Starchitecture meets agriculture: OMA unveils design for Kentucky community farming facility
By BD+C Staff
After a slew of projects in the world’s metropolises, such as Milan, Hong Kong, and Paris, it is West Louisville, Ky., that will now be graced with the presence of an OMA-designed building.
The Rem Koolhaas-led firm recently unveiled its designs for a community farming facility in West Louisville, which Dezeen reports will be built out of a vacant tobacco plantation.
Food Port, as the project is called, will feature expanses of agricultural space to support local farmers and the agricultural industry. An estimated 200 jobs will be created by the $460 million project, which is being led by the nonprofit Seed Capital KY. The project is expected to break ground this summer.
From OMA: The Food Port provides a comprehensive survey of the food industry and its processes while relocating many food programs typically separated from the buyer back into the heart of the city. It defines a new model for how the relationship between consumer and producer can be defined and addresses uncaptured market demand and inefficiencies within the local food industry.
Logistically heavy programs such as the recycling facility and processing facilities are oriented toward the elevated railway on the West, while public programs such as retail and educational facilities face 30th Street. The intersections of programmatic bars take advantage of the unique combination of tenants to introduce shared facilities where private producers and public consumers meet.
Dezeen has the full report.
