The creation of public spaces is, in essence, the creation of public and societal values, in that the places we bring into being teach us how to act and live, and show what we, as a society, should respect, admire and care about. "Farmacy" an imaginative student project by Samantha Lee (from Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo de Ostos's Verticle studio), embodies the rebirth and growth of our current societal focus on nature as nurture.
Lee has designed an urban farm on Regent's Canal in King's Cross London which would combine the currently existing canal walkway and brick walls with a new waterwheel based factory. The site is meant to be both a farm and pharmacy and would grow, process and sell medicinal herbs for curing the basic ailments of Britons and big city dwellers alike - depression, stress and the common cold to be fought by Mother Nature's own antidotes. A visual blending of 'natural' and built environment, the herbs would grow in nets along the existing brick wall of the canal, harkening back to Babylon's famed hanging gardens. Following the sustainable mantra of keeping it local, the prototype (and one would image any future real life models) would focus on growing only indiginous flora. Visitors would be able to enjoy both visual and olfactory healing on walks through the blended farm-factory and purchase remedies from on-site pharmacists to take home.
Lee's project invites us to view urban greenspaces as places for healing ourselves and recovering from our stressful city lives. Blending the ideals of useable civic infrastructure and the necessity of green city space the designs embody new ideas about the physical form that urban space can take.
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