#Industry News
Hay Stack Café raises goats and hens in the heart of Philadelphia
Most people don't know where their food comes from anymore, but visiondivision makes it very clear with Hay Stack Café.
Invited by the Esther Klein Gallery to explore the role of ecology in society for an upcoming exhibition in Philadelphia, the Stockholm-based studio decided on an "eccentric fusion of farm and café." Comprised of structural poles and stabilizing beams that hold stacks of hay, the café raises goats, hens and vegetables right there in the city - and then harvests the produce for your breakfast.
The design team proposed to source every material for the temporary structure locally, including the goats and hens. Wooden poles driven into the ground would comprise the primary structure, and then rafters and horizontal joists would stabilize stacks of cheap hay to create a vertical home for urban farm animals and crops. And then the actual kiosk, at the base of the urban farm, is finished with clay plaster.
Visitors to the Hay Stack Café could order an omelet or other breakfast food made with the eggs, milk and cheese produced on site. They wouldn’t have to rush off either. They can enjoy their meal on hay stacks scattered in front of the museum and listen to the urban cacophony complemented by clucking hens and moaning goats.
“Our ambition was to create some sort of a stacked eco-system where it is possible to see the source and
the final result in the same piece,” designers Anders Berensson and Ulf Mejergren told Inhabitat. “This would then be the most hyperlocal café that has ever existed in a modern urban environment, a hipster dream perhaps.”
visiondivision is working with the gallery to determine a potential site for their design. They will even care for the animals and serve breakfast themselves.
“The Hay Stack Café will be a true clash in the city landscape,” they add. “A slice of another time, place and nature.”
