DESIGN PROPOSAL
Atlanta’s glaring disparity in access to healthy foods and a systemic reliance on non-renewable energy stems from the spatial inequity brought on by suburbanization and its constituents: divisive highways, reliance on petroleum, and schismatic policies.
PinkLabs’ response is a synthesis of urban farming, waste management, and food delivery through reconnecting underutilized transportation infrastructure including MARTA trains, electric bike paths, and electric vehicle charging stations.
As an ambitious design framework, the PinkLab proposal grows along with the More MARTA proposal— a proposal for vastly expanding the footprint of the existing MARTA stations in Atlanta to truly serve all communities in the metro area. Crucially, it proposes an expanded reach to neighborhoods with limited access to healthy foods in three phases, starting at Bankhead station.
A new vision for MARTA that expands access to fresh food— one that turns MARTA stations and cars into destinations— is the first step to awakening a new sustainable and healthy food culture in Atlanta.
While the adaptive program interventions may vary between the different host MARTA stations to respond to each neighborhood’s most urgent needs, the core modular components of PinkLabs remain the same:
The emerging technology that is Pinkhouse indoor vertical farming introduces an efficient, sustainable, and resilient production of greens by using only the spectrum of light that is required for plant growth - thereby reducing the energy requirements for lighting and cooling.
Supported by produce and value-added goods from local farms, it feeds the MARTA Market grocery store that streamlines access to fresh foods. A line of small local shops glazed by the pink glowing lights gathers witness to the passage of food, and the outdoor garden’s composting station serves the community by bringing the means to re-familiarize with the life cycle of produce. As icing on the cake, the bike rental and electric vehicle charging stations support food delivery services, expanding food reach to homes.