flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

Nation's first 'food forest' planned in Seattle

Nation's first 'food forest' planned in Seattle

Community group transforms lot into edible public park


By BD+C Staff | April 12, 2013

Consider this the next take on urban farming: the food forest.

Seattle's Beacon Food Forest project is transforming a seven-acre lot in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood into a self-sustaining, edible public park.

The community group, with the help of donations and $120,000 in city funding, broke ground on the food forest last September. According to an article by Take Part, the park will be planted with hundreds of varieties of trees and plants, from walnut and chestnut trees to blueberry and raspberry bushes to apple and pear trees. Even herbs and exotic plants like guava and honeyberries will be available.

So who gets to pluck the harvest? Anyone who happens to wander into the park. And at no cost. 

Here are some pictures of the park's "ground making" ceremony, courtesy of the Beacon Food Forest project:

Related Stories

| May 17, 2011

Architecture billings index fell in April, hurt by tight financing for projects

The architecture billings index, a leading indicator of U.S. construction activity, fell in April, hurt by tight financing for projects. The architecture billings index fell 2.9 points last month to 47.6, a level that indicates declining demand for architecture services, according to the American Institute of Architects.

| May 17, 2011

Sustainability tops the syllabus at net-zero energy school in Texas

Texas-based firm Corgan designed the 152,200-sf Lady Bird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas, with the goal of creating the largest net-zero educational facility in the nation, and the first in the state. The facility is expected to use 50% less energy than a standard school.

| May 17, 2011

Gilbane partners with Steel Orca on ultra-green data center

Gilbane, along with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, has been selected to partner with Steel Orca to design and build a 300,000-sf data center in Bucks County, Pa., that will be powered entirely through renewable energy sources--gas, solar, fuel cells, wind and geo-thermal. Completion is scheduled for 2013.

| May 17, 2011

Should Washington, D.C., allow taller buildings?

Suggestions are being made that Washington revise its restrictions on building heights. Architect Roger Lewis, who raised the topic in the Washington Post a few weeks ago, argues for a modest relaxation of the height limits, and thinks that concerns about ruining the city’s aesthetics are unfounded.

| May 17, 2011

The New Orleans master plan

At an afternoon panel during last week's AIA National Conference in New Orleans, Goody Clancy Principal David Dixon and Manning Principal W. Raymond Manning shared their experiences creating the New Orleans Master Plan, a document that sets a new course for the city, from land use and transportation planning to environmental protection.

| May 17, 2011

Do these buildings look like buffalo to you?

It’s hard to contemplate winter now that we’re mid-spring, but when the seasons change, ice skaters in Winnipeg will be able to keep warm in plywood shelters designed by Patkau Architects. The designers created temporary shelters inspired by animal behavior—specifically, buffalo bracing against the wind. Check them out.

| May 16, 2011

USGBC and AIA unveil report for greening K-12 schools

The U.S. Green Building Council and the American Institute of Architects unveiled "Local Leaders in Sustainability: A Special Report from Sundance," which outlines a five-point national action plan that mayors and local leaders can use as a framework to develop and implement green schools initiatives.

| May 16, 2011

Dassault Systèmes to distribute Gehry Technologies’ digital project

Dassault Systèmes and Gehry Technologies announced that Gehry Technologies’ Digital Project products will be integrated into the Dassault Systèmes’ portfolio and distributed through Dassault Systèmes. Digital Project is a suite of 3D BIM applications created by Gehry Technologies using Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA as a core modeling engine.

| May 11, 2011

DOE releases guide for 50% more energy-efficient office buildings

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the release of the first in a new series of Advanced Energy Design Guides to aid in the design of highly energy efficient office buildings. The 50% AEDG series will provide a practical approach to commercial buildings designed to achieve 50% energy savings compared to the commercial building energy code used in many areas of the country.

| May 10, 2011

Google hires Ingenhoven Architects to design new Mountain View office

The current Googleplex is straining at the seams and yet the company is preparing its biggest hiring surge ever, so Google decided now’s the time to build its own office space—a first for the Internet giant. The company hired Ingenhoven Architects, a German firm that specializes in sustainable architecture, to create plans for what could be a 600,000-sf office.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category

Architects

HED and Larson Incitti Architects merge, combine Denver staff

HED, a leading national architecture and engineering firm, today announced a merger with award-winning, Denver-based Larson Incitti Architects (LIA). The merger combines LIA's staff with HED's Denver office, significantly expanding the local team and leveraging community relationships to create new opportunities across multiple market sectors.


Airports

SOM unveils ‘branching’ structural design for new Satellite Concourse 1 at O’Hare Airport

The Chicago Department of Aviation has revealed the design for Satellite Concourse 1 at O’Hare International Airport, one of the nation’s business airports. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), with Ross Barney Architects, Juan Gabriel Moreno Architects (JGMA), and Arup, the concourse will be the first new building in the Terminal Area Program, the largest concourse area expansion and revitalization in the airport’s almost seven-decade history. 



Multifamily Housing

Grassroots groups becoming a force in housing advocacy

A growing movement of grassroots organizing to support new housing construction is having an impact in city halls across the country. Fed up with high housing costs and the commonly hostile reception to new housing proposals, advocacy groups have sprung up in many communities to attend public meetings to speak in support of developments.

halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021