Project by Ayesha de Sousa, Juliana Leite Neri, Vanessa Gallego, Guoguo Chen
The Bale Trail explores the material domain of urban design, and what it means to grow a resilient future. Looking beyond its summer-centralism, the earth revealed the region’s agricultural potential, and the opportunity to use preserved farmland as a catalyst for new forms of development. Locally grown straw serves as a sustainable construction material, offering a carbon-negative alternative to conventional building systems. The project also proposes shared Accessory Dwelling Units that incentivize homeowners in the suburbs to build ADUs and open up backyards to longer grasses for shared harvesting, supporting aging in place and strengthening long-term community ties. Fields, meadows, rain gardens and long grasses make ecology visceral, allowing people to visualize and understand how human actions shape environmental futures. By integrating cultivation, construction, and education, the project envisions a model where agricultural practices not only shape the built environment but also engage and inspire younger generations.
