‘Nourish Hub’ Combats Food Poverty While Helping Visitors Acquire Better Futures
Within the Edward Wood Estate in Hammersmith, London, a colorful row of once-empty shophouses sits. Named the Nourish Hub, the space is designed to be a community kitchen and learning space as well as home to charity UKHarvest.
Architecture studio RCKa was commissioned by the Hammersmith & Fulham Council to design this community facility, where residents of the area can come to learn about healthy food habits and building new skills.
Inside the Hub, there’s a commercial kitchen alongside a teaching kitchen, as well as a multipurpose space that can be used as a dining room or teaching area depending on the occupants’ needs.
In designing the facility, RCKa was also tasked with getting the community involved. One of the ways the team did this was organizing a “community paint and planting day,” where local residents helped to paint the shopfront according to a mural created by graphic designer Bandiera.
“Getting people through the door is the first challenge, so the Hub had to seem open and welcoming to the entire community,” RCKa director, Dieter Kleiner, tells Dezeen. “We had three aims: to raise awareness of the project, to test ideas and to establish a local identity.”
And in a children’s workshop, graphic designs out of raw fruit, vegetables and grains were created. These were then incorporated in the interior: one was made into the ceiling pattern, and another takes the form of wall tiles.
Cooking food is a “common, social and community activity,” RCKa writes, describing its potential to “connect diverse cultures, teach meaningful skills and bring people together.”
It’s not just that—the Nourish Hub will also help to reduce the burden on food banks, and, with the education around healthier habits, could also put less pressure on the healthcare system.
Residents “from every background” are welcome to build skills and knowledge relating, but not limited, to things like employment in the catering industry and skill-sharing workshops.
The hope with things like cooking classes and employment skills is that people will eventually be able to access jobs in the industry or other related fields, giving them the opportunity to break what could otherwise end up as a transgenerational poverty cycle.
For the first three years, nonprofit UKHarvest will be running the kitchen and the Hub. Then, the reins will be handed over to the community, who will have learned plenty from the time there.
This week we prepared delicious Loobia Polo with @wlondonwelcome. Made using green beans, rice and minced meat (we used rescued soy mince) infused with cinnamon and saffron, it was delicious! Thank you to the group for their experience in preparing this yummy dish 💚 pic.twitter.com/vlCzxY5pxm
— Nourish Hub (@thenourishhub) February 5, 2022
ðŸ CHEF SKILLS ðŸ½ï¸
— Nourish Hub (@thenourishhub) December 21, 2021
Across December we’ve been delivering our Chef Skills sessions for young people, cooking nutritious plant-based meals whilst learning how to minimise food waste. . Keep an eye out on our page for upcoming cookery sessions for both children and adults! pic.twitter.com/VxSY4uBK9V
