Root Cellar
Buried root cellar for a farm-to-table university cafe
The Seasoned Spoon is a cafe at Trent University offering vegetarian and vegan meals on campus made mainly from locally grown food. To extend the amount of time they can use local produce, they wanted a subterranean root cellar that could store vegetables with minimal energy input.
The 400 square foot building is nestled in the middle of the campus buried discreetly in a small hill. Designed and built with natural materials and techniques, the root cellar features one “dry” room and one humid room for different types of produce.
Earthbag walls and an earthbag vault provide structural walls
Compressed earth blocks (CEB) interior partition and flooring
Solar assisted earth tube ventilation system
Natural lime-based plaster on interior and exterior walls
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