Woodlawn High School Urban Farm is a 1.6 acre farm built for and managed by high school students and is the premier classroom for the school’s Environmental Science Academy. It is sited on a previously underutilized portion of land across the street from the school proper and adjacent to residential structures. It serves as the flagship site for Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s overall Woodlawn programs.
The Farm Center, situated on the North edge of the site, includes (from east to west): an outdoor pavilion, with exposed site built trusses, overlooking a pond; a 1,500 sf south facing greenhouse; a shaded dogtrot with adjacent amenities for processing produce; and a cedar wrapped insulated volume containing offices and farm equipment storage. The building faces south, looking onto two acres of in ground, irrigated, annual vegetable planting blocks. All water from the roof structures and site runoff is collected into a vegetative bio-swale that functions to reduce the amount of infiltrate into the municipal sewer system, keep as many nutrients on the site, and provide habitat for beneficial pollinators.
AWARDS
AIA Birmingham Design Awards, Merit Award, 2016