Designing for Food Security

The global pandemic has brought about how acutely our societies are interdependent with one another. At the same token, it has brought attention to each nation having to stand independent, having its own systems and infrastructure in place to sustain itself. Right now, there's a few outbreaks in meat processing plants in Alberta and news of farmers having to throw away crops because of a weak market.

Each province/ locality or region should develop holding and storage facilities to secure food, if they do not have it already. Having these facilities guarantees the food supply and it helps protect food suppliers, the farmers and the agriculture industry
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As an architect, I have been involved in these projects. These buildings are cold storage facilities, refrigerated buildings that have multiple technical requirements. For big volume capacities, the site needs a vast land area. The building have huge floor areas as well.

Cold storage facilities needs to pass food safety and health standards and the engineering design is complex. The building needs to be kept at a certain temperature, so the mechanical requirements are intense. The technical design standards of these buildings are high. I would like at these buildings as engines of our society.

The external skin of these buildings are usually metal insulated panels- walls and roof. The inner liner of the wall needs to be food grade. The loading area is lined with overhead doors, and its a busy area generating plenty of traffic. The floor, normally concrete slab, is a structural slab designed to carry a certain load. Other design qualities of the floor is the flatness and smoothness. The interior storage or racking is designed for maximum output. The flow people of people and goods, exiting and egress is dependent on the interior racking layout. Definitely a number of considerations for the cold storage building to be designed and operate successfully.

I've witnessed these buildings in various stages- existing, during construction and in operation. It is all very interesting- imagine walking into a freezer, that's what it feels like. You need to be properly dressed for the cold temperature. I remember seeing all kinds of products - bread, dairy, potatoes, anything that needs to stored in cold temperature. I almost got lost even, and thankfully enough was able to find my way out by following the exit signs.


So, let's buy more potatoes to help our farmers out. Let's not forget how our food came a long way to serve us.

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