Colla Bean Farmer
The urban farm has taken on a new identity, from producing fruits and vegetables to producing a beverage that is a staple in the American culture. Bean Buro designed an urban hops farm that brings the production of beer into one place while creating a space for venders, to sell their products, and a community event space. Appropriately located in Denver, CO, where the American Beer Festival is held, the intended scope of the design to solidify the West Highlands neighborhood’s identity by supplying a diverse program focusing around the hop plant placing 3rd in the Farmers Market competition.
The design is inspired by the hop plant, a stabilizing agent in the brewing process, which is grown on poles on the interior of the building and acts as the main design feature creating a green facade throughout the space. This is covered by a removable PVC roof canopy that is similar in space to the hop plant and collects rain water while the open air structure that defines the space funnels water to a holding tank to be used in the brewing process or to be used in the farming of the hop plants. Also inspired by hop are the market vender spaces that are located along the path of circulation allowing people to experience the building while supporting local farmers and resemble the bulb of the hops creating a private kiosk for each vender.
From the cultivation the the pour each architectural element of this designed is to aid in the production of beer or the community program of the building. Celebrating a key ingredient of the brewing process with hops growing from the walls and represented in much of the architectural design while pushing to be a key space for the surrounding community. With the pods being the market spaces that are rooted to the foundation in what seems like a symbolic gesture to promote local venders. Bean Buro has succeeded in creating an functional and intriguing space based around the the hop plant that would potentially solidify a community.
