Architecture Students Reimagine Cambridge Farmers' Market
Anne Clock highlights the work of the class of 2025 4B Comprehensive Building Design Studio in the first of a new series of Waterloo Architecture student articles in the Cambridge Times.
This summer, students from the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture took on a meaningful challenge: reimagining the Cambridge Farmers' Market, one of the city’s oldest and most beloved buildings.
As part of their final undergraduate studio, students worked closely with market stakeholders, vendors, and industry professionals to develop viable proposals for an addition to the historic site. The project emphasized real-world engagement, sustainable design, and creative presentation.
We were asked to engage more fully with a project that had tangible community stakes,
The studio has culminated in a temporary public exhibition at Cambridge City Hall.
All Flourishing is Mutual: Re-Imagining the Cambridge Farmers' Market
A Student Showcase by The University of Waterloo School of Architecture Class of 2025
September 22 - 27
Cambridge City Hall, Ground Floor - Bowman Room
50 Dickson Street
How can architecture nurture more reciprocal relationships between people, food systems, and the land? The 4B Comprehensive Building Design Studio asked students to reimagine the historic Cambridge Farmers Market as a benchmark for community, sustainability, and resilience. Building on a heritage structure first opened in 1887, the project envisioned both a revitalization of the existing building and a significant new addition—one that could expand vendor capacity, extend operating hours, and introduce spaces for cooking, dining, education, and gathering.
Working in pairs, students approached the project as collaborators and co-authors, reflecting the studio’s theme that “all flourishing is mutual.” Their task was to balance complex and often competing demands: adaptive reuse and carbon neutrality, accessibility and heritage conservation, food literacy and civic identity. Through research, site analysis, and ongoing dialogue with the City of Cambridge and the Market Advisory Committee, students developed proposals that explored what it means for a civic market to be more than a place of exchange: a place where food becomes a shared language for belonging and stewardship.
As the culminating project of their undergraduate degree, the studio challenged students to synthesize architectural design with technical, social, and environmental considerations. The resulting work demonstrates how architecture can help reconnect urban life with seasonal cycles, ecological systems, and the communal act of sharing food. In a time of climate uncertainty and fractured food networks, these designs propose markets that are not only spaces of commerce, but also models of reciprocity, resilience, and mutual care.