2016 Best Design Gold Pin Award Winners
10 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA
URBAN AGRIHOOD :
Imagine a city that can feed its community . It ’ s called an ‘ agrihood ’ and it ’ s happening in one of America ’ s most indigent metropolitan areas .
The non-profit Michigan Urban Farming Initiative ( MUFI ) runs a veggie patch and orchard in Detroit ’ s long-impoverished North End . It provides free , fresh produce to over 2,000 households , and takes farm-totable eating from urban ideal to urban reality .
This alternative growth model positions agriculture as the centrepiece of a mixed-use development . There are other successful agrihoods around the United States , but they ’ re in well-established , semi-rural communities . This is the first within a city .
The agrihood spans a total of three acres , and includes a two-acre garden , a 200-tree fruit orchard , and a children ’ s sensory garden .
The latest plan is to renovate a nearby three-story vacant building to create a Community Resource Center that will include office , event and meeting space , and two commercial kitchens on the first floor . Tyson Gersh , MUFI co-founder , said that they want this building to be the first LEED certified platinum building in Detroit .
Also in the works : restoring three derelict homes to house student interns , a two-bedroom shipping container home , and turning a fire-damaged home ( in which only the basement is left ) into a water harvesting cistern to irrigate the garden . �
2016 Best Design Gold Pin Award Winners
Public Good Design Monk Mackenzie Architects and LandLAB # LightPathAKL
Spatial Design — Public and Institutional Spaces Sarosh Mulla Design Longbush Ecosanctuary Welcome Shelter
Wraight Athfield Landscape + Architecture Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
Isthmus Group Porirua CBD
Monk Mackenzie Architects and LandLAB # LightPathAKL
Colour Award Monk Mackenzie Architects and LandLAB # LightPathAKL
Best Emerging Designer Sarosh Mulla Design Longbush Ecosanctuary Welcome Shelter
A two-acre veggie patch and a 200-fruit tree orchard in Detroit ’ s North End provides free produce to over 2,000 households .