This design rationale for Osney Community Gardens is centred on healthy active living with a range of accessible spaces for the equitable affordance of cognitive and physical needs for the individual, community and visitors.
Vital elements include community orchards and poly-tunnels for enhanced food production and an additional framework for the UK allotment model. In essence a festoon of community activity will be supported. A broad range of dwelling tenures is delivered within the schemes with 30% affordable housing (all with balconies) factored in the economic feasibility.
Food production is also integrated into the perimeter block courtyards as well as into the building envelope and every conceivable 'boundary' through the deployment of the espalier motif with the tangible formation of fruiteries strung on arbor, trellis and so on. Explicit segregation and polarised design of the past is addressed through shared surfaces and maximum traffic speed of 20 MPH over the entire masterplan. Cycle and pedestrian routes are abundant.
A car club with underground parking serves community use with a permeable integrated pedestrian network connected to wider Oxford. Workshops and a market square for selling produce and food festivals for healthy competition is also incorporated. The market square incorporates a water fountain that is driven via solar panels and energy from the soon to be built Osney Weir Hydro-electric cork-screw (The first on the Thames) purported to, or rather pertaining to deliver enough energy to support up to around 80 households.
This design is just 4.1 hectare of an overall masterplan with the 'community centre' design proposal winning the Urban Design Group Student Award 2009 that was produced by one of our masterplan design group members. Core principles were agreed upon to drive the overall Masterplan and the different schemes ensured a variegated architecure from one quarter to the next.
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