GARDENA GROW

10 weeks 

School related project | Group project

Project done during the second year of the Advanced Product Design program at Umeå Institute of Design in collaboration with Husqvarna Group and facilitated by Above Design Agency.

“How might we design a space-efficient, modular home gardening system adapted to the sustainable lifestyle of a citizen in 2030?”

The focal point of this project has been to understand and design a visionary and sustainable solution for grey and green urban spaces in the year 2030. We have explored design opportunities for both green and the grey spaces in the city, looking into Husqvarna Group and analyzing their divisions.

Our main goal as a group was to design an individual, adaptable home-gardening system which empowers the user to live a more conscious and sustainable lifestyle whilst enhancing their well being. We also strived to inspire our collaboration partner Gardena (a sub-brand of the Husqvarna Group) with a new brand vision, through a holistic experience closer to the human, without having to compromise between the individual's lifestyle and the good of the environment.

Team | Rebecka Rosenlind & Julian Loretz.

My work | Research, 2D illustrations/visualizations, lo-fi prototyping, sketching, movie making, app, and CAD exploration.

Awards  | IF_01 Design Talent Award 2020

Project focus

For our project we focused on the Gardena Division since we wanted to design something for city homeowners in 2030. Our target group is young people who want to live in a healthier and greener city. They care a lot about their own well being and sustainability as well as their freedom. 

Vision

Sustainability vision | Connecting the inside and the outside for a more sustainable lifestyle.

Experience vision | Connecting the functional and emotional side to provide for adaptable user experience.

Product vision | Connecting the green and the grey for an enhanced home environment.

Focus areas

Conscious consumption | As of today we can consciously consume food as well as growing our food to be more sustainable. However, we are not yet able to choose where our energy comes from or produce it ourselves to be more sustainable and aware of the environment.

Synergy | A system that is enhancing the home with living organisms through a synergy between the real experience close to human and the technology-based experience.

algae usage

Algae usage | There are many areas of which algae can beneficially be used. In the end we limited the use to CO2 assimilation and power generation.

Carbon assimilation | It is a conversion process of carbon dioxide to organic compounds by living organisms. The most prominent example is photosynthesis which is the process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that can later be released to fuel the organisms’ activities. The process of cleaning the air is about ten times more efficient for algae compared to one of the plants. We want to take advantage of this process to purify the air at home in an efficient way to improve the home environment and home owners' health.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) | These are bioelectrochemical devices that allow the harvesting of electricity generated during anaerobic respiration of selected microbial organisms. Among newly-developed renewable energy production technologies, it is a promising technique because of its sustainability to directly convert (waste) water and CO2 into electrical energy. We have seen a big opportunity with this process to create and use sustainable energy for our system.

Process

Gardena smart product eco-system | We first had a look at Gardena’s existing product eco-system. As of today Gardena has a smart product eco-system, consisting of several products linked together which we analyzed to develop a new product eco-system for the Gardena Grow concept.

Gardena Grow product eco-system | For our Gardena Grow concept, we explored and developed a product eco-system, which when used together should be the most efficient and sustainable.

Work process | Throughout the whole project we had a very iterative and hands-on process. To try out form and function we did a lot of sketching and lo-fi prototyping together. As for the prototyping, we worked both physically doing quick mockups as well as digitally with wall projections to try out scale proportions and interactive points. Besides this, we did a lot of CAD exploration before settling on the final result.

gardena grow product eco-system

Structure | It works as an architectural irrigation system, providing the plants with water and nutrition, as well as holding everything in place. To add plant modules to the structure a drip control piece needs to be added first. By urning the drip control, each of these can be manually adjusted to provide each plant with the right amount of water. When adjusting these, the user will get visual feedback that is done mechanically. It is designed like this to not add any “unnecessary” technology. This feature exists to save as much water as possible, avoiding overwatering since it leads to water waste.

The structure is modular, expandable, and fully adaptable to give the user more freedom. It is designed to work as an aesthetic interior piece, expressing the new Gardena brand identity as well as improving the mental well being of the user. Since the structure is fully adaptable it consists of several pieces that can be mounted together to create different configurations, based on the user's different needs and preferences. The user can also choose if they want to have a wall-mounted version or a standing version for as much freedom as possible.

Plant modules | The modules with the plants inside are the first type of add-ons that can be bought and placed onto the structure. The main purpose of these modules is to improve the user's mental and physical well being through aesthetics, scent, and nutrition. They also contribute to nutrition and fresh air for the home.

Algae pods | The algae pods are the second type of add-ons that can be bought and placed onto the structure, helping the user in becoming more conscious and aware to live a more sustainable lifestyle. They are able to do so thanks to their main purpose of creating clean and sustainable energy in order to run the whole system. The extra energy that is being produced can be used in order to charge personal devices for added value. Besides this, they help to purify the air at home in a very efficient way, since algae are ten times more efficient than plants in doing so.

Muscle fiber pump | This smart pump supplies the system with water, circulation, and nutrition. The circulation provides the home with purified air, as the algae reach the tank connected to the pump during the circulation it can let out oxygen into the room and consume the carbon oxide. It is also able to pump out water + nutrition for the plants as well as the algae. Even though these are two separate systems, the muscle fiber technology allows for one pump instead of two, which makes the pump more space-efficient compared to a regular water pump. The pump itself is made out of closely woven nylon threads to mimic the movement of a muscle. At each end of this artificial muscle, there is a unidirectional pump, preventing water to flow back down. This type of pump is moving a bit slower than a regular water pump, which is not an issue when it comes to gardening systems since they do not need a lot of pumping strength to work properly. Due to this fact it is more sustainable, using less energy than a regular water pump and even more so than two regular water pumps which it is replacing.

The aesthetics of the pump is reminiscent of a living organism. The water tank around it is transparent to show the technology, which does not seem like technology at all, but rather something calm, soft, and natural that brings mindfulness to the home. Almost like a heart it is slowly pumping and providing the system with life.

Energy hub | The function of the energy hub is to store the sustainable energy created by the Algae pods. It also has a secondary function as a charging device for added value. When the user is charging for example their smartphone, they need to make an active action. By putting the phone to charge they would need to lift the lid of the hub, placing the phone in there and putting the lid back on. It is designed this way to clearly indicate that the charging time is “offline time” from the phone. This time should be spent with something besides constantly looking at the phone, in order to improve the users' mental well-being as well as helping them to get in touch with themselves.

Gardena Grow product eco-system | When using all of these products together they create a product ecosystem. This results in a more efficient and sustainable outcome compared to using them on their own. It also makes the user more conscious and mindful in their everyday life.

gardena grow APP

Gardena Grow app | For more detailed information and feedback on the Gardena Grow product eco-system, the user is referred to the app.