GRAVITATE by Teresa

Gravitate Towards Growth

The Sankofa Community Garden is a place for people of all ages to gather and learn to grow as a community. To achieve this, Sankofa must become a hub of activity, which people gravitate to. The concept of gravitating toward growth stems from the larger urban context. Sankofa is a place which draws the community in by its rich and welcoming nature. Through making growth the subject of gravitation, this design hosts a large canopy structure, which welcomes pulls community members in, while creating a beautiful experience through interaction with the vegetation entangled amongst it. The building design features overhangs that host vegetation as a form of passive/seasonal daylighting control.  The concrete exposed flooring maximizes thermal mass heating and cooling.  Cross ventilation encourages passive cooling and air flow.  This passive design for the Sankofa Community Garden celebrates the idea of growing together- whether it be vegetation, relationships, knowledge, or experiences- through a landscape and architecture which reflects the ideas it was founded upon.