SEED LIBRARY
Harvard GSD * 2023
Harvard GSD * 2023
SITE: DES MOINES, IOWA
INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
ADVISED BY SHARON JOHNSTON
LINK to studio description
Face to face with Des Moines’ defunct Rock Island train depot, the project propagates pitched roofs, found in typical barn construction and shed types, to extend the current public library program of a seed library into a larger scale.
The Seed Library’s goal is to support agricultural biodiversity by focusing on local, rare, and heirloom seed varieties while also to encourage interest around local agricultural practices. By being lifted off the ground, the project endeavors to revitalize the derelict depot by a sheltered space along the railway.
In the depot, there is an arched gateway that emphasizes 5th street, a major artery into the city. The seed library is introduced onto the site by recontouring the site. The removed earth is used to create mounds onto the site, connecting the project site to moments within the collective site plan where we are creating ground swells.