FOSTER INSTITUTE

Client: Private
Location: Navajo County, Arizona
Project Status: Design Phase

In response to the desecration of historic mainstay agricultural practices, the Foster Institute of Permaculture is being developed as a prototype school to share knowledge and be replicated on a global basis as an alternative agricultural model. Connect One Design, was selected to lead a team of permaculture practitioners, scientists, agronomists, civil engineers and architects to create a 320-acre master plan on degraded land in eastern Arizona focused on restoration, education and agriculture. The education campus includes a school and sleeping quarters constructed from rammed earth, centered around aquaculture ponds that provide food, natural cooling and recreation opportunities for the students and faculty. Food is grown in kitchen gardens and greenhouses, both adjacent to the school and at the nearby agriculture center for larger scale production. Skill development including welding, carpentry, bee keeping, canning, baking, brewing, and animal husbandry is taught at the shops and agriculture center.