GREENHAUS
year: 2018 | location: BRISTOL, RI | building: FARM-TO-TABLE RESTAURANT | type: RESTAURANT
Landscape and building merge into a cohesive architecture which extends the top of the hill into a green roof where food is grown for the restaurant below. Toward the back of the green roof, a two-story green house extends into the building, illuminating the interior spaces and visually enhancing the space. The timber frame appears on the interior and exterior of the building, each framing the dining spaces and intentionally dilutes natural sunlight creating varying shadows and light forms for an ambient lighing experience.
Approaching the site, the exterior dining can be seen where the architecture metaphorically becomes farm to table through the way the height of the tables meet the ground of the surrounding ground where food is planted. Food is grown above and around the dining spaces while being prepared in front of patrons. Patrons can also experience the greenhouse, free to pick their own food and experience the green, park-like terrain for recreation and gathering.
Transparency, light and simplicity drive the design of the building to become minimal in its form and materiality, which focuses on concrete, wood, steel, and glass. Minimal materiality allows the use of natural elements such as vegetation and the implementation of the green house above to be enhanced.