Edible Restaurant / Sander Architects
Sander Architects shared their Grace Restaurant design with us. Located in the rectory of the decommissioned St. Vibiana’s cathedral, the project includes an addition on a triangular piece of property adjoining the rectory. The addition includes a new kitchen on the first floor with additional cooking facilities and a private chef’s table on the upper floors. Putting a new spin on restaurant design, the building itself will provide great food. Working with the idea “the building you can eat”, the project becomes an edible form that is sheathed in a vertical garden, covered with tasty plants. Passers-by will be free to pick fruits, vegetable and herbs from the building as they walk along. An open street-side counter will also cater to walk-up orders. With this edible idea, the building become both environmentally and people friendly.
Images and drawings after the break.
Existing Condition
Related articles:
14 comments »
Do they actually think there will be enough food for the restaurant is people passing by can just pick all it off for free?
dude that renders are down!
That looks really hard to maintain, but that doesn’t make it a bad idea.
Dude this is NOT RENDER,it is a collage for your information
What does “dude that renders are down!” even mean? It’s not even proper English.
I can’t believe that people are quarreling about a render being down, is this what architectural criticism has come down to now?
Did these people study architecture or graphic design?
Troy is right it’s about the idea not about the bloody rendering?
i think this is good idea,man. it’s nice and humble. the edible idea sounds fun :)
Really wanna see it finished
I think this is a very misguided design. The plan is clear and interesting, but the use of planted walls is one that I would like to see bought to an abrupt end.
Unless you have the unlimited resources of the Musée du Quai Branly in paris (by Jean Nouvel) who famously started this fad some years ago, then these planted walls are completely unsustainable. They are fragile, environmentally intense (the require constant water irrigation!!, just visit the Musée du Quai Branly and you will see what I mean) and can look pretty awful. To burden a client with such a heavy maintenance solution, particularly in a city which is arid, if wholly irresponsible of the architect, they look like they are peddling fashion over clear thinking and environmentally responsive design.
If you want to see what I mean, a great example here in rainy london exists… I guarantee you, Sanders building will reasonable it in record time!! DSDHA’s irresponsible use of an expensive and un-environmental solution for a client on a limited budget… well done!
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/amazing-pictures-londons-first-living-wall-dies/5207086.article
that wall in the link is hilarious and sad at the same time. imagine if your business model was based on the health of that wall? not so good.
that being said, i have seen vegetated walls that are not the Quai Branly variety (with the entire wall planted with little pots, no soil and constant watering) but of the creeping vine variety that work quite well to cool and shade the building.
having grown plants in the city on my fire escape, i can say that the plants themselves are subject to quite a bit of dirt and pollution. not to mention that most of those vegetable plants (tomatos, peppers) are annuals, meaning they don’t survive the winter (not sure where this project is located…great reporting)
Jakob Rope and Ronstan make cable-systems made especially for growing vines up walls and have some good examples on their websites.
I agree with Peter that this would be a difficult project to sustain, as is, for the many stated reasons. Replace the market garden with something simpler, like a herb installation. It would accomplish the same general ‘fresh, interactive food’ selling point, be nearly as lush (as well as fragrant) once established, and less of a burden. Good luck.
How deep would the planting medium have to be or how much fertilizer would the plants need in order to produce fruit? Has anyone ever produced food from a green wall? I could see an herb like thyme working, but nothing that would produce fruit. I feel skeptical they’re seriously proposing building this. They’re probably planning to just install an espaliered fruit tree or something.
Links to this article »