Our design team is comprised of Kiki Brown, Mary Huynh and Carson Sio.
In today’s economy the necessity and popularity of growing your own Victory Garden becomes increasingly important. We’re designing vertical farming for the everyday urbanite by addressing the limitation of urban space. Currently, we’re developing accessible growing systems for the vertical plane which may be integrated during the construction process or post construction for straightforward vertical growing. This project hopes to realize the feasibility of vertical farming on a residential scale.
We looked into different rainscreen cladding options and decided not to go in that direction. It would severely cut back our user base to only be people who are residing their house. We want our boxes to be accessible to everyone who wants one.
We’re currently prototyping iterations of our modular trough in small, medium and large as well as an attachment bracket.
rainscreen cladding is becoming an increasingly popular facade system that has recently come to our group’s attention thanks to Lynne from Greenable. The double wall construction has on outer layer that keeps out water from the structural frame of the building and an inner layer that provides insulation. There is a cavity between the rainscreen and the building that allows for drainage as well.
Looking at the construction/ installation of the rainscreen, we see a huge window of opportunity to design a vertical growing system that can be adapted for the rainscreen as well. Materials for the panels include reconstituted stoneboards, compressed paper such as Paperstone that is 100% post consumer recycled paper and treated with water based resin. Going back to our building block concept, the same principle could apply to rainscreen panels; a cavity integrated into the rainscreen material. Or even to adapt a track system that would move along and in between the rainscreen panels.
detail of hardware for panel
Example of rainscreen from Trespa
you can see the spaces between each panel in this image.
This is a bracket for hanging our modular grow boxes. It is designed so that it can be installed during the construction of a wall or post construction. For installation during construction, you bend the inner tab back at a 90 degree and lay it into the wet mortar between bricks or cinderblocks. For post construction, you simply secure it to the wall using masonry anchors through the holes in the bracket. The grow box is hung from the hook. The fleur de lis insignia ensures that even when a grow box isn’t installed, the bracket still adds ornament to an otherwise drab wall.
sketches for mechanisms. meeting with Lynne from Greenables was so helpful and informational. will post more about it soon.
So far we don’t have a client or collaborator and we only have 2 weeks left of studio. This studio is typically run with all the students having one client and breaking into teams to help all aspects of the clients needs. This semester our teachers decided to try it differently by having our projects determine our collaborator.
We originally contacted Philly Green Wall and Roof. Although they’re really interesting and we really love their work, we decided that’s not the aesthetic we’re trying to go for. We’re more interested in growing your own Victory Garden instead of a fully covered hydroponic wall.
So then we contacted Greenable. They are an eco-friendly home building supply store in Old City. Mary and I will be meeting with one of their staff tomorrow for conversation and a critique of our project thus far. We’re looking forward to the fresh perspective!
Check them out. They’re two very great local companies with a smart perspective.
Here are a series of concepts for modular vertical planters. Modeled in Rhino, these are explorations of form.
One of our early concepts was a cinderblock cast with a planting space. The block allows for growing vertically, utilizing space in the tight urban environment. The following is the development from concept to 3D rendering to prototyping 1:2 scale model.
After pinning ourselves down to exploring the world of construction, we needed to learn more about Philly architecture. We went out and captured an array of Philly buildings and various materials as well as various mounting mechanisms and planter materials.
Those photos brought us back to the drawing board and we started sketching. We pooled our ideas together and categorized them. This helped choose our next direction.
We decided we could reach a wider range of users if we target installed base rather than new construction. Ideally we would like to make a system that can be implemented during or post construction.
This weeks concepts:
Modified Cinder Block
slanted stacking system
modified modular growing boxes
Ivy room divider
