The Andrews House is a non-profit located in Delaware, Ohio whose aim is to provide a place for hospitality, healing, and education in Delaware. At their center, they had an outdoor emergency food pantry and library that was on the verge of breaking down and this project focused on redesigning, building, and installing a durable, intuitive, and usable emergency pantry that aided the people of the community. A secondary objective was to design it in a way that built upon the existing architecture, brand identity, goals, and history of the Andrews House. We also did work on their branding and outreach. This project was done in collaboration with Elise Aultman and Mark Boyd and under the supervision of Deb Scott. Our final design was a modular and accessible pantry that was built upon the proportions of the upgraded brand and building. We were also very meticulous in our actual making of the product through complex wood joinery and material in order to make the pantry able to withstand weather, animals, and daily wear and tear. The emergency food pantry and library is now functioning and in use by the community at the Andrews House in Delaware, Ohio.
Our Client - The Andrews House
The Andrews House is located in a historic building in Delaware, Ohio and their mission is to be a place for community development.
The Old Emergency Pantry
The old emergency pantry was falling apart and was designed to be a visual recreation of the house. Even though the pantry was falling out, it was still in great use and had things put in and taken out every day by the community which showed the need for the pantry to be replaced was great.
Initial Brainstorming and Notes
System Development Ideation
After our initial notes, ideation, and understanding of the project, we delved further into what the pantry truly does and what it is understood to do in a systematic sense. With this conceptual work done, we moved on into discussing the forms that can undertake the job of the pantry.
Form Development
To begin creating the pantry, we started out with a basic sketch laying out all the aspects and functions of the food pantry. This then went into more proportion/shape sketches and then into how to combine function with shape and proportion into the Andrews House identity.
New Visual Language
This visual identity brief was done by Elise Aultman after we all discussed what our aims for their future branding was. We wanted to create a cohesive and identifiable visual language in order for the non-profit to be more easily known and accessible. We focused the design of our pantry on these guides and concepts as well
Prototyping
As we were working together, we were tasked with creating different forms at scale in order to test which ones seem most promising. After creating our forms, we found that none of them actually fit all of our expectations but aspects of all them matched our hopes. With this information, my teammates and I moved into a grid based design that still focused on the movement of the visual language created by my peer Elise Aultman. We based it on a 4x4 grid and one day in the bathroom we noticed that the tiles on the wall are 2x2 squares. With this new canvas, we created a series of full size silhouettes based on the combined aspects of our prototypes and we ended with this one.
Final CAD Models
Our final design focused on a modular system where the storage boxes were oriented to be optimal for books and food. This leads to easy repairability in case of any damage as well as ease of use. It reached a height where it was safe from animals but easily accessible for those shorter. The food portion is lower and comes out further to make it more accessible over the sidewalk curb and hold more supplies.
Building the Emergency Pantry
To build the pantry we used marine plywood for water-resistance and long-term durability. We combined this with complex wood joints where edges weren't prone to any leakage. We also used specific hardware to further enhance this strength and we lined all the doors and windows with a rubber material and sealant. To keep the food from decomposing, we also used UV resistant acrylic for the window panels. To complete our branding we used the laser cutter to create signs and patterns on the window and we went with a white outside and a blue inside.
Installation
When installing we found that the old pantry was actually laid into a pit of cement which made us have to rethink our original plan which was to pull it out and insert the new post. To adjust, we cut the old food pantry off, dug around the post, and adjusted our post to fit over it.
New Andrews House Emergency Pantry
