Relief Package is an architectural proposal for an Agricultural Training Center and Innovation Lab in Allensworth, CA. Allensworth, a neglected town in California's Central Valley, is the first town founded, financed, and governed by Black Americans. Colonel Allen Allensworth, its founder, was an army chaplain and educator born into slavery in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1842. The town has suffered serious economic setbacks due to Sante Fe Railroad relocating its rail stop and a failing water supply (in addition to drought, arsenic was found in the water supply in the 1960's). Despite the fact that the California is the #1 producer of fruits and vegetables in the country, there is a lack of fresh food access for the locals and laborers. This project seeks to remedy this with a monumental proposal aimed at drawing attention to the town in order to revitalize its economy.

California's Central Valley, the heart of the state's agri-industrial complex, is a roughly 50 mile wide by 450 mile long flatland located in its interior. It is bounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east and the coastal ranges to the west. It accounts for over a third of the country’s vegetables and three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts, making California the top-ranked state in agricultural sales ($51.1 billion in 2021, slightly more than France). However, California ranks 12th in receiving farm subsidies with only 3.4% of the federal pie, thanks in part to the lack of federal representation (both Senators Feinstein and Boxer went along with the subsidy disparities in the 2014 Farm bill). Because of this disparity, California is seen as subsidizing other states (most of the federal subsidies go to southern and midwestern states that produce corn and grains, the least healthy form of agriculture). This is but one of its burdens, along with fires, droughts, earthquakes, and other climate onslaughts. It would seem that the state is desperately clinging to its image as a land of sunshine, opportunity, and freedom. While it can still boast of its diverse landforms, ecologies, and resources, it is increasingly plagued by pyro, geo, and politico-manias.

This was for a competition in 2023 sponsored by Architecture at Zero. The competition brief was much more modest and liberties were taken to expand the program and its performative roles. As such, the Assemblage of the elements is treated as a "construction of time" that serves the community and laborers and gets reconfigured in parallel with the crop cycles. Its monumental disposition performs as a beacon to attract visitors in order to revitalize the local economy.