BUILDING GREEN HOUSES
Productive Building Method developed by Joost Bakker. This concept used both recycled and recyclable materi- als, and the whole structure can be easily dismantled and re-assembled at low cost, without the need for skilled labour. No materials containing harm- ful chemicals are used, and Joost sees each building as a place that can harvest food, water and energy – improving the local environment instead of detracting from it. The building’s 100 per cent recy- clable steel frame is fi xed together with galvanised steel screws and then clad in plywood from sustaina- ble plantations. Wall and roof cavities
T
as he could talking to farmers and potential suppliers. “I found a lot of restaurants in London talked about sustainability on their menus, but to be truly sustaina- ble, you’ve got to go a lot deeper. “It became very clear when talk- ing to the farmers that they were not being supported. There’s a disconnect between what some restaurants are saying and what is happening.”
HARNESSING BIODYNAMICS In Perth, Joost draws on the long-culti- vated traditions of biodynamic farming, which he describes as the most sus- tainable type of farming. “No waste leaves the farm, and the most benefi t is drawn from the soil," he says. “I was really surprised by how few biodynamic farms there are in the UK and how little is known about it. For a population of 60 million, I expected there to be many more,” he says. “There is a huge issue with waste
in farming and food production,” says Joost, who is conscious of the amount of waste produced by restaurants and keen to lead by example. In Sydney, he says food waste was put into a Jora Form machine commonly used in Swedish apartment buildings, turning it into compost in just 10 minutes. “We don’t take delivery of any food packed in boxes containing paraffi n. “We extract the juice from sugar
ISSUE 4 2011 © cybertrek 2011
he Greenhouse in Perth and the pop-up restaurant in Sydney both used the
are packed tightly with straw bales (a problematic waste product) from local farms, creating high thermal insulation and good fi re resistance. The exterior of the building is clad in corrugated iron and covered in a vertical wall gar- den made from steel mesh and around 4,000 terracotta plant pots. A rooftop garden provides produce for the kitchen, and LED grow-lights are used to stimulate plant growth in shaded areas. Used water is fi ltered through soil and sand and collected in recycled bins to be reused. Restaurant bar stools and tables are made with boards from old wooden palettes, lampshades from reclaimed fencing wire, ice buckets from old gas cylinders, while the seating leather is off cuts from a local saddlemaker.
Thousands of simple plantpots adorn the exterior of Greenhouse in Perth
run his business if all you want to buy from him is half a box of caulifl owers. “I think people will be surprised at
If someone orders a
pasta at midday, that dish will have been wheat at 11am -
you can't get faster than that from grain to plate
cane to sweeten our homemade cola and drinks, make our own tonic water, squeeze our own juices, and serve most of our wine from a tap," he says. While there has been a lot of
interest in the Greenhouse’s quirky fur- niture – such as the glasses fashioned from old beer bottles and chairs made from old aluminium irrigation pipes, Joost insists that the quality, taste and provenance of the food is still very much at the heart of the concept. “Restaurants make sustainable food expensive, but it doesn’t have to be like that if you work with the growers in the right way. If a farmer has a lot of caulifl owers one week, we’ll come up with lots of different ways to serve it in the Greenhouse. That farmer can’t
how affordable the Greenhouse is – that’s my whole point. I don’t want customers saying ‘yes it’s sustainable but it’s bloody expensive’.” Joost seems particularly proud of
his freshly milled wheat, which he says is full of vitamins, minerals and essen- tial oils – a far cry from the denatured fl our used in so much food today. “If someone orders a pasta at mid-
day, that dish will have been wheat at 11 o’ clock. You can’t get faster than that from grain to plate, and it’s a highly nutritious, wholefood product.” It is this dedication and desire to be close to the source that seems to defi ne Joost and his business ethics. In the Sydney pop-up, which saw 40,000 people through the doors in six weeks, he worked seven days a week, rising at 5am when the pastry chef arrived, meeting and greeting all day long, mopping the fl oor at closing time and collapsing in a heap by the pizza oven for a short night’s sleep. With this determination, Joost is well on his way to building a global, sus- tainable brand. He says: “I guess I’ve become a bit of an activist and built a profi le in this area. But I don’t like to preach at people. By them sitting in the restaurant and consuming the experience, I can prove my point." ●
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