FOODWHEEL

LOCATION // MKTplace. Miami, USA.

CLIENT // Masters of Real Estate + Urbanism University Miami School of  Architecture + Makerfaire Miami

YEAR // 2018

STATUS // Completed

PROGRAM // Installation

FUNCTION // Public Space Activator

The Food Wheel is an “urban activator”, a butterfly building that is conceived as a light and movable micro-urban infrastructure, that temporarily creates a public space centred on the concept of food. It was conceptualized as a response to challenges experienced in connecting food, people and place during the development of the MKTplace project.

MKTplace is a Knight Foundation funded community-driven prepared food market and public space project that serves to activate vacant space in underserved neighborhoods by providing inexpensive incubator space for vendors and a venue for community events, arts and culture, and everyday socializing. These underserved neighborhoods are located in 1 of 326 U.S. Department of Agriculture classified food deserts in South Florida. A Food desert is defined as having no access to fresh produce within a mile in urban environments. The Food Wheel continues to journey into these neighborhoods.

Drawing inspiration from creative placemaking design-art initiatives led by Studio James Brazil in the MKTplace, we designed and developed the project as a Fabrication Information Model (FIM) in collaboration with students in which the entire prototype could be unfolded and manufactured by computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling machines in one afternoon. This utilizes the exponential growing network of Fabrication Laboratories, equipping local communities across the globe to share prototypes via these models due to them all possessing identical machinery. We are attempting to explore design processes that establish feedback loops between sequential phases of development, enabling the prototype to evolve and adapt in real time with the needs of these neighborhoods and projects like the MKTplace



COLLABORATORS

Yasser Abualfaraj | Maaryam Alanzi | Mike Arnispiger | Dr. Charles Bohl | James Brazil | Emily Fusilero | John Heinrich, | Shruti Khandewhal | Beltran Lozano |  Luke Gardner | Ram Matheus |  Madison Seip | Sofia Silva