Elevation Station Preview: to-g(R)o

Provisions “to-go” are regularly of the “fast food”, unmemorable, non-contextual type, but not in the case of to-g(R)o. Whereas the “fast food” custom carries the association of a standardized product from a globalized chain or franchise, to-g(R)o is intended to succeed beyond the solitary condition of serving as a temporal dining environment. This take-away outlet is designed to not only provide savory, sustainably-farmed foods presented in an extremely appropriate, exclusive, and unforgettable manner, but also to propagate a singular event into a larger faction through certain portions of the designed composition and procedures of the anticipated protocol.  The proposition of to-g(R)o is intended to conceptually embody the multifaceted phenomena which emerges from the anthology of the correlated perceptions and events of; colonization, afforestation > deforestation > reforestation, and organized complexity all within an ambiguous milieu.

The formal geometry of to-g(R)o (Plate 01, Fig. 01/Fig. 02) was developed to abstractly depict themes at multiple scales simultaneously while providing various seating and lounging opportunities for its occupants who wish to dine. These depictions range from the observation of a turgid plant cell seen through a microscope, to the rolling hills surrounding Omaha, NE perceived from the ground, to the highly rationalized, gridded farmland of the American Midwest perceived from the air.

To-g(R)o is constructed from 375 sheets of 40” x 80” corrugated cardboard (Plate 01, Fig. 03).  The stock material was laminated in sets of three (Plate 01, Fig. 04) and CNC milled to produce 630 individual, interlocking sections of material (Plate 01, Fig. 05)  and divided into 33 modules (Plate 02, Fig. 01) that combine to produce the 14’ x 20’ dining environment.

Once assembled, the surface will be populated with hundreds of strategically placed collars affixed into the cells of the cardboard structure to provide support for 150 tree saplings and hundreds of poplar veneer serving vessels from which the food* is eaten (Plate 02, Fig. 02).  The trees, which are housed in transparent plastic tubes are meant to be taken to-go by each guest and planted in a location of their choosing.  Along with the tree tube itself, the guest will remove the laser etched collar (Plate 02, Fig. 03) that is designed to be coupled with the tree once planted to both aid in the regulation of moisture and deter unwanted growth at base of the tree.  Labels adhered to the tree tube (Plate 02, Fig. 04) offer two methods of linking directly to care instructions for the tree provided by Arbor Day Farm.

At the start of the elevate event, to-g(R)o, untouched by the 120 anticipated guests will be in it’s most systemically designed, yet unnatural state.  The trees will be placed in a concentrated zone within the surface that provides protection from direct sun exposure, establishing a “microforest”.  The serving vessels will be spread evenly throughout the remaining territory (Plate 03, Fig. 01) to create a field condition that reflects the uncultivated, yet highly organized condition of a natural prairie.

As each rotation of twenty occupants remove, displace, and alter the arrangement of the field to accommodate desired dining positions, the surface will display a shifting surface aesthetic reflecting the natural dining and social performance of the event (Plate 03, Fig. 02).  After six rotations of twenty guests occupy the surface, the resulting transformation from a lush and bountiful environment to a barren beige structure is intended to reflect the traversing, claiming and re-appropriating of territory as observed through historical accounts of human activity (i.e. colonization and deforestation due to urban sprawl).

It is only after to-g(R)o is transplanted to the grounds of Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City and its cells are filled with soil and seed (Plate 04, Fig. 01)that it returns to a point of homeostasis; the cardboard erodes and is replaced by berms of grass and other vegetation (Plate 04, Fig. 02), creating an augmented landform to serve as a permanent picnicking area.

*Menu

“Micro Farm Scapes” – selections of farm bounty served with edible soil and micro “pastures”:

“Sunny Side Ham” – TD Niche Farm Heirloom Pork, carrot-horseradish emulsion
“Prairie Fire” – Perfect Ten Ranch organic bison, juniper, smoke
“Chicken or the Egg” – Plum Creek Chicken confit, pickled egg, Woody Creek Farm Lavendar aioli

Additional Credit:

Lied Lodge & Conference Center at Arbor Day Farm

Brian Halder

Arbor Day Farm

RDG Dahlquist Art Studio (Special thanks to: Chris Rodi, Reinaldo Correa, Brian Frederiksen, Don Scandrett)

Brent Brigham [the most supportive dad in the world]

‘Design Speed Minimum Radii’ by Emily Andersen

Elevation Station Preview: Sara Adkisson-Joyner, Sara Jacobson, Allyson Gibbs and Alex Bodell

Inspired by the rich cultural heritage of South Omaha, it’s long history of facilitating transportation networks of people and food, this team seeks to celebrate the culinary contribution of immigrant and refugee populations that have built and shaped the landscape of today’s Omaha. Our elevATE experience is both mobile and celebratory.

Once coined “The Magic City” due to it’s seemingly magical overnight population explosion, South Omaha has been the gateway to Omaha for people from around the globe. Built around the meat packing industry, stockyards, and railroads, distinctly ethnic enclaves fostered restaurants and groceries that specialized in food from foreign lands. These small communities within the larger city of South Omaha each brought with them the knowledge and cultural history of food from their home cities and countries. The combination of recipes people from abroad and the utilization of ingredients available locally created a new culinary “fusion”. This is represented both by the adaptation of recipes to fit the available ingredients, and the transportation of seeds and plants that could be grown in Nebraska soil. During the past century, the food legacy of these ethnic food enclaves has spread in successive waves to influence not only the dynamic food landscape of South Omaha, but of the entire city of Omaha today. This exchange of culinary traditions continues to build a bridge across divides of language and race, creating connections between people though food.

With our mobile food carts, we celebrate this journey of food from home to new home and back again. With so many different immigrant and refugee groups that now call Omaha home, it was difficult to choose which food traditions to highlight. The menu was shaped and customized to be easily prepared on the mobile carts. Each cart contains its own cooking implement specific to the needs of the food being prepared. We also wanted the food itself to be mobile. We considered what menu items would be both delicious and easily transportable. Whether taken along on a journey, or savored in the company of fellow diners, this is food that can be easily shared with others. Each guest to our station will be asked to exchange food items in a symbolic gesture of how people continue to connect through food and eating experiences.

We look forward to sharing our food with you!!!

Elevation Station Preview: Jeff Everroad and Tomaz Watson Yurkovich

The perfect meal is a confluence of great conversation, compelling atmosphere, and delicious food.  Omaha chef Jeff Everroad and New York design collaborative Tomaz Watson Yurkovich present Canteen, a laboratory to blend, inspire, and experiment with the elements of the perfect meal.  Conceived and built as transformable shipping crates, Canteen is a three-layered apparatus: a rough plywood construction wraps a refined mirrored interior, which, in-turn, contains brightly hued foam blocks. These materials embody two conditions of food: the raw plywood characterizes the unfinished texture of ingredients while the mirrored interior and colored foam represent the finished quality of prepared food: elegant and exciting.

Canteen will be transported to the site on the day of the event, opened and elevated on tripods.  The foam blocks will be removed, creating serving areas, and the crates’ mirrored interior will establish a floating horizon within which guests can enjoy food, drink, and conversation.  Reflections of the highway, land, sky, and people will intermingle to create a welcoming and convivial atmosphere.

Chef Everroad offers a Pork Trio of country style pork terrine with cornichons and caramelized onions, pork rillette on flatbread, and housemade spanish chorizo with petite greens, radish, queso fresco and sherry peppercorn vinaigrette.  In addition, guests will enjoy a curated selection of white wines and music.

Canteen’s transport, operability, and ‘instant usefulness’ are at the heart of this event.  For those who stop by, Canteen will be a genial setting to reaffirm the importance of the perfect meal in our lives.

Elevation Station Preview: Grant Landreth + Chris Jansen + Chef, Adam Graybill

Remnants of Omaha neighborhoods affected by the construction of the interstate during the late 1950s and 1960s likely go unnoticed by most during daily commutes:  fragmented neighborhoods, streets ending at either side but don’t cross the interstate, buildings that face the interstate (that originally faced other buildings) and grain silos removed from the larger silo complex near 34th and Vinton Streets. With the passing of time we forget these changes and others were not yet alive when they occurred. What was removed is difficult to visualize; the neighborhoods that once stood where the interstate now exists and the people and businesses that inhabited them.

Focusing on a small area where the interstate stands today (Vinton Street to the north, A Street to the south, the railroad tracks to the east and 36th Street to the west), a city directory research yielded 163 listings (addresses and names of families and businesses) which no longer exist.  This area of Omaha contained several cultures, but was predominantly Polish and German.  The buildings removed were more than the materials they were constructed of, they were where decades (at least 50 years or more) of memories and connections were made:  friendships, new loves, old loves, marriages, births, deaths and were many immigrants starting new lives made their home.  Many of these memories were formulated as friends and families gathered around the dining room table.

Disinter/Interstate seeks to create awareness of the connections that existed before the interstate. Participants will cross over a threshold of found building materials filled with remnants of the past.  Food, prepared by Adam Graybill of Nebraska Brewing Company, will be a 10 hour smoked pork butt atop a 3 cabbage slaw – an elevated take on a dish those in the neighborhood 50 years ago would certainly recognize and thoroughly enjoy.  A 20+ foot dining table comprised of varying table tops will be marked with all 163 names and addresses of each family and business near the dining location and will contain within it items that evoke memories of the past.  Postcards will be created for event participants to mail to the address of their choosing – or an address that no longer exists – a reminder of the neighborhoods that shaped our city and how transportation decisions impacted them.