Industrial Commemoration: A Grain Elevator Prototype for Economic Development in Rural Manitoba

Awarded RAIC Student Metal  /  M.Arch Thesis, Dalhousie University  /  Supervisor: Catherine Venart

This thesis is inspired by Manitoba’s rural industrial heritage that identifies with the iconic, traditional, prairie grain elevator. The evolution of the globalized agricultural industry is made visible through the elevators’ system and architectural models, from vanishing wood archetypes to mega concrete structures. The intention of this work is to find economic opportunities generating new networks by initiating a local crop processing program as means of empowering small, local farming groups. This research is a systemic approach that explores the power that a site-specific activity survey may have on prototypical objects that make evident the attributes of crop, land owner type, and local economies. The assembly and disassembly of the new elevator’s structure and machine at the micro- and macro-site not only mirror past local networks but also activate the memory of the rise and fall of the powerful wooden steeples that were once rooted in the infinite prairie horizon.

The Fall of wooden steeples; the rise of concrete silos

Located at approximately 10 mile intervals along the rail lines, the wooden elevators are vanishing from our landscape. They were once always in our field of vision, standing proud of a community’s identity. Now, widely dispersed concrete silos dominate the link between field work and the global market.

Distribution trends from field to elevator, the agri-architectural evolution

With its road network, the prairie landscape displays a cultural phenomenon of rhythmic points and lines - an agricultural grid drawing man-made boundaries on the naturally flat terrain. The points are potential areas for built form; lines, for network paths. Built forms provide farmers with a choice of either contributing to the global market or supporting the local market where grain is processed on site. 

Economics and Mapping to find users and crop properties

Mapping is the part that evolves the artistic renderings to the technical documents. For this thesis, research through mapping became an investigative tool to find where small farmers work and to graphically describe the volume and value of their cultivated products. The study displays potential sites for processing grain into flour, oil, and fermentation; it begins a new local network between environment, market, land, farmers, food producers, and consumers.

Identifying the program based on site-specific activity

This requires a synthesis of the analytical mapping in order to understand the potential of a site based on random scenarios. The architecture investigates ‘site’ as 3 distinct areas: the area of control, surrounding forces, and reciprocating impact. At the micro-sites, the crop type in the fields dictates the crop processing programs and the crop volume influences the scale of the storage space. The number of small sized farmers in the region affects the scale and density of the macro-site.

The hub, located on an old elevator site, is the source for all structural parts and program trailers that participants request for their micro-sites. In addition to selling crops at market price, farmers can either sell the waste produced through the processors or use the waste as compost in their fields. New food products are delivered and sold at nearby communities.

Parts of the whole attuned to forecasted crop volume

The scale of the micro-site is relative to the crop volume of the adjacent fields. The structure is composed of prefabricated parts that fit on a trailer bed; it can grow or shrink according to the seasonal needs. Once the steel frame is assembled, the storage bins, grain processors, and waste bins arrive to fill the required program. 

The Utilitarian monument, the farmer's prize destination

Every part of the design is to be exposed. People can indeed trace down the structure, its organization and flow, the machine, and get a deeper understanding of the utilitarian prairie architecture known as the prairie cathedral. These monuments become iconic points in the landscape representing the small farms; their presence symbolizes added economic value to the local agricultural industry.

Establishing a local network between the hub and the micro-sites

The node commemorating the site where the prairie cathedral once stood is where all the unused parts are stored and maintained. This macro-site pollinates the micro-sites with their seasonal needs. When micro-sites are few and crop productivity is little, the denser the hub becomes. With more small farmers engaged in the local market, the web expands; the hub shrinks. 

This thesis recognized a potential for the minority, those who are fading from the industry. These are the people who are truly part of the roots of prairie identity. To design for the farmers prescribed a study of the product with which they work, this was investigated through the mapping analysis. The research led to a utilitarian design that can be orchestrated with their daily lifestyle. From there comes a manifestation of a monument - a sculpture for those who are unfamiliar with the industry. Passerby can indeed trace down the structure, its organization and flow, the machine, and obtain a deeper understanding of the utilitarian prairie cathedral.