Greenstone 2026 | Nature within walls

A place to eat, learn, connect and experience nature.

Akar Connection is a student-led transformation of an everyday, high-use school kitchen into a living cafe: practical enough to build, beautiful enough to invite people in, and rooted enough to remind us where learning begins.

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Why Akar?

Akar means roots. This project begins with the roots of a place: food, bamboo, soil, sunlight, student energy and the simple act of gathering around something made by hand.

Eatstudent-made food

Learnthrough doing

Connectas community

Natureinside daily life

The beginning

An ordinary kitchen is asking for a new story.

Every school has places people pass through without really seeing them. A counter. A stove. A washing area. A corner where things are stored, forgotten, then rediscovered. Akar Connection starts there.

The current student kitchen is not a blank canvas. It already carries the marks of use: heat, dust, humidity, improvised storage, and the practical friction of a place that has served many hands. The goal is not to erase that history. The goal is to turn it into a place that works better and feels alive.

The new cafe will not be a decorative project placed on top of school life. It will be part of school life: a working kitchen, a farm stand, a place for coffee, pizza, preparation, washing, gathering, experimenting and learning.

The existing kitchen: practical, open, imperfect, and ready for transformation.

How can biophilic design transform an everyday, high-use space while remaining practical and realistic to build?

Design approach

Nature is not decoration. It is the operating system.

Natural light

Use daylight and shadow as part of the experience, supporting rhythm, calm and focus.

Living plants

Bring green walls, grouped foliage and planted moments into the cafe without making maintenance unrealistic.

Honest materials

Bamboo, reclaimed wood, rammed earth, stone and organic textures create warmth while staying connected to place.

Organic shapes

Curves, non-linear forms and patterns inspired by nature help the space feel softer and more human.

Practical build

The design must survive daily use, humidity, dust, cleaning, cooking, student traffic and budget reality.

Community use

The cafe should invite people to stay, talk, taste, share ideas and see student creativity in motion.

Design direction: a warm bamboo cafe shaped around gathering, nature, student energy and practical daily use.

From idea to build

The plan is simple, but not small.

Akar Connection moves from understanding the space to researching materials, developing a layout, preparing models, building a realistic budget and finally bringing the cafe to life.

Project description

A student-led biophilic redesign of the secondary school kitchen and cafe area, including traditional stove, gas burner, baking, preparation, washing, dry room, farm stand, Freak Coffee and pizza oven zones.

01 UnderstandBlueprints and measurements

02 ResearchMaterials, costs and availability

03 DesignLayout, materials and visual direction

04 Develop3D models and renderings

05 PlanBudget, permits and timeline

06 BuildBring the space to life

What the space becomes

A cafe, a classroom, a small experiment in community.

The cafe can become a place where students cook before lunch and serve food during the school day. It can host small experiments in menu design, preservation, waste reduction and product testing. It can make food visible as a system: ingredients, preparation, energy, water, cleaning, pricing, waste and customer experience.

This is why the project is called Akar Connection. It connects the visible part of the cafe with its roots: the land, the materials, the makers, the students, the mentors and the people who choose to help.

We are looking for

Funding, mentors, construction specialists, kitchen and restaurant operators, material sourcing support, equipment leads, chef contacts and people who want to help a student-built idea become real.

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