A 1920’s residence located on a hillside in east Edmonton featuring spectacular river valley views is owned by a university professor who is an urban vegetable farmer, and his son. An expansion is designed to meet the goal of a self-sustaining site that generates all necessary food crops and seedlings for each annual cycle. A series of liveable ‘trays’ step down to the hillside and retain views from the original house in all directions and open the extra living, working and harvesting / shop spaces to the terraced planting areas of the hill side to the river below. Planned as a net zero site, the project uses a durable building envelope, solar and water harvesting technologies for plant irrigation and the roof of the addition as a viewing platform, solar field and seeding area.
