to the Portland community: namely, a lack of educational resources, food security, and housing. Our project envisions the building as a didactic journey, a dialogue between people and food.
form
The form is derived from the idea of two things meeting and how it is the in-between space that is most interesting. As shown in the conceptual model below, the building acts as a scaffolding for plants, people, food, and learning to flow through and form a new ecology following the cyclical nature of time. The ground plane is lifted and folded back and forth to create a continuation of public space that feels as if it is growng from the ground.
plan & program
Our program focuses on learning as a means of reconnection with food. The seed of knowledge is planted in classrooms and the library. From there, this knowledge sprouts as the community has space to learn to grow their own food and learn cooking skills in the learning kitchens. The food pantry and food hub instill a sense of investment in the future and provide resources for people experiencing food insecurity. The market, cafe, and dining hall provide spaces for enjoying of the meal and reflection on the process. Finally, the cycle is completed with food tubes that deliver food to vendors from the kitchens and take food waste to the compost center, allowing those circulating the building to observe food being transported at different stages.
All of these programs are linked by the circulatory experience that makes visible the entire process, with a glass elevator mirroring food tubes completes the journey.
systems integration
With sustainable design at the forefront of this project, we utilize a mass timber structure that explores the limits of the material. A regular 30x32 grid with intermediary beams every 16 feet is supported by 2 concrete cores. ​The regularity is challenged by a rotational grid shift of 15 degrees to open up a central atrium and create a central plaza - this is oriented to the view of Mt. Hood in the distance. Diagonal columns not only provide lateral stability but also visually translate the geometry of the terraces vertically, and support 15 foot cantilevers. ​"Food tubes" surround the columns on the north side of the building, so that the food processes and the building become one and the same, as if the building itself is part of the food cycle.
sections
From north to south, the building changes dramatically as the journey from seed to feast is celebrated. As the space formally grows from the ground, there is a stepped transition between the more grounded spaces for learning/growing up to the overhanging, lightweight spaces for preparing/consuming, and finally, composting withing the ground, signifying the completion of the journey. Overhangs and other protected outdoor spaces create a gradient between indoors and outdoors, allowing for the building to be functional throughout the year.
collages
atrium collage by Keiko Watanabe
physical model
