California firm CAW Architects used prefabricated elements and economical materials to create a series of light-filled buildings on an agricultural campus operated by Stanford University.
Photograph by Bernardo Grijalva
The structures are situated on the O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm, located on the edge of the university's campus in Silicon Valley.
The Farm not only provides food for the university community, but also serves as an outdoor classroom where students can learn about farming practises. Over 200 varieties of vegetables, fruit, herbs, field crops and flowers are grown on the six-acre (2.4-hectare) site.
Photograph by John Sutton
"The Farm serves as a working agricultural complex that provides over 15,000 pounds of produce each year to the campus ? and a living laboratory where students, faculty and the community test ideas about social and environmental aspects of farming and urban agriculture," said CAW Architects, a firm based in the nearby town of Palo Alto. CAW Architects was tasked with creating a cluster of buildings to serve different purposes. The structures were designed to minimise their impact on the site.
Photograph by John Sutton
"The design tightly clusters farm structures to preserve the majority of the site for field crops and orchards," the team said in a project description.
The siting of the buildings was also driven by a desire to provide views and outdoor gathering areas, while also ensuring that daily work co...