FLoW: Wind Channel Farm Stand

This design project, a strawberry farm stand, comes from a one week charette to experience cutting sheet metal.  Since the location of the proposal, Arroyo Grande Valley, CA is often quite hot, we have designed a panel system to be used on the facade that can be easily manipulated in such a way to channel the wind in and out of the farm stand. The panel itself is a vertical strip of four parts that are perforated between parts. One part is always flush with the facade and is connected to the facade structure.  Next, two panels remain on the same plane but are folded up at a specific angle. Then, the final panel is folded back to be attached back to the structure. We ran a series wind analysis of this facade panel system using AutoDesk Flow Design, and manipulated it to properly control the way air would pass through.  We focused on developing different openings to create variation of air ventilating through the farm stand. Best of all, the way in which air is being channeled circulates the smell of strawberries to the surrounding neighborhoods within the area.