Design: Ramon Cordova Gonzalez and Niklāvs Krievs

ZEMBĀRS (SOIL-BAR) IS a food court area proposal for the Sansusī Festival that employs soil and other locally sourced materials, to bring the visitors into a place of coexistence, not only with each other, but also with nature.

Through the careful arranging of soil-bags in the territory, emerges a new landscape, where food caterers and festival goers meet, without disrupting the forest’s life. It is an architecture that emphasizes and celebrates simplicity in the construction and offers an alternative in times of scarcity. Moreover, the proposal not only focuses on what happens during the festival, but after it, devising a strategy for seamless integration with the existing forest landscape in time. 

On site there is an already established forest path that crosses directly through the food court area. The proposal is to use it as the central axis from which the spaces will be organized.  The path delimits a clear area surrounded by birch trees where the land is mostly leveled and can be used. Additionally, from one side the space is enclosed by a former foundation which is to be integrated in the proposal.

The soil filled bags are laid in such way they enclose the space, while providing spaces for seating. Meanwhile, since the side of the existing foundations is already in use for sitting, the proposal is to extend that by adding some soil-bags form in the space contained by the foundations, increasing the surface where people can enjoy the forest while eating and resting. The soil-bags are arranged in three lines that divide the food court space into different zones: a queuing zone, a food caterer zone and a storage zone. The foldable wooden structures provide caterers with coverage from the climate and a space for closed off storage. These structures do not require any form of foundation since they are held in place by the weight of the bags.

The soil-bags will eventually biodegrade, thus in future editions of the festival, the visitors will be able to enjoy a food court that is seamlessly integrated to the natural landscape of the forest. Additionally, the proposed arrangement of the structures suggests a potential expansion of the court following the curved shape. In a similar way, additional stalls can be added and can have different functions. Meanwhile, the foundation area can become an additional stage if needed.