Thesis Statement - very first draft

Farming in the City

Synopsis
Introducing urban farm to Las Vegas to educate people on how to grow their own food that is healthy and local and to raise awareness about naturally and locally grown food that could benefit and improve peoples’ lifestyle and health.

Position Statement
Most of today’s population takes for granted local agriculture and naturally and locally grown food since variety of food is available at the neighborhoods’ grocery stores with foods brought from all over the world. Many people in this country, however, understand that natural and healthy locally grown food is essential to improve our health and therefore, facilities such as educational community center and farm is the middle of Las Vegas is needed to educate people about possibilities. I propose to build an urban farm in the busy downtown area and build educational center and food processing plant where people could come and learn and gather, share their experience and ideas and grow or buy in the farm grown food.

Project Description
The urban farm in Downtown Las Vegas will have not only plots of land for farming, but also faculties where people could get familiar and learn about farming and how they could grow their own food. Project will include educational community center and food processing plant as well as farmers’ market as well as gathering space/ plaza for events. Educational center and food processing center plant are key facilities on site to raise awareness about locally grown healthy foods and how it can improve our health. Educational center will include classrooms and conferences rooms or small scale of auditoriums where classes, lectures and workshops will be held to leach people local farming and how they could farm themselves. Center and plaza/ gathering space will hold farmers’ markets which will have not only fresh vegetables and fruit, but also foods processed at the plant. Center will also include offices and information centers where people can find out more about organizations and people involved as well as find out about classes and workshops and schedule to tour the facilities which will also include shops where visitors of the center could buy not only produce, but also all of the supplies and tools needed for farming. Food processing plant will be accessible to all of the visitors of the farm and will be welcoming to tour the facility and see and learn how certain foods are made as well as have a taste of them. Center will also provide hands-on workshops and everyone interested will be able to volunteer at the farm and experience first-hand what it is like to work in the farm and further learn about local agriculture. To encourage people to visit and learn about farming, education center will hold festivals such as food and music festival, spring/ fall festivals and arts and crafts festivals which are widely popular in Las Vegas Valley and which will be informative as well as awareness rising.

Product
Product of urban farm will be an educational community center which will consist of classrooms, conference rooms, small auditoriums, offices, information center and shops as well as indoors and outdoors farmers’ market. Another key facility on site is food processing plant which will be open to visitors and tours and food tasking. The plaza of the facilities is gathering place where people will enjoy number of events including food, spring/ fall and arts and crafts festivals as well as large group gathering for any occasion. Educational community center will have two types of farming, one that is run by organization and taking care of by organization in charge or by volunteers with food distributed to food processing plant or farmers’ market. Another type of framing will include plots of land that could be leased to people who are interested in growing their own food for their own consumption. Also on site, there will be a Living Machine which will help with water needs. Currently, Las Vegas is in drought and therefore water is scarce, while a lot of it is needed to sustain farm. Grey water will be collect from facilities on site and recycled for reuse.

Site

Why did you pick it?
The site is located in Las Vegas Downtown District and is adjacent to the area that was first developed when people started to settle in the valley. The site is surrounded by variety of uses which attracts locals and visitors equally. The site is currently empty with some new development starting up, but its surroundings are always filled with people. Most of the city’s civic and government buildings are located in the area, downtown’s casinos and hotel s are adjacent to the site on one side of the site, there are number of office, retail as well as residential uses nearby. The site is a brownfield, and used to be used for industrial uses as an industrial park therefore, some areas around are still zoned for such use. There are also institutional and educational uses adjacent or near the site, such as brain institute which is currently under construction and a satellite campus for School of Architecture of UNLV. It is like a beehive, with lots of attractions and therefore urban farm would really benefit the area as well as area would benefit the farm.

What are its physical attributes?
The site is relatively flat and a brownfield infill in downtown area. It is considered to be an injured plot of land due to previous industrial use. Site is surrounded by variety of used including commercial/ retail, offices, civic, resort, residential, institutional and educational uses. Site had great views and is visible from surroundings.

What are its boundaries?
Model/ drawing shows variety of uses around the site.
The site is surrounded by existing streets as well as divided by streets. Surrounding uses are of different density. In parts, boundaries are dense and continuous and very active due to use (resort boundary is always active 24/7) with lots of people and activities, while other parts, such as civic boundaries are more open with mostly locals coming and going. World Market Center and shopping mall are also boundaries and become very busy and active during certain hours and certain days during shows and conventions.

What does this site offer you that will allow you to study/test your thesis idea?
Educating is big part of thesis as well as raising awareness and teaching people about farming and how to grow their own food. Thesis is also about encouraging people to look beyond grocery stores’ shelves and start eating healthy and locally grown foods. I believe that farm and educational program such as educational community center in Downtown Las Vegas will raise the awareness and due to site’s surroundings and activities around, people will come to the area and then learn about naturally grown healthy fruits and vegetables which will encourage them to start farming themselves.

Program
Educational Community Center
Classrooms/ small auditoriums
Workshops
Offices for organization in charge
Information Center-“Tool Shed”
Visitors’ lounge
Shops
Indoor farmers’ market

Educational Community Center Plaza
Outdoor farmers’ market
Area to accommodate variety of events, such as festivals
Outdoor seating/ courtyards

Food Processing Plant
Plant’s machinery area
Visitors’ lounge
Shop of products
Cooking kitchen for food festivals and/ or food demonstrations
Restaurant

On site
Farms
Organization’s plots of land
Leasable plots of land
Living Machine