Progressive consumption : strategic sustainable excess

Abstract

Trends in the marketplace show that urban dwellers are increasingly supporting locally produced foods. This thesis argues for an architecture that responds to our cultures consumptive behaviors. Addressing the effects of consumption in the contemporary urban environment and ultimately developing an architecture that facilitates the consumption levels we have become accustomed to with sustainable business and community based systems. The building is a new market model, built around the idea of delivering fresh produce and local food directly to consumers; the primary means for which this is done is thought the production oriented, on site agriculture. This direct-to-consumer model of food production is facilitated by hydroponics coupled with grow rooms and the benefit of a controlled environment. With the production and transportation of agriculture being highly energy intensive, produce flavor and consistency benefit greatly from a hyper-localized agricultural system.

(cont.) Unlike consumer products which require complex supply chains and distribution networks for rapid market response and vast pooling of knowledge and resources. Agriculture has the advantage of having the ability to be produced in nearly any locale and at almost any scale, from window box to industrial mega-farm. As the model years of tomatoes don't change, the only evolution in the facility or the product would be to increase efficiencies. The most viable move toward progressive modes of consumption is this new hyper-local market model.