budding

a once forbidden botanical sprouts new roots in a Queens community

Marijuana often conjures images…

of hippies with unruly hair adorned with flowers, topless with bell bottom jeans, figures part of a counterculture revolution. Yet the word may also evoke images of back alleys, filled with hooded figures huddled in a circle, rising smoke mingling with the hazy urban night sky. These disparate associations and stereotypes that surround cannabis are suggestive of an insufficient understanding and fear of the flower.

This thesis draws upon the practice of interior design to create a hospitable environment for the exploration and consumption of cannabis. Part of marijuana’s stigma is due to the War on Drugs and other racially biased policies, incorrectly and unfairly associating it with violence and crime. Because of its illegality, cannabis has become a taboo, forced into dimly lit rooms and semi-secluded corners.

The increasing legalization of cannabis has created a booming new industry in the US and this exposure has begun to normalize its use. A recent survey found that a surprising number of American adults --more than half-- have tried weed at least once and that nearly 55 million adults currently use it. This project joins research efforts to destigmatize marijuana’s use through the creation of an experimental retail and public community space, named Budding, located in Astoria, Queens. This interior, placed at a pivotal moment in time and space, opens the possibility for the formation of new communities and relationships centered around cannabis. Budding re-imagines what a full-service, urban growing and dispensing operation might look like from the perspective of an under-served Queens community.

Program Diagram

Learning from practices of integrative health, the program for this space is a hybrid of retail, hospitality and wellness, where each function mutually informs the greater whole. The retail component, which is only open to the general public on the weekends, partners with local non-profit organization, Urban Upbound, to provide working and educational opportunities to those who live in the nearby public housing facilities. Here, residents can learn how to raise, harvest, cure and sell marijuana. The profits gained from this operation are used to fund the community center and its activities which revolve around food, art and mindfulness. On weekdays, the facilities are only available to the low-income residents of Astoria, Queens.

Budding incorporates both indoor and outdoor zones addressing the varying levels of publicness and privacy necessary for creating a harmonious community center. The drawing to the left distinguishes the zones which relate to the variety of activities conducted within the community hub. Taking cues from the sensory experience of being high, the building is a metaphor for ascension and inward reflection; as one moves upward within the space each zone will feel a bit more solitary than the last.