Hemp-Fiber Insulation Facility

Assignment:

Buffalo, NY

Our project looked into the development of a hemp-fiber based insulation facility in order to introduce this natural material-based insulation material as a potential replacement for unsustainable and exhaustive insulation types in the residential sector, like fiberglass insulation. We chose to site our project in Silo city, an old grain elevator and storage facility in Buffalo, NY. We chose to focus our efforts on developing the Lake and Rail Elevators and warehouse on the northeast corner of our site, and created a plan to convert the site as follows; the warehouse would become the manufacturing facility for hemp-fiber based insulation, the grain elevators would be converted into a research facility on the north end, and the grain elevators towards the east would have storage adjacent to manufacturing and housing overlooking the river. Our intention was to use as much of the existing buildings as we could as a could, as we found the typology of silos to be quite interesting, and we adapted some of the logic used in grain elevators as a system by which we could implement storage and transportation in our facility.

Project Date: 2022

CASE Faculty: Fleet Hower

Course: Architectural Design Studio

CASE Students: Kit Hutton & Nora Wright