Arctic Food Network
Baffin Island geographically is the fifth-largest island in the world or one-and-a-half times Germany. This is true polar bear territory where winter nights are long and dark with most likely the harshest environment on earth. However in saying that there are over 13,000 inhabitants sparsely spread across the island. Baffin Island is part of Nunavut, Canada's newest territory; created on 1 April 1999 to give control of the lands back to the Inuit. Physically however Greenland is closer in proximity thanks to the major waters of Baffin Bay. Today hunting and fishing are still the day to day activities keeping alive the local community. Traditionally whale, seal, walrus, caribou, eider duck and goose were staple Inuit diet; today this is slowly being replaced with fast food flown in from the mainland. For the younger generation satellite TV, ice hockey and fast food seem rather more appealing than time honored traditions. The census of 2001 identified the median age of Nunavat as 22.1 with the life expectancy for men at 66.4 years and 71 years for women. These were the lowest in Canada. Alcohol was banned over 20 years ago after the community faced ongoing issues with alcoholism. The region faces a number of challenges to the environment but the biggest concern is the isolation faced by the youth. 60% of the youth are under the age of 25 with greater numbers of young people moving away in search of work or to move away from the traditional ways to more urban environments in search of fast food and satellite TV.
The Arctic Food Network 3
The hope is that the advent of new technologies merged with traditional practices with enhance and maintain the way of life on many of the most remote parts of the island. By providing the necessary internet infrastructure and satellite devices powered by solar cells while agricultural and ecological support the youth of the community will not migrate away. The project will secure increased communication between the Inuit communities and allow for better distribution of local resources and serve to reinforce local traditions of hunting and fishing through the establishment of more sustainable methodology. Ultimately the aim is to create a more independent and self sustaining economy.
Lateral Office is a Tornoto based multi-disciplinary practice, founded in 2003 is the brain child of Mason White and Lola Sheppard. To Lateral Office ‘architecture is an exercise in lateral thinking, and design is an empirical process operating across seemingly disparate disciplines and phenomena.’4 In an interview with Architectural Record White recalls, “I think it was partly a realization that architecture has an opportunity to perform in a more integrated way — and a criticism of the fascination with signature practices.5” It is this desire to perform in a more integrated way has lead Lateral Office focusing on the economic and ecological causes and consequences of architectural intervention underpinned with broad research. This can also be seen in their shortlisted project in the cityLAB WPA 2.0 competition, (WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture; an open competition seeking innovative, implementable proposals that place infrastructure at the heart of rebuilding American cities during this next era of metropolitan recovery6 where Lateral Office proposed ‘transforming the Salton Sea in southwest California — terminating its use as an agricultural reservoir; redeveloping its coastline into industrial, recreational, and ecological zones; and floating various pools within the water body to harvest the sea, regulate its salinity, or attract tourism. 7’
In the short term Lateral Office’s Arctic Food Network has received the 2011 Holcim Gold Award for the North American region. The Holcim awards recognize sustainable construction throughout the world. The Holcim awards jury described the AFN as a “providing a stunning solution with an impressive value-added return on the resources invested. An attentive contextual response is demonstrated in all dimensions of the project, based upon thorough research and the participation of the community.
The entire strategy up to the design responds to the landscape, climatic and site conditions, and includes purposeful interventions which are integrated without any grand gestures or expensive structures. Instead they bridge between the traditions of the Inuit and the expectations of the young generation thereby providing an opportunity to create an improved future. The project is also highly transferable to other arctic regions and its basis in terms of overall attitude and mood has even broader applicability. 8”
The entire strategy up to the design responds to the landscape, climatic and site conditions, and includes purposeful interventions which are integrated without any grand gestures or expensive structures. Instead they bridge between the traditions of the Inuit and the expectations of the young generation thereby providing an opportunity to create an improved future. The project is also highly transferable to other arctic regions and its basis in terms of overall attitude and mood has even broader applicability. 8”
2 Ibid
7 Ibid
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