Class Input:

-"one water glass" idea - the concept that when people go to the sink they often grab a glass of water, drink half of it, and dump the rest out. What if this excess could easily be poured into the "sink herb garden" instead? 

-Put further consideration into the water holding at the top (perhaps incorporating the element of rain), drainage at the base, and adding lighting. 

-Materiality: consider using plastic or something semi-transparent, sheet metal (stainless steel), or the possibility of ceramics. (putting a logo on the design?)

-stainless steel fabricators

MAC industries and Elliott's Speciality Sheet Metal Inc.

bending sheet metal, wielding (consider spot wielding)

Consider fabric hinges between metal segments

Basic Form Study Models

Interplay Between Reused Water and Design.

Considering how function molds shape.

Garden Sink Interlocking Relationship

As my design becomes refined I am interested in how the garden can be linked to a water source. As water becomes a increasingly valued resource we must learn to use it wisely. This can partly be done by reusing grey water, which has significant impacts on overall household water usage.  I am looking at the space directly behind the sink as a viable location for a herb garden. This garden could be set up so that wash water could be used on the plants. I'm looking into all different methods of how this could happen. I'm also interested in how by flipping a switch drained water can be returned to the sink. This sort of system seems pretty straightforward and streamline. I think it can also be visually beautiful as well. Perhaps when water filters out it could create a sound? Maybe it could be useful and artful....

As far as physical work I am currently building a working prototype in my own kitchen to play with the design and how the shape can interact with the sink and the cycling of water can be most efficient. 

I've been inspired lately by Veg. itecture: investigating vegetated architecture beyond green. It's very interesting but geared towards a larger scale of design. 

http://www.vegitecture.net/2009/11/ebbw-vale-vertical-gardens.html

                                 

                                  

                                               

Notes on what plants can grow where:

1. leafy vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, and greens do well in limited sunlight, making good choices for partly shady areas.
2. More Sunshine ( or lighting) consider: tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, beans, carrots, radishes. Or vine crops like squash (need support to not break), pumpkins, and cucumbers ( but the container must be deep enough to accommodate them in terms of size).
3. Peas: green peas or English peas. 
4. Tomatoes: can be trained up a fence, or can grow upside down
5. cucumber: this is a great plant for vertical planting. The tendrils look for vertcal things to grab onto. 
6. Beans: all beans come in either pole or bush varieties. pole beans would be good in a vertical wall layout
7. consider bell peppers, and lima beans
8. passion fruit, melons and grapes can also all be grown vertically
9. corn grown vertically naturally and beans can be attatched to stocks as they grow upwards.

I am looking at what plants can be grown in vertical garden environments, as well as what plants have the ability to lower air pollution (which is an increasing problem in city living). I was looking at a particular study done by NASA that directly relates to these questions. The study was originally conducted to clean up air within space ships. Below are the basics of what I gained from this research:

1. Indoor air pollution is often worse than outdoor air pollution due to chemicals within homes
2. from cleaners and disinfectants to the VOC's emitted from carpets and paints etc, indoor air pollution sometimes builds up.
3. the study showed that many houseplants also remove harmful elements such as trichloroethylene, benzene, and formaldehyde from the air. Plus they're removing CO2 anyways. 
4. Three main chemicals are found in your home. Trichloroethylene is used in paints and varnishes, Formaldehyde is used in many building materials and Benzene is found often in paints.
   

5. Although all plants help indoor air pollution, some are better than others in absorbing chemicals and removing CO2. You can get most of these houseplants right from your nursery. It’s always handy to have some plants in your home.. but these are some of the best:

   • Philodendron scandens or domesticum
   • Dracaena
   • English ivy
   • Spider plant
   • golden pothos
   • peace lily
   • Chinese evergreen
   Here are two links that show the research around the NASA study
   http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930072972_1993072972.pdf
   
   
   
   
   
   http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073015_1993073015.pdf
   

Click to enlarge:

  

http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com

I have been really inspired by the work of Patrick Blanc. His work has helped me gain a better understanding of the environments plants can grow within, especially on vertical spaces. I have been in e-mail contact with him asking more specific questions about how I might achieve my project goal. This is ultimately creating a self contained food yielding garden within a small urban apartment environment. I want this product to utilize vertical space within the apartment, not be messy, use gray water, and be specialized to grow a few varieties of plants.

This is not a Patrick Blanc project but the rendering shows the idea of a pump in water circulation which could be interesting. After reading his work I am interesting in how an edible vertical garden space could also help with apartment climate control and air filtration. 

                                          

                                              

Youtube Video I watched about "edible living walls"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O--eJ6wSuQE

I have been trying to expand my understanding of vertical gardening practices and designs, as well as continuing to gather information about organic practices and gray water use. So far here are some of the most influential sources and designers I have been exploring. 

• "The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City" By Patrick Blanc     (Really amazing book by famous garden designer Patrick Blanc)

Here is an except from Patrick Blanc that I found interesting:

                                 

• Bouroullec Design    http://www.bouroullec.com/    

(Influential team of french designers)

• "Hotspotting" By: Natalie Barrass     

http://hotspotting.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/diy-vertical-gardening 

(About starting your own vertical garden)

Below is a photo of what she describes as the EASY GREEN SYSTEM, desinged by ELT (Elevated Landscape Technologies). It is distributed in the UK by Aldingbourne Nurseries. I was intereseted in looking at system of gardening that were used outside of the United States. She writes that the benefits of living walls, bio-walls, Green walls, Vertical walls, and Mur Vegetals are as follows:

1. look great
2. save space
3. provide habitat for wildlife (in certain cases)
4. reduce noise (could be a selling point for apartments?)
5. cool urban areas in hot weather
6. filter the air

I got interesting in the ELT Living Wall Systems and found this site that helped explain it to me.

http://www.eltlivingwalls.com

http://www.eltlivingwalls.com/living-walls (focuses on living walls in particular)

• http://oasisdesign.net       (looking at Gray water information)

• http://interiorzine.com   (looking at designs for vertical indoor gardens)  Interzine Designs I found visually intriguing:

              

• Lushe Urban Greening (looking at Metaphy Products, self sufficient urban gardens)
  

          http://www.lushe.com.au/tag/metaphys-products

• Meaphys Design             http://www.metaphys.jp/product/en/                                      METAPHYS garden "factory" planter                                                                            METAPHYS garden "picture" planter                                                                                              both 2005 winner of the good design award

I was really interested in the packaging for indoor gardens that this company uses. Below are the indoor grass planters that Metaphy designs

Urban Greenery: Celebrating Plants in Cities 

(tracks inovative planting designs and concepts within urban settings worldwide)

http://urbangreens.tumblr.com

Continuing Research After the Midterm

After the review I began to  re-conceptualize the idea of vertical gardening. I tried to further my research and here is some of my new findings that will hopefully inspire a more defined direction for my individual term project. 

"Human Flower Project" : Hanging Gardens of Paris

Patrick Blanc's Vegetal Wall

at Le Musee du Quai Branly

http://www.humanflowerproject.com

http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/hanging_gardens_of_paris/

Considering Materiality of Container Design

Common materials for planters are terracotta, stone and wood. High-end containers may be ceramic or stoneware. Inexpensive resin can be molded to resemble expensive pottery. Baskets and boxes can be woven out of wire and lined with peat pots or sphagnum moss. Do-it-yourself materials include "Hypertufa", an artificial stone made with peat, perlite and cement. Many surfaces can be painted or faux-finished to resemble other materials or antique  pieces. Permeable objects like wire baskets, leather and paper-mache must be lined; drainage holes should be added to solid materials like metal and wood, where standing water can rot the container.                                   

  

Eco-thinkers have come up with an amazing new way to create drinking water – by putting plants in the bottom of a shower.

Designers Jun Yasumoto, Vincent Vandenbrouk, Olivier Pigasse, and Alban Le Henry  came up with the concept when looking for new ways to recycle precious H2O.

After you have washed in the special eco-shower the water passes down into a series of physical filters and is treated by plants such as reeds and rushes growing around your feet. Yasumoto, 34, said: ‘These plants have been proven to be able to remove the chemicals from your shampoo.

Individual Project Crit Feed back: Midterm Review

After crits with four people here are the main input I received on my watering shelf. It attempts to bring organic gardening into the urban apartment environment by using gray water. 

• Materiality: consider plastic ( although plastic and water may be something to consider) Also consider the possibility of using stainless steal. 
• Focus on vertical space, not ceiling space
• consider the shape as it evolves, circle formations? Think outside of the linear box
• remove the back piece, perhaps add mesh eliminate so that plants can have support as they grow upwards. ( support system)
• Focus on what plants this is built for. Don't try to make it universal, instead tell the user what it can grow and why they need that.
• tell user where this goes, does it hang or does it attach to the back of a cabinet? if it can go anywhere people will automatically be like, " where can i put this?"
• if it goes on wall it may compete with photos and paintings
• research hot pot is grown hydroponically and with lighting, does hydroponic make more sense than soil? less mess? can things like potatoes be grown in water? Research!
• grow lights - incorporate in design. Use electric light to grow
• Consider plants growing downward
• think of how to design so that size of plant as it grows can be accommodated
• look up bouroullec brothers, French designers
• consider reusing grey water
• Study Project (Basin bath, set amount of water to use, tilted seat within basin bath, water filters back to bottom, goes outward to water surrounding plants that in turn provide a screen for the basin bath. 
• consider making the top a funnel instead of so linear, maybe the experience of watering becomes meaningful - maybe the water showers on the plants. Rain?
• move design out of the shower, into main spaces
• Instead of tray concept consider a spicket at base?
• consider how you can let users know how much water to give plants?(perhaps the angle of the water holding area dictates which plants get more water)
• look up Re-Bath project

MIdterm Group Presentation: Raw Space Food

Watering Shelf : making gardening feasible in tight spaces

My concept for a watering shelf is currently in this stage. The idea is to pour water in the top holding area. From this area it can seep down to the plants rooted in soil. Below the soul will be some meshing ( not fully developed) to keep soil from being washed down. As the water filters through the excess will be caught in trays that can be removed. One of the issues is that when you dump water trays out water continues to seep out. But this would have two trays so that excess gets caught. The plants could sit in this unit without being removed, which can cause damage. The product could also have lighting built into it. I am envisioning this as a sleek lightweight product that could even be light enough to hang on the back of a cabinet or attach to a window sill, using vertical space. I imagine this as a small garden unit that could be in any kitchen. 

Midterm Design Board

Apartment Organic gardening 

Rethinking home gardens for small spaces

Project 2: Dehydrating our "Space Food

Our "space food" concept was to create a nutritious blend of food that caters to the speed driven modern society. The goal is to provide people with a meal that can be eaten anywhere on the go, thus encouraging the most efficient life style. 

PROCESS

1. we blended together a mixture of raw foods including: Apple, Garbanzo beans, carrots, cranberries, sunflower seeds, Almond, and rasins

2. We diced the foods up and then placed them into a blender with 1/2 cup water

3. Then we took the food and spread it evenly on paper in the multi tray dehydrator

4.We dried the "space food" for about 30 hours 

SPACE FOOD RAW.

Apple.. Garbanzo bean. Carrot. Cranberry. Sunflower seed. Almond. Raisin 

Insta Food for space age efficency

 Goal:Eliminate time eating, Maximize productivity

Break free of the time wasting cycle of the production and consumption of food. Eat a card, food in its most efficient form.

Problem statement:In modern society we waste countless hours preparing and eating foods. Our relationship to food no longer matters the way it did in the days of family dinners. We need nutrition, not enjoyment. We need food in forms that can be consumed anywhere without effecting our productivity.

 Questions: How can we gain nutrition in the simplest most efficient form?

Process Experiments : My Shower Herb Garden

After playing with the concept of creating a "shower greenhouse" I moved my small herb garden from my kitchen window sill to my shower. I have set up one light and am currently growing Parsley, Lime Thyme, Lavender, and Dark Leaf Oregano. They have been in the shower for almost two weeks are are surviving fine. They are being watered with shower water.

concept models 

These are some of my first model concepts as I begin to play with 3D. Although I think the idea of a shower greenhouse is interesting I also think a lot of people will struggle with the concept of mixing the shower environment with eatable food, especially due to the bathroom having germs. Therefore my project has branched out into the kitchen but first I tried to target exactly what the issues are with gardening indoors in urban apartments. 

Issues with indoor urban apartment gardens:

• mess associated with soil and water during watering plants
• having to take plants out of containers to be watered
• gardens taking up much needed space
• people forgetting to water plants

I am interested in creating a product that addresses these issues and tries to make gardening in tight spaces easy and more desirable. I came up with the idea of a self sufficient gardening unit that could use the dead space in the kitchen. Perhaps this could take up the form of a garden shelf that can hang on the backs of kitchen cabinets. ? i think that a product could be very small and still very effective. 

I'm really interesting in how an urban garden can become a part of apartment living without using important space. This means exploring vertical space instead of floor space. This canvas plant hanger is interesting, however the drainage makes it an outdoor product. 

New York City urban Vegetable Garden: self watering containers

I have been reading a blog daily for about three weeks called "Urban Organic Gardener". It chronicles a New York City vegetable garden that utilizes self watering containers. very interesting. check it out

http://www.urbanorganicgardener.com