Hackney Pantry
This is a design submission for the Antepavilion design competition in 2018.
Designed in collaboration with Linda Hagberg.
The proposal of Hackney Pantry is to utilise the barge and its mobility as a distribution channel for surplus food in the community. Our vision is for the Ouse to become a community pantry, to encourage the act of sharing and exchange of food.
A large supply of food wastage is generated from Broadway Market, local restaurants and pubs along the canal. The barge will hold open and closed storage to temporary store this food. Any member of the community will be welcomed on board to take home any food, or alternatively, to give away remaining food from their home. To confirm our idea, we interviewed a number of food suppliers and local restaurants that are happy to participate in the proposal.
To make the most use of the journey, we propose the barge to be active during the early evenings on weekends, around 4-7pm. That is the time when market stalls are preparing to close. The barge will make two journeys, one towards the east, stopping at Broadway market and back, the second towards the west, stopping at De Beauvoir Road and back. There will be four pick-up and drop-off points, each located near a crossing bridge, making it easily reachable by the community.
According to statistics from the Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP), around 8.2 million tonnes of food from food services and households end up in landfills each year. By redistribution of food, much of this food waste is preventable. There are various organisations that aim at promoting the awareness of food waste. An example is Food for soul in St. Cuthbert’s, which uses edible food waste to sustain a community kitchen. The Hubbub foundation sets up a network of community fridges, which gives local residents free access to surplus food shared by local business. These community fridges are so far located in central, north, west and south. Our team sees the Ouse as a great opportunity for Hackney to be added onto the map.
Construction:
We propose the assembly of the Hackney Pantry to be made of only timber planks from deconstructed wooden pallets. Storage pallets is a material that can easily be sourced locally and are usually unused or waste materials from businesses. The challenge of the construction is to utilise only short timber and to explore different methods of crafting timber joints, in creating a rigid and sturdy structure for a travelling boat. Our goal is to maximise the use of timber joints and to reduce metal connections as much as possible. In addition to erecting a stable roof spanning the length of the boat, we would like to use a similar method in constructing shelves, storage, seats and platform within the boat.
