This project investigates how society's relationship to landscape and agriculture can define what living rurally looks like. It is a response to the unavoidable tension between enforced control over landscape through traditional agricultural practices at the expense of complex forest ecosystems. The project proposes a provocative strategy of densification of agriculture and housing as a way of liberating arable land for reforestation. The building is part of a larger masterplan in RAF Halton, in the Chilterns, and combines high-tech farming with housing, providing residents with food autonomy. In turn, the freed land is reforested by expanding the existing ecosystem of Wendover Woods. The land available in RAF Halton for reforestation is able to offset 80% of the timber construction of the 370 new homes set out in the masterplan. This allows a circular timber economy to be established, where the growth of a reforested tree to maturity is equal to the lifetime of a home. The building is designed for reconfiguration as well as disassembly, using prefabricated components that sit within a larger timber frame, which allows residents to customise their living space to their current and future needs.
The ground floor is comprised of a market hall and communal kitchen. Residents engage with the public through cooking and selling produce grown in the hydroponic systems.
Within the plan a series of rammed earth walls mirror the contour lines of the site, marking changes in topography. Situated within these walls are small workshops, studios and shops.
The hempcrete is inserted into the cassettes as compressed blocks. The wood wool board is then fixed on top before the cassette is lifted by a small crane to slot into the timber frame.
The first floor is made up entirely of hydroponics to provide the both the market and the occupants of the one bedroom apartments on the second floor with fruit and vegetables.