The Sugar Roots Farm Teaching Pavilion is a multi-functional, resilient outdoor classroom on a teaching farm in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Rethinking The Future Awards 2025
Third Award | Pop-ups and Temporary (Built)
Project Name: Sugar Roots Teaching Pavilion
Category: Pop-ups and Temporary (Built)
Studio Name: The Alberta and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design
Design Team:MerrieAfseth, Brianna Baldwin, Le’Bryant Bell, Zach Braaten, Kelsie Donovan, Kareem Elsandouby, Ellen Feringa, Nick George, Ella Jacobs, Sam Lindley, Connor Little, MandiiMalhotra, Valentina Mancera, JohnathanMichka, Sofia Perrotta Mensi, Malina Pickard, James Poche, Natalie Rendleman, Katie Schultz, Karan Sharma, Bruno Soria, Giuliana Vaccarino Gearty, Yao Zhang, Nick Jenisch, Ann Yoachim, Endale M. Bekele, Jose Cotto, Emilie Taylor Welty
Area: 1,300 square feet
Year: 2022
Location: New Orleans, LA
Photography Credits: Jose Cotto, Small Center
Render Credits: Small Center
Other Credits:
Educating kids and connecting New Orleanians with their food systems is at the core of what this teaching farm does each day. As the farm’s programming and activities grew, the farm reached out to our program to design and build an outdoor teaching space that allows for expanded educational events, reflects the farm’s mission, and alleviates the sites’ water challenges.
The outcome is a multi-functional, resilient outdoor classroom that not only teaches about food systems and sustainability but also embodies these principles through its construction. Central to the design are sustainable water management strategies like rainwater harvesting and bioswales, which address the site’s flooding concerns while promoting ecological awareness. As such, the design fosters an environment where learning about food systems, sustainability, and natural processes is not only possible but actively encouraged through the space itself.
The project’s design process spanned a single semester which included extensive research, community engagement, concept development, and on-site construction. The design team, composed of students and faculty from a university design-build program, worked closely with the farm’s staff to ensure the outdoor space would reflect the farm’s educational goals, environmental ethos, and need for climate resiliency in the context of Southeastern Louisiana.
This work is an ongoing effort to expand design access across our community, improve the design process, and prepare a new generation of architects to create a more just world. This academic studio pairs a team of architecture students with a local non-profit to program, design, and fabricate a project that models design excellence and best practices in community engagement. This collaboration highlights the power of design to support community-driven goals and create spaces that promote both learning and action in the context of environmental sustainability.
