This 8,160 square foot roof garden in Chicago, designed by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, is an after-school learning space. Under the guidance of a garden manager, kids use this urban agriculture roof to produce more than 1,000 pounds of organic produce each year. Colorful and graphic, it turns the typical working vegetable garden into a place of beauty and respite.
+ Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects
I have seen this building and had a tour of it a few years ago. It is a really impressive youth center and the garden roof is fantastic – really gets students involved in the process of growing and being green. Also, the design concept focuses on sight lines, primarily out of a need for security, but they do it in a way that does not feel “big brother” and has a very unique manifestation in the built environment. Very cool and well done facility, especially for a youth center which typically does not get the royal treatment. The exterior skin also incorporates a fun color scheme which adds an element of the whimsical and colorful in an otherwise difficult neighborhood.