Mengyuan Zhang

On one hand Australia is facing a terrible environmental crisis due to multiple reasons, including increased droughts, bush fires, severe loss of biodiversity, the poor state of Australian soils and climate change. Australian native plants cultivate environmental benefits since these perennial plants are adapted to Australia’s dry condition. They are better able to accommodate with the environmental stresses of the future. On the other hand, Australia needs to shift its eating habits to eating locally and sustainably consider native fauna and flora have been overlooked in how they can support Australia’s nutrition needs without placing further pressure on finite resources of water and soils.

For more than 50,000 years Aboriginal Australians cultivated and domesticated crops that were native to the continent, and therefore better adapted to its temperature and environmental pressures. They provided great abundance and diversity of nutrition to Indigenous communities. Those foods have a long history and could be invaluable nowadays to make our diets more sustainable. Simultaneously animals help to balance the environment of the plants and also help to spread pollen and provide fertilizer to form a complete ecological circle. Some of those animals can also provide a further food source such as grubs and insects.

Through the research, I identified the lack of a Food Technology Faculty in Monash University, and especially of research of indigenous food practices. This led to proposing an Indigenous Food Hub. The project is formed by three connected buildings, providing a combined system of food research, production and testing for modern application.

The research centre houses a laboratory which provide testing, analytical and experimental spaces for both researchers and students. Above on the on the top levels of the building, a faculty houses study spaces classrooms and libraries. The two of the buildings form the study and research part of the project. The third one contains a commercial programme such as a restaurant on the bottom level and a fresh food market above. They feed from the food production above and its fresh plantings.

Considering the purpose of promoting indigenous plants and food, the reuse of rainwater is necessary. The vertical planting system allows rainwater to directly water the plants which runs from top to the bottom floor. At the bottom of every pot, there is drainage allowing extra rainwater to go down to the next pot under it. The water pump is placed to pump up the collected rainwater in order to water the plants of the vertical system during the dry time. The balconies are designed with as a slight slope which also allows rainwater to run along the balcony plantations by gravity.