London Yields
Last night was the launch event of The Building Centre’s latest exhibition: London Yields.
The show is delightfully image-heavy and text-light, showcasing 13 real and imagined projects investigating urban agriculture by architecture practices and students.
Rosie Boycott opening the exhibition
Rosie Boycott (writer, journalist, farmer and the London Champion for Food) opened proceedings with a lively speech calling for a ‘gradual dissent into a state of greater sustainability’, lamenting the fact Britain consumes 49% of all ready meals in the EU, referencing the Archers (apparently the residents of Ambridge think all you can eat in London is pigeon) and talking about her role at GLA where, amongst other things, she has set up a committee to look at London’s food security.
Urban agriculture in Havana, Cuba
On the issue of food security, the exhibition quotes Lord Cameron of Dillington who said that Britain was ‘nine meals away from anarchy’. To illustrate how real the issue is, one wall is dedicated to a food map showing the origins of the contents of a two-person household’s weekly shop (from the ‘every little helps’ supermarket). Each item was described in terms of the country it came from, the resultant miles it had travelled and how much CO2 in kg per pack this equated to in terms of air and sea miles. Out of a 24 strong list, only 8 items were from the UK and products easily produced in the UK such as apples, broccoli and lamb were source from elsewhere.
AOC's project in Croydon
While some of the projects look a little far-fetched, most are based in the realms and processes of reality - the most obviously so is Bohn
& Viljoen Architects with Hadlow College’s installation of hydroponic vegetables grown in the Building Centre’s front window. If
you visit the cafe in a couple of weeks you’ll be able to sample the results.
Filed under: Eco-projects, People
[...] Footprint » London Yields - "On the issue of food security, the exhibition quotes Lord Cameron of Dillington who said that Britain was ‘nine meals away from anarchy’. To illustrate how real the issue is, one wall is dedicated to a food map showing the origins of the contents of a two-person household’s weekly shop (from the ‘every little helps’ supermarket). Each item was described in terms of the country it came from, the resultant miles it had travelled and how much CO2 in kg per pack this equated to in terms of air and sea miles. Out of a 24 strong list, only 8 items were from the UK and products easily produced in the UK such as apples, broccoli and lamb were source from elsewhere." [...]