Findings
We identified four areas at LaFarm that could use improvement. The issues of pitching in the greenhouse floor and lack of winter weatherproof pipes were decidedly not feasible to attack due to the time constraints and scope of our project, which left us with two other areas that required attention. These areas were tool organization and plant bed mobility in the greenhouse. Through our conversations with Josh Parr, LaFarm volunteers, and Lafayette Office of Sustainability staff as well as our survey responses, we concluded that tool organization was a more pressing issue. This decision was due to general feedback from the survey that this solution was preferred, as well as legitimate concerns from Parr and LaFarm volunteers that tools were being mismatched, displaced, and generally unorganized. This was an area in which there was a defined problem and also a feasible and attainable solution.
Our proposed solution would ease the experience of those who use the space at LaFarm by providing clearly designated areas for student and community tools. It would also be located much closer to the LaFarm entrance, either within the greenhouse or just outside the exit of the greenhouse to make the process of preparing for farming and cleaning up afterwards much smoother. Not only would it add the described functions, but would be an art piece to brighten the space and make an everyday task a bit more interesting or relaxing to go through.
Recommendations for Implementation
We recommend that this project be carried out by a club or student group rather than a class. This is because a club can give more time, attention, and people to the project, as it is not constrained to a time frame of one semester. From Josh Parr, we learned of some student projects at Lafarm that were never completed due to lack of time, leaving materials and unfinished work behind. A year-long time frame would increase the likelihood of project completion, and a club/student group can pass along information to new members in a way that a class does not. If this project were to be picked up, further collaboration with several student artists would be necessary along with input from other stakeholders such as student farmers, Josh Parr, and community farmers. Potential challenges mainly involve stakeholder engagement throughout the life of the project. With the varied schedules of students and staff, it can be difficult to schedule time to discuss the project and exchange ideas and concerns about how to progress. We did find that email communication was often unsuccessful, and we recommend that future groups find other, more effective ways to communicate with stakeholders. Overcoming these communication challenges would require a clear analysis of stakeholder interest and benefits from the functional art installation. The implementation process we recommend is as follows:
- Gather input from students on preferred tool organizer design through a survey. Considering our issues with communication, we recommend conducting a survey raffle, prizes could include LaFarm produce.
- Seek input from student artists across campus to ensure that the functional art piece is artistic.
- Set up meetings with potential interested participants such as Engineers without Borders and propose project ideas. We recommend working with organizations such as Engineers without Borders as they have existing funding that can be allocated towards projects similar to this one. The Office of Sustainability could also be a potential participant as they have expressed interest in this project.
- Create a prototype of the chosen tool organizer design
- Fabricate and implement design
Final Remarks
We learned a lot about LaFarm and the intricacies of running a community garden on a college campus throughout our project and were able to interact with the surrounding community in very insightful ways. In this report we have detailed how our design choices were made, who we interacted with, and our preliminary design options that we would like to see make their way to another set of hands to continue working. These new eyes can take our project to the next level and gauge the interest of the community in the designs that we have laid out, make necessary changes, and effect positive change at LaFarm using the work that we have done. We have enjoyed our time piecing together this project and we hope it can come to fruition in the future.