Project Name: Chicken Coop Prototype: New Orleans and Beyond
Project Type:
6) architecture
7) other
Project Mission/Goal:
1) improve the human spirit
4) address humanitarian crises
5) other: local children learn how to garden, raise livestock, and create a product to be sold.
Project Description:
Led by Architect and Instructor Derek Hoeferlin in Spring 2008, a senior undergraduate architecture design studio at the College and Graduate School of Architecture of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, as part of the CITYbuild Consortium of Schools, designed and built a chicken coop for God's Vineyard Community Garden in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana. The garden, technically an urban farm, was founded by Noel Jones and Earl Antwine in the late 1990’s. Until summer 2009, both Noel and Earl do-directed the garden until the untimely death of Noel.
Half of the farm is for vegetables, primarily devoted to growing hot peppers. With the assistance of the nearby community, primarily low-income children, these peppers are harvested and used to create the amazing St. Thomas Seven Hot Pepper Sauce. The other half of the urban farm is dedicated to several hens, a rooster, a few African geese, a wild turkey, some rabbits and ducks. The garden was started to teach the children how to grow vegetables, tend livestock and produce a saleable product (the hot sauce). The proceeds from the hot sauce primarily go to college tuition assistance. The rich fertilizer from the animal portion of the farm is used for the garden portion of the farm.
The design of the chicken coop is a series of pre-fabricated components constructed at Washington Univ. in St. Louis. These components, constructed of galvanized steel, polycarbonate, corrugated metal and treated wood, were flat-packed in a cargo van and driven to New Orleans for their subsequent easy assembly in the free-range portion of the farm. The intention is that the simple flat-pack design can be deployed across New Orleans at-large and beyond the city, to encourage productive urban agriculture in backyards and empty lots globally. This garden, with the chicken coop, assists in addressing a serious problem in post-Katrina New Orleans: access to healthy food within disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The coop has been fully functioning since May 2008, has withstood several tropical thunderstorms and Hurricane Gustav, is appropriately dirty, and most importantly quite productive. In other words, the funky chicken coop has served its role very well as a catalyst to get the garden back up and running post-Katrina (many of the pre-Katrina volunteers could not return to New Orleans). The garden expects to yield its first hot sauce since Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2009.
Also, a corresponding goose coop was constructed of a series of foldable triangle components that can be deployed in multiple configurations. (ref: http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/node/2868)
Links:
http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/node/2868
http://nolarecipe.blogspot.com/
http://www.lulu.com/product/download/post-katrina-nola-episode-iii-recip...
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1211434466...
Project Details:
Location: Lower Garden District, New Orleans, LA, USA
Concept/Lead Architect(s)/Designer(s): Derek Hoeferlin, Instructor and Washington University in St. Louis College of Architecture students
Project Architect(s): Washington University in St Louis, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, School of Architecture Students
Year (s): 2008
Client: God's Vineyard Community Garden
User Client: God's Vineyard Community Garden
Number of beneficiaries/users: 1 with intention of more
Project Phase: First prototype completed; wish to produce many more
Major Funding: Anonymous Donation
Cost/Cost per unit: $13/sf
Area (if applicable): 75 square feet
Structural Engineers: N/A
Electrical/Mechanical Engineers: N/A
Contractor/Manufacturer: Washington Univ. in St. Louis College of Architecture
Additional Consultants: Leeland Orvis
Other:
Submitted by Derek Hoeferlin
Nominated by Kimberly Newcomer
