Foundation Studio: Spring 2013 with Peter Waldman

Project: Virginia Food Heritage Culinary Institute and Museum

Shockoe Bottom, Richmond, VA

The site of the 17th Street Market in Shockoe Bottom, Richmond, is endowed with a rich, yet fraught, history. Originally home to one of the largest slave markets in the country, where upcountry planters could purchase slaves off the boat for their wheat and tobacco plantations, and also sell slaves bred on Eastern plantations to the cotton kings of the Mississippi corridor. Today the site of one of the largest of these markets is a farmers market, with descendants of these former slaves often among the artisans and farmers selling the products of their labor.

The legacy of slavery and the African Diaspora looms large in many aspects of American culture; charged with designing a new Culinary Institute anywhere in the world, this site provides an opportunity to engage with and explore the incredibly legacy of African and African American foodways on American cuisine. Located on the site of the 17th Street Market, and thus also at a critical zone of gentrification in the city of Richmond, Virginia, the institute can provide valuable education to local African American youth who have some of the lowest rates of educational attainment in the city, as well as a space to celebrate and be inspired by their culture. The plan locates the building on the Northern half of the site, and a large experimental teaching garden on the southern half of the site.

 

Hand drafting over photo collage with post-processing in Adobe Illustrator