As Dubendorf expanded over time, open farmlandgradually gave way to roads, housing, and infrastructure. With this transformation, local foodproduction slowly disappeared from everyday life. What once grew nearby became something distant -transported, packaged, and consumed without a clear connection to its origin. This project responds tothat shift by strengthening the relationship between people, place, and food, reintroducing cultivation asa visible and shared part of the urban fabric.
At Usterstrasse 56 stands a farmhouse built in 1850, once central to the surrounding agricultural landscape. Although structurally intact, the house has long remainedunderused. The project begins here, not by recreating the past, but by reactivating its potential. The existing building and site become the foundation for a contemporary system of food production, processing, and exchange.
A greenhouse extension grows from the farmhouse as aseamless continuation rather than a contrast. Timberframing and polycarbonate surfaces form a lightweight envelope that connects old and new, allowing light, warmth, and plant life to permeate the architecture. Within this structure, cultivation becomes visibleand experiential. Above, plants are grown; below, they are washed, sorted, stored, prepared, anddistributed. Each step - from soil to plate - isspatially legible, turning food production into aneveryday narrative.
The ground floor hosts a restaurant within thegreenhouse, where dining takes place among plants and daylight. Food is experiencedwhere it is grown, reinforcing the connection between cultivation and consumption. A shop occupies aformerly unused room, now marked by a fresco on its facade that signals its new public role. Nearby, a water reservoir collects and stabilises rainwater, supporting both soil moisture and plant growth across the site.
Beyond the farmhouse, the project extends into the5chrebergarten. A network of modular growth chambers provides protected environments for seed germination and early plant development. Built from reused materials and designed for self-assembly, each module can function independently or connect with others to form larger shared structures. As they multiply, they create a flexible, community-driven landscape of cultivation.
Together, the farmhouse, greenhouse, and gardenmodules form a living ecosystem -one that grows gradually, adapts over time, and invites participation. The project transforms an underused site into a productive, social, and educational node, where architecture supports the cycles of food, fosters community, and reconnects Dubendorf with the land that sustains it.
