One of their latest creations is “Atri,” an A-frame off-grid house with a mix of open living spaces and private rooms spread out over three levels, all connected to an open atrium shielded by a glass ceiling. Built in Sikhall, Vänersborg on the shores of Lake Vänern, the home is designed for a completely self-sufficient lifestyle with solar power, a wood-burning stove, built-in raised bed gardens to grow your own food, and connection to on-site well water and septic so no outside utilities are required. Its pointed design mimics the shape of the surrounding conifers.

The home essentially creates its own little microclimate thanks to the greenhouse effect, which can be amplified by the wood stove in harsh winter weather. Not only is that conducive to growing even heat-loving vegetables like tomatoes and peppers in winter, it also lets occupants enjoy an outdoor lifestyle year-round. Throughout the home, you have the ability to gaze out the glass A-frame roof, providing a direct connection to nature. It’s a refreshing change from architecture that can often feel in conflict with nature, working against it instead of with it. The architects intentionally kept the building site as free from intervention as possible, simply creating a gravel pad that visually connects to the neighboring sandy beach.

If there’s one caveat to such a design, it’s the question of whether the home could become uncomfortably warm in the summertime. Though it would increase the cost by a lot, perhaps the kind of glass that can change from clear to opaque on demand would help fine-tune the level of sun protection when needed. That price, by the way, is SEK 7,850,000 ($770,310 USD). The Atria home measures 1,335 square feet and has two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. Other homes by Naturvillan boast similar greenhouse-inspired designs, including the Mini, Midi, and Maxi.

Naturvillan offers a utopian vision of how such homes can be used. “With most of the outer garden only formed by nature you enter your own dream garden inside a greenhouse with a breathtaking high ceiling filled with brightness and clean air. Park the electric car and connect it to your own grid generating new power or to use for electricity in your house. Pick a couple of tomatoes along the green eco cycle wall before you go inside the dwelling. The entry hall is spacious, has easy access to next floor which contains bedroom(s), WC, balcony, and a library. Climb up to the roof terrace and breathe the air, relax, and enjoy the view.”

The post A-Frame Greenhouse Home Brings a Mediterranean Growing Climate Wherever You Want to Live first appeared on Dornob.

All-in-One Vertical Wall Planter

Mars Green is made of clay to emulate soil, making it easy to grow vertically. That clay is also capable of absorbing a lot of water — up to 1800 milliliters (60 ounces) at a time. And the LED light ring isn’t just decorative. It actually provides your plants with the light they need to thrive. The grow light has virtually endless programmable configurations, not just in a rainbow of hues, but also strobing, shifting, and flickering patterns (the creators claim there are 16 million options).The idea is to create a miniature self-contained habitat similar to what we might need to turn the real Mars green.

“We discovered that unglazed clay has great water absorption properties, which is how we came up with the idea to make a 3D planter as opposed to a regular pot,” the creators explain. “Many versions and a lot of trial and error led us to the perfect process to create clay that’s as fertile as soil. What makes Mars Green easy to set up and maintain is the special clay mixture and the many pores created during the baking process.”

How It Works

The red ore used as the base is rich in trace elements like iron, manganese, and potassium, which are essential to most plants’ growth. Its porosity also makes it extremely water-permeable. It’s capable of supporting many types of plants, including ferns, lichen, mosses, ivy, creeping Jenny, tillandsia, peperomia, creeping fig, and more.

Exactly how do you plant into a hard surface? There are a few different methods depending on which plants you choose. Gather ferns and spread their spores on the surface, apply powdered moss, or stick bits of lichen and seeds into the tiny cracks. Add water, and they’ll spring to life. If your plants need support growing from the vertical surface, strands of elastic cord are included.

Kickstarter backers get early-bird pricing on the Mars Green vertical wall-hanging planter, just $59 each. You can also snag two planters for $98. Orders will ship this September. When this round of crowdfunding is over, the price of each unit will rise to $99, and the designers will make the product available to the public later this year.

About the Designers

In their own words, “YAT is a team of technology enthusiasts and designers. We specialize in the development and design of highly innovative products. We love to create our space with greenery, and we’re also loyal RGB players, and we love the tech-savvy home atmosphere. In 2019, our studio moved to Dehua, where ceramic products are famous all over the world, and we learned a lot about the possibilities of clay creation. After two years of polishing, Mars Green is finally on the market, hoping that it will bring more fun to your life.”

The post Mars Reimagined: Glowing Wall Planter Turns the Red Planet Green first appeared on Dornob.

Whether your home needs some curb appeal or you just want to level up your game, you’re going to need some inspiration, and landscape architect Sarita Jaccard has that in spades.

Born in Argentina, Jaccard got a degree in environmental studies from New York University while also studying graphic design, a potent combination of skills that led her to where she is today. She moved to Los Angeles and worked for LA landscape artist Art Luna in 2017, starting her own office two years later. Her time with Luna gave her experience transforming some of LA’s most beautiful high-end properties, including the West Adams home of artist Henry Taylor and the grounds of a Paul R. Williams house in Hollywood.

Jaccard’s projects reveal a keen eye for exactly the right plants and design elements to complement the exterior of a client’s home. Each one has a particular mood. “Edgecliffe,” for instance, has the feel of a modernized cottage garden, with café tables tucked among towering wildflowers adjacent to textural brick facades. “West Adams” accents a Spanish-style home with banana plants, spiraling agave rosettes, trumpet flowers, and striped hammocks. As a certified California native plant landscaper, Jaccard always incorporates appropriate species for the local climate, especially for friendly pollinators.

Other projects by Jaccard are every bit as mesmerizing. “Sunkist” celebrates the expansiveness of the Joshua Tree landscape. Squares of wooden decking interspersed with circular hot tubs and tables slices through the desert floor, accented by drought-resistant native plants. “Oneonta” translates similar motifs to a wholly different landscape, a forested plot occupied by a stark black modern cabin. Here, the hardscape elements contrast with an abundance of lush dark greenery in pleasing spikes and cascades.

Sometimes, Jaccard manages to convince the clients to alter the exterior of their home to suit their collective vision for the landscape design. That was the case with a recent project in Los Angeles, which started with “a lot of broken brick and half-dead grass.” The clients wanted a kid-friendly garden full of drought-tolerant plants that would enhance their view of the surrounding Mount Washington hills. Jaccard convinced them to paint their home black as a dramatic backdrop, then oriented everything from the entrance walkway to the furniture toward the view.

Swaths of small pebbles provide relatively soft yet xeriscape-friendly surfaces throughout the front and rear yards alongside redwood decks, custom-made furniture by Blue Pocket Studio, and pockets of native plants. But the best part is the sunken cedar hot tub, which creates the illusion of an infinity edge and reflects an adjacent oak tree.

Jaccard feels a strong connection to the natural world, and tells Issue Magazine, “I’m inspired by movies, animals, plants, my Argentinean roots, places and things that have a story behind them, perseverance through adversity, cultures outside of my own, and the people close to me.”

There’s lots more inspiration to be found on Jaccard’s website and Instagram @sarita.jaccard.

The post Landscape Architect Sarita Jaccard Has All the Inspiration You Need for Your Dream Yard first appeared on Dornob.

Elsewhere on the 800-acre grounds of this UNESCO World Heritage Site were two more of Messam’s large-scale artworks: “Bridged,” a similarly spiked installation placed across the River Skell, and “Drifted,” a series of floating replicas of the Studley Pyramid set on the upper Canal.

All three sculptural works are part of “These Passing Things,” a temporary exhibition aiming to infuse the landscape with “visual exuberance.” Originally intended for installation in summer 2020 and delayed due to the pandemic, the exhibition aims to revive the playful spirit of Georgian follies in a contemporary way, lightening the mood of all who view it.

“The work is inspired by designs for a 16-meter-high funerary pyramid in the water garden,” Messam explains. “Archive records show this was commissioned by William Aislabie in the 18th century, after his father’s death. Despite scale drawings and detailed costings for the piece, no further mentions of it were ever made, and no record or evidence exists of this mysterious pyramid ever being built.”

He adds that “the original designers of the Studley Royal water garden, the Aislabie family, created many follies to surprise and delight their 18th-century guests. Since 2015 The National Trust at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal have been celebrating these fashionable and whimsical structures and the Georgian water garden they sit within, through its former folly exhibition series.”

The managers of Studley Royal Garden say they hope the installation will get visitors thinking and start a conversation about the connection between the past and the present while offering a fresh perspective on the Georgian garden. Like many traditional follies (ornamental structures built purely for decoration), Messam’s are ephemeral and have no specific function other than their visual impact.

“While over time we may invest them with meaning or stories, at their core they’re just there – large-scale artworks in the landscape, and as an artist that’s what I’ve been interested in for the past 20 years,” he says. “I’m also interested in the role that follies play in creating focal points in constructed views of the landscape.”

To create “Spiked,” Messam used old plan drawings of the temple to create life-size paper patterns using CAD software. He worked with preservationists to ensure that the inflatable piece wouldn’t damage sensitive elements of the temple like the plaster ceilings. A single quiet fan kept the artwork inflated to maintain the contemplative nature of the setting.

Both “Spiked” and “Bridged” are made of hundreds of yards of fire-resistant polyester, and the steel bridge was custom-built for the project by an engineering firm. About 500,000 visitors crossed the installation between July and November 2021, itself located near the site where a Georgian iron bridge was once located.

The post Colorful Spikes Explode from a Georgian Temple to Celebrate the Fun of Garden Follies first appeared on Dornob.

“LG tiiun is a practical and convenient solution for busy consumers who want to enjoy a greener, healthier lifestyle at home,” said Lyu Jae-cheol, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company in a press release. “A stylish addition to one’s home or apartment, our smart gardening system makes growing herbs, leafy greens, and flowers fun and simple, even for those of us with zero gardening experience.”

Unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022, the self-contained greenhouse is only about the size of a dorm-room fridge and is aptly named “Tiiun,” a Korean word that means “to sprout.” It’s designed to remove the guesswork from gardening associated with climate, watering, soil, and pests.

That’s right: the indoor greenhouse does virtually all the work for you. Each unit is equipped with two growing shelves that can each hold up to six all-in-one seed packages. The seed packages in turn each have 10 holes for plant germination, allowing users to grow a wide variety of plants at the same time. Most seedlings will grow to fruition within just four to eight weeks, all ready for consumption or visual enjoyment.

LG drew inspiration from several of its previous products to create the Tiiun. “This modern smart gardening system leverages LG’s technological expertise across multiple home appliance categories to deliver reliable results and an effortless, largely automated plant cultivation process, employing various technologies from decades of expertise honed from developing advanced refrigerators, water purifiers, and ventilation systems,” the company explains.

An Inverter Compressor powers the Flexible Weather Control System that automatically adjusts the unit’s internal temperature for prime growing conditions. The Auto Ebb & Watering System is responsible for keeping the interior atmosphere at optimal moisture levels, and the Smart Gardening System provides the plants with sips of water eight times every day. Even cooler, the unit’s LED light source can automatically simulate the sun’s natural light cycle, and LG’s mobile ThinkQ app allows users to remotely change settings and be notified whenever the water tank needs to be filled.

The Tiiun units come in either Nature Beige or Nature Green colors and fit easily within a living room setting as a kind of futuristic side table. Users and friends can enjoy watching the plants grow year-round and benefit from tastier organic produce. And bugs are never a problem, since the entire system is completely sealed and air-tight.

This in-home gardening appliance makes it possible for users to always have fresh herbs and veggies on hand without having to put in the hours of work to become a master gardener. It’s a quick plug-and-play system for everyone, even those who have no hint of a green thumb.

Most importantly, it’s good for the environment. If every home were to be equipped with a similar system, food production could be dramatically supplemented on the household level, alleviating some of the need for carbon emissions-producing trucks and processes.

LG’s petite indoor greenhouse is already commercially available in South Korea for approximately $1,250. An international rollout is scheduled for later this year.

The post Tiiun: LG’s Smart Indoor Greenhouse Makes Growing Plants Effortless first appeared on Dornob.

Virgil Abloh’s Architectural Vision for Louis Vuitton

The late designer Virgil Abloh gifted us with a lot of creativity before his untimely death this year, including a fun collection of architecture-meets-menswear for Louis Vuitton. Taking inspiration from James Baldwin’s 1953 essay “Stranger in the Village,” the Fall-Winter 2021 collection introduces wearable buildings modeled on such recognizable structures as Mies Van Der Rohe’s 1929 Barcelona Pavilion.

Selgascano’s Experimental Outdoor Office in Los Angeles

Office environments don’t have to be sad, stuffy, and boring. Selgascano’s Second Home Hollywood staggers lemon-yellow office pods and communal spaces through a lush landscape for a co-working environment that fosters connection, concentration, and good mental health. It’s the kind of work environment you might not actually mind returning to when the pandemic danger is over.

GROW, A Light Show for Plants

Bringing the same LED technology that benefits plants in greenhouses into open fields, Studio Roosegaard explores how artificial sunshine can benefit both plants and people with GROW. Part art installation, part agricultural innovation, the project turns farm fields into a setting for spectacular light shows while boosting crop growth.

The Chapel of Sound Concert Hall by OPEN Architecture

Strikingly sculptural in appearance, The Chapel of Sound is an open-air concert hall by OPEN Architecture set near the Great Wall of China outside Beijing. It’s organically shaped enough to seem almost like a natural growth, but its concrete striations produce an ideal acoustic space for performances, and it even has a rooftop observation deck.

The Symbolic Architecture of Squid Game

Somewhat depressing story aside, Netflix’s Squid Game stood out for its striking sets, each one symbolizing a contrast between childhood innocence and the harsh reality of adulthood in the modern world. Exaggerated and oversized playgrounds, eerie combat arenas, models of traditional Korean villages, and beds stacked like stadium bleachers come together to produce a nightmarish spectacle of life-or-death competition.

Cabana, A Tiny House That Can Be Built By Two

Tiny houses have a reputation for feeling a bit too cramped and utilitarian for most people, but the Cabana offers middle ground on both fronts. What’s remarkable about this 355-square-foot off-grid abode is that not only is it two full stories with an attractive modern design, it’s also made up of modules that are light enough for just two people to transport and put together.

Wutopia Lab’s Meditative Urban Bookstore

Wutopia Lab deftly demonstrates how to make urban locations feel zen with its Duoyun Bookstore, a cloud-themed commercial space that takes visitors on a journey of tranquility and discovery. Located in the Huangyang district of Taizhou in China, the nearly all-white bookstore features a series of connected outdoor rooftop spaces for reading and discussion in between interior spaces that show off the books to their best advantage.

Imaginative Furniture by Bethan Laura Wood

Sculpture, self-expression, a rebuke of sexist design standards: Bethan Laura Wood’s ornate and imaginative furniture reflects a daring approach and a uniquely brilliant vision. The English designer put together a collection of both new and old works for “Ornate,” a solo show at Nilafur Gallery in Milan, and it was a buffet of beautiful and strange objects that are also functional pieces for the home.

NCaved: A House Built Into a Greek Hillside

Sure, Mold Architects’ NCaved house in Greece looks a bit like a Bond villain’s lair. But it’s also smart in various ways: passively cooled and heated by the earth, blended into its hilly environment for a lower visual and environment impact, and designed to perfectly frame views of the water.

K-Thengono’s Adaptable Design for an Impossibly Narrow Apartment

Designs for ultra-tiny apartments that rely on robotic and electronic elements are certainly impressive, but out of reach for the average person who actually lives in a small space. Design firm K-Thengono took a more practical approach for this ultra-narrow apartment in Jakarta using drawers, cabinets, and fold-down tables. It’s a great example of what’s possible when you think creatively.

The post Our Favorite Designs of 2021, from Squid Game to Virgil Abloh first appeared on Dornob.

“We are proud to present ‘The Constant Gardeners’ as part of Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13,” said Creative Director and Founder Jason Bruges in a press release. “By developing new paradigms in robotics and performative arts, we hope to show how innovative technologies can be used in storytelling, offering audiences in Tokyo an accessible, meaningful experience that celebrates the Tokyo 2020 Games and the incredible skill and achievements of its athletes.”

The four robots were salvaged from years of industrial factory work and repurposed with specialized tips to draw in the sand, moving back and forth along linear rails. Bruges and his studio embraced the inclusion of robots as a way to “reflect on the role of machines in our daily lives” and to show their potential for experimental creativity.

The raised zen garden bed is filled with 14 tons of crushed black basalt, with another four tons of silver-gray granite lining the floor around the gravel canvas.

Using computer analysis of past video footage of Olympians across a wide range of sports, the mechanical “gardeners” will “create a new visual language to communicate and celebrate the motion of the professional athletes and their feats of physical prowess.” And just as many sports involve teammates working together for a flawless performance, the four robotic arms will have to cooperate to construct such large-scale tapestries of sand.

During the course of the five-week exhibition that overlaps the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the machines will produce about 150 unique illustrations. Some of the art will be representative patterns (“the story of an event unfolding over time”), while others will be more concrete in their depictions (“a single spectacular movement or sporting moment”).

“’The Constant Gardeners’ and the mesmerizing raking of its ‘gardeners’ will offer visitors a peaceful space for quiet introspection in the heart of Tokyo’s cultural district,” says the studio. “The artwork draws inspiration from the aesthetic and craft of the traditional Zen Garden and from the sportsmen and women who carefully hone and perfect their movements to train and excel in their fields.”

Commissioned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council, the outdoor exhibition is on display from July 28th to September 5th in the city’s Ueno Park.

Artist Jason Bruges got his start in architecture, studying at Oxford Brookes University and the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL). After working in that field for several years, he started his own multi-disciplinary firm in 2002, blending architecture with technology and interactive design to provide dynamic spatial experiences for people around the globe, although this latest installation is the first art from the studio to be displayed in Japan. Their team of engineers, architects, industrial and computational designers is constantly exploring the “interrelationships between people, data, technology, and nature.”

The post The Constant Gardeners: Artist Creates Robotic Zen Garden for Tokyo Olympics first appeared on Dornob.

Those architectural elements are exactly what make LeGrow stand out. They include stackable vertical planters in two depths, an LED grow lamp, an automated 360-degree diffusing mist humidifier, a riser for stacking hanging plants, and a Bluetooth speaker, all of which you layer on top of a self-watering tray. Each one has a unique and interesting shape, looking more like a sculpture than a functional object. Presented in all white with lots of curves and arches, these growing modules have sort of a utopian look to them that pairs beautifully with living plants.

The process of building your LeGrow garden is as satisfying as watching it grow. It’s designed to be as easy as assembling your very own LEGO creation, giving you the freedom to build in whatever shapes and configurations you like. Create a terraced arrangement, vertical towers, a long narrow strip for the center of a table, or a system that looks like a tiny neighborhood.

Once assembled, the LeGrow garden becomes its own self-contained ecosystem. Since it has its own built-in lighting, you don’t have to worry about finding a window with suitable sunlight to support it. The rounded glass humidifier distributes moisture evenly across the whole thing, and a built-in water pipe structure makes sure that all the planters are connected to each other, sharing water from the tray. Even better, the tray has been made translucent so you can keep an eye on the water level.

It’s rare to see sound incorporated into an indoor garden system, so the Bluetooth speaker is a bit of a fun extra in this set. You can connect it to your phone and play relaxing music for the ultimate in stress-reducing mini Zen gardens, or maybe experiment with the concept that plants can be affected by sound. What you grow in your desktop garden is really up to you, but the LeGrow system can support succulents and cacti, herbs, flowers, and tropical greenery, including finicky plants that need a lot of water, like carnivorous pitcher plants and Venus flytraps.

The LeGrow Desktop Garden is currently available for pre-order at Indiegogo in a variety of packages. The Vertical Garden is the smallest at $34 USD, coming with a single pot, an LED grow lamp, three vertical planters, and a water tray. The systems get bigger from there, all the way up to the $428 Rainforest configuration, which comes with a speaker, a humidifier, 26 pots, 11 vertical planters, 20 shallow moss planters, four grow lamps, and more. All orders are estimated to ship out in September 2021.

The post LeGrow: Meditative Modular Desktop Garden System Full of Automated Features first appeared on Dornob.

Buckets of Annuals

Image via Organized Clutter

First and foremost, spring means flowers. The best and simplest spring decor for your porch is just some affordable annuals tucked into your favorite pots or some galvanized buckets, which add a touch of rustic charm. You can find galvanized buckets and basins at your local hardware store, but check vintage markets, thrift stores, and flea markets, too. Some nice choices for annuals include phlox, sweet alyssum, coleus, polka dot plant, red nemesia, and edible nasturtiums.

Colorful Thrift Store Chairs

Image via Milan Vintage on Etsy

Speaking of thrift stores, make sure you browse their chair selections when you’re there. Whether you find a matching set or an eclectic mix, you can simply spray paint them all the same color (or a palette of spring shades) to bring them together. This is a fun way to add an accent hue to your decor scheme.

Early Bloom Wreaths

Image via Annabelle Eve Designs on Etsy

Prune a few branches of your early blooming forsythia, cherry tree, or whatever else looks pretty in your yard and shape them into a wreath with some floral wire for a quick and easy update to your front door. If you’re feeling less than crafty, you can always just buy one, too. Etsy seller Annabelle Eve Designs creates these lovely seasonal wreaths with silk flowers, burlap, and a moss-covered monogram, and you can use it year after year.

Mini Solar Barrel Fountain

Image via Flower Patch Farmhouse

Creating a DIY solar fountain is easier than it sounds, and it brings so much to outdoor spaces of all sizes: sparkly reflections, the sound of flowing water, and curious creatures seeking a drink or a bath. All you need is a floating solar fountain, which you can find on Amazon for under $12, and a watertight container like a galvanized bucket, an old wine barrel, or a planter pot without a drain hole.

Freshened Up Throw Pillows

Image via West Elm

Switch out the throw pillows on your outdoor furniture with something sweet for spring. If you find just the right fabric, sewing a throw pillow is a fairly easy project for a beginner to complete – check out The Spruce Crafts for a tutorial. Alternately, stores like Crate and Barrel, Anthropologie, and West Elm, where we found this pretty “embellished blooms” throw, are good places to look.

DIY Dried Bloom Bouquet

Image via Crate and Barrel

Dried floral bouquets are a leading decor trend in 2021, and you never have to worry about them wilting. It used to be that you had to hunt down the best elements to create one in the wild, in your yard, or in flower markets, but now you can find gorgeous preserved blooms and greenery on the internet and in local shops. Crate and Barrel has a particularly great selection, including these pink paper palms, which make for the perfect dramatic backdrop to pair with lush shades of green.

The post 6 DIY Spring Porch Decor Ideas for Any Budget first appeared on Dornob.

Lowe’s recently commissioned a study to explore how the connection between people and their homes changed last year, and to find out what Americans were most excited to tackle in the year ahead. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64 percent) said their home meant more to them than it did a year ago, and 84 percent said that they’d continue to spend more money on home improvement than they did before the pandemic.

Here are the top home improvement projects Lowe’s customers said they’re looking forward to in 2021. How do they match up with your plans?

Reorganize the Closet

Remember the KonMari craze of 2019? It kind of feels like a lifetime ago. Between the reshuffling of our homes to fit new functions and the closure of many Goodwill donation facilities in the midst of the pandemic, many of us have accumulated too many items that don’t “spark joy.” It’s time to throw open the doors of our darkened closets and face the mess inside. 64 percent of Lowe’s survey respondents plan to reorganize their closets this year, and indeed, it would do us all good to take a page from Marie Kondo’s book and minimize our stuff while storing it in a much more aesthetically pleasing manner.

Paint a Room

Over half (52 percent) of survey respondents plan to paint at least one room in their homes in the coming months. Popular choices include jewel tones, seafoam green, chalk white, and Pantone’s dual Colors of the Year, “Illuminating” yellow and “Ultimate Gray.”

Organize the Garage or Storage Area

51 percent of respondents say they’ll focus on organizing their garages or storage areas this year, making these spaces more streamlined and functional. Lowe’s has lots of suggestions for getting this done, including sorting and cleaning the contents, creating a storage plan, deciding on a shelving or bin system and finding a place for every last item.

Update Your Decor

53 percent of those surveyed are ready to tear out tired trends and freshen things up. If you’re on board and could use some ideas, check out our assessment of up-and-coming interior design trends and styles, including “Scandi Style,” “cottagecore,” statement walls, and “mermaid tiles.” And if you long to overhaul your decor on a shoestring budget, here are six ways to redecorate without spending a penny.

Plant Something

Spring will be here before we know it, and now is the time to make plans for new gardens and landscaping. 65 percent of Lowe’s consumers surveyed say they’re planning to “plant something” this year, whether it be in the form of fruit, vegetables and herbs, or ornamental greenery for a boost in curb appeal.

The post 5 Ways We’ll Be Transforming Our Homes in 2021, According to Lowe’s first appeared on Dornob.

Modern interpretations that do justice to the spirit of the original Victorian glasshouse maintain some of those integral features with updated designs. One such structure now stands outside the International Quarter London (IQL), reviving an old neighborhood tradition with an interesting new silhouette. Created by London-based architecture practice Studio Weave and supported by Lendlease and LCR, The Hothouse is both a functional glasshouse and a statement about climate change.

The Hothouse is London Design Week’s Landmark Project of 2020, opening just in time for the London Design Festival that took place from September 12th to 20th, 2020. Set to remain in place for a full year, the glasshouse features a garden designed by Tom Massey, planted with a vast array of food crops from all over the world, including guava, gourd, chia seed, pomegranate, quinoa, mango, sweet potato, lemon, sugarcane, loquat, and more. Each of these tropical varieties was chosen for a symbolic reason: namely, scientists say it could get hot enough in the UK to grow them all outside by 2050.

“IQL is a new neighborhood in the heart of Stratford and on the doorstep of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,” reads the London Design Festival website. “The area has a rich tradition for growing under glass and was historically once dominated by a 20-mile stretch of greenhouses along the Lee Valley corridor. In the 1930s, there were more than 1,300 acres of greenhouses facilitating the production of ornamental plants and flowers, as well as exotic fruits at the time such as grapes and cucumbers.”

“The installation seeks to demonstrate the effects of climate change whilst also celebrating the beauty of plants and humans’ adaptability, ingenuity, and ability to overcome problems and create safe and stable growing environments for plants from all over the world. By 2050, scientists predict that air quality levels could be five times worse, crop yields could decrease by 30 percent, and temperatures could be rising towards a 4°C increase globally by the end of the century. We have already experienced over 1°C temperature increase since pre-industrial times, and anything over 2°C could have catastrophic consequences for people and the natural world. It is critical we collectively take urgent action today to avoid further heating of the Earth.”

As one of the only major events not cancelled in 2020, the London Design Festival drew thousands of visitors, gaining a lot of visibility for the project. The idea that England could soon be too hot to need glasshouses is strange and disturbing: at once a vivid illustration of the real effects we could start seeing very soon and the urgent need to take action.

The post A Victorian-Style Greenhouse Goes Modern for London’s Design Festival first appeared on Dornob.

The project began as a simple idea, as all do, but when a storm in 1992 deposited a load of lumber in front of the couple’s cabin and the original owner didn’t seem to want it back, they saw it as a sign to begin construction immediately. Ditching the power tools in favor of an old-fashioned handsaw and hammer, the first floating platform took shape.

“Wayne started building the house on the beach at that cabin, and it was about three months later that it was done enough that we could move into it, and we towed it over to the cove,” explains Catherine.

Over the years, they’ve raised two daughters on the island and added new sections to the base as their needs changed and they were able to procure more materials. Today, the island is made up of 12 separate floating platforms that support several greenhouses, an art gallery, a dance floor, a studio where the couple lives, and a guest lighthouse. All of this is painted in bright shades of teal and hot pink. At some point the campus was dubbed “Freedom Cove,” and it’s since gone on to garner all kinds of international attention as an example of unique off-grid living.

The platforms are anchored to shore with thick ropes, of course, but other than that, they’re basically free-floating. The couple admits that there are many challenges to maintaining such a home, and that it’s really more of a lifestyle. Winter storms endanger the crops and structure itself, so it seems there are always repairs to be made. Pests are another issue. Apparently trying to raise chickens on the island didn’t work out too well, as they only attracted other wildlife.

Still, their lifestyle is heavily, although not entirely, sustainable, with the couple growing the majority of their own food right outside the front door. Occupying a half-acre of land mass in total, the island actually offers ample space to grow food, but the irony is in the water. Even though the couple is literally floating around in the stuff, fresh water for the platforms must either be collected from a nearby waterfall or captured when it rains.

Living off-grid means making adjustments. To conserve power, for instance, Wayne and Catherine decided to go without a freezer or refrigerator. But hey, at least this decision makes eating fresh an easy one. The remaining power for the home was previously generated by 14 solar panels, but once they started malfunctioning, the couple decided to switch to a generator as their primary power source.

“We also do lots of composting,” adds Catherines. “As a result, we always eat food that’s fresh and seasonal.”

When considering their lifestyle as artists who spend their spare time composing music, writing, carving, painting, and dancing, it’s easy to see why sustainability was also important to them.

“We wanted to live close to nature because as artists that’s what inspires us. That’s why we decided to build this floating home. It works ecologically, in order to limit as much as possible its impact on the environment,” says Catherine.

The garden section is made from mostly recycled materials. As wood rots, salvaged steel from fishing farms replaces it. Another example of this is the large piece of plexiglass here, which came from a torn-down hockey rink and now allows views through an “ocean lookout” to the frolicking marine life below.

Although the couple is off-grid, they do go into town every few weeks to stock up on goods they can’t grow or catch themselves. However, they stress that minimizing packaging is a priority in maintaining their nearly zero-waste lifestyle. For money, the two sell their art to local businesses and offer tours of their home. Although “Freedom Cove” has been the nearly-perfect home for Wayne and Catherine, it’s not for everyone — especially now that floating homes are no longer allowed in the area.

“It’s been our intention to share with people what we do and inspire people to follow their own dreams and live life the way they want to,” Catherine says.

The post Couple Builds and Lives on Floating Island for Nearly 30 Years first appeared on Dornob.

Launched on Kickstarter in June, Bottle Farm is a simple, affordable kit that can help you transform any old plastic bottle into an indoor farm producing edible plants like herbs and salad greens. It requires no electricity and is fully self-watering, so it’s highly efficient and a great option for people who aren’t the most attentive gardeners.

This mini farm relies mainly on hydroponic technology, requiring the user to grow plants in water instead of soil. It’s designed to simply sit in your window though, so you don’t have to set up any grow lights or waste electricity to help it thrive. It comes with two bottle stands, two “suction pads” to stick it to a window, four “grow baskets” you insert into the sidewall of a plastic bottle, and eight “grow pods” made of recycled coconut husk.

To get started, you simply cut slots in the bottle using a provided template, insert the grow baskets, and drop in the grow pods, which expand when they come into contact with water. The kit provides basil, chard, chives, coriander, parsley, lettuce, tomato, rocket, and chili seeds, along with packets of “plant fuel” fertilizer, but you can always swap in other seeds better tailored to your preferences.

The kit can either be placed in a windowsill, if there’s enough room, or suction-cupped to the glass. Little suction cup “grow clips” let you support bigger plants like tomatoes as they grow. Most of the components are made of 95-percent recycled plastic, and to offset those materials that aren’t, the company partnered with Carbonfund.org.

They explain that “one year ago, we noticed a problem. The food we were buying was being wrapped in single-use plastic and flown across the world to get to us. That has a large environmental impact. But we live in London, so how were we meant to find space to grow our own food? Then we had an idea. What if you could grow food using an everyday object, which was otherwise going to be thrown away, in space you can’t use for anything else? We created Bottle Farm.”

“We are a small team of physicists and designers with experience developing large-scale home hydroponics systems. We’ve spent this past year designing every part of Bottle Farm with care and attention, down to the minute details. We used a beautifully simple design process. Iteration. We took each part needed to create a Bottle Farm, worked out what it needed to do, then designed Version 1 and made the first prototype. Then we would test it until it broke. From this we learnt what worked and what didn’t. Then we would re-design and repeat. That’s how we’ve packed so many features and so much functionality into this little box.”

Kits are available for pre-order on Kickstarter now for as little as £20 (about $26 USD), but larger pledges will net you extras like expanded seed varieties and additional grow clips.

The post “Bottle Farm” Kit Turns Used Plastic Bottles Into Indoor Gardens first appeared on Dornob.

If you’ve ever had a Chia Pet, you’ve seen this concept in action using tiny chia sprouts. The terracotta planter base offers a breathable, moisture-wicking medium that gives plants time to drink all the water they need. What makes the Terraplanter different is the unique diamond pattern of its surface, over which the roots of hardier plants can grow.

“The core idea was to create a new home for plants,” the designers explain. “It needed to be simple, clean, low-maintenance, and hydroponic — without the use of any soil or dirt. Combining the idea of hydroponics and the concept of porous material was the key. We created our proprietary ceramic material that has just the right amount of porosity and hygroscopic tendencies to allow water to diffuse through the material and allow the plant to grow on the surface of the material.”

“We used parametric design to create the shape we envisioned, and created several prototypes to test with seeds and plants. After testing we looked for ways to improve the product and refined the algorithm and design to get to the optimal solution for plants to thrive. The Terraplanter is a vessel that acts as a water bank. The water is held in the vessel and is slowly diffused through the material to the cells on the surface for the plant to drink.”

You can get your plants of choice started on the Terraplanter in four different ways: rubbing fern spores on its surface, wrapping a climbing plant around it, using a rubber band to mount small clumps of rooted plants, or just covering its exterior with seeds a la Chia Pet. Various types of ferns, moss, grasses, orchids, begonias, and other plants capable of growing without soil will benefit from the constant moisture of the planter.

After this step, you just fill the Terraplanter with water and add the lid, which keeps the water clean and prevents evaporation. The proprietary terracotta-like ceramic material will absorb much of the water, releasing it to the plant roots as needed.

The coolest part of the Terraplanter is the way it makes the roots visible as they grow. Some plants will cover its exterior with a thick mat of tiny roots, while others will form themselves to the surface pattern for a result that’s almost sculptural.

The Terraplanter has raised nearly $4.5 million on Kickstarter thus far to fund its initial production, allowing supporters to scoop up hydroponic planters of their own at special discounts. At some point after the campaign is over, the product will be released for sale to the public. Rewards currently start at $59, though the Terraplanter will eventually retail for $80.

Check out lots of gorgeous examples of how it can be used on Instagram.

The post Inside Out Planter Turns Plant Root Patterns Into Visual Art first appeared on Dornob.

“Ha Long Villa” is remarkable at first glance not just for its irregular geometric facade, but also for the trees poking out of large apertures on every side, all the way up to the roof. Along with providing a little extra shade, the trees give the home a garden-like atmosphere that helps connect its inhabitants to nature within the rapidly industrializing coastal city of Ha Long.

The architects’ two principle motivations may seem to be at odds: the increasing loss of forests and other undeveloped spaces in the area, and the need to create high-quality sustainable housing that meets Ha Long’s rising standard of living. The result is an airy modern home with almost as much exterior living space as interior, though realistically, it’s a bit oversized as a single-family home to truly be considered sustainable.

“The semi-exterior space connects the interior and the terrace part of the garden, and is a place to promote various living activities,” the firm explains. “It is a multipurpose space which serves as a connection between each space. It is a place for gardening, sightseeing, sitting, [and] walking, and it also connects to the living space. These distinctive spaces offer residents options in their daily lives, like whether to dine inside or outside on a particular day. The various movements in the resident’s lives are also conveyed to the neighborhood through [the] windows in the exterior facade.”

Between the wrap-around terraces and all the plants on the rooftop, the architects have planted more greenery than construction of the home displaced, though of course, public green spaces have a lot more value to the community at large. VTN Architects took inspiration from stones found in the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay for the rough exposed concrete of the exterior walls, which themselves are dappled in shadow by all the greenery. As the trees change along with the seasons, so does the facade.

“Ha Long Villa is one of the prototypes of ‘House for Trees,’ which is a series of residential projects,” add the architects. “The aim of the series is to bring green spaces back into the city, and to design as much greenery as was present in the original landscape to provide a healthier life to people living in the city. Due to the simplicity of the concept, the idea of ‘House for Trees’ can be multiplied almost anywhere in tropical climate regions. As part of the vast landscape, Ha Long Villa harmonizes with the natural environment. And Ha Long Villa aims to be a space where people return to living surrounded by nature.”

It would be cool to see the passive cooling double-facade concept catch on in other hot places, particularly deserts. Can’t you imagine something like this working in a place like Nevada or Arizona with cacti instead of trees?

The post Ha Long Villa: Home in Vietnam Wrapped in an Inhabitable Garden first appeared on Dornob.

Indoor plant growing systems with varying degrees of automation control the lighting, watering, fertilizing, and other needs, while others tell you when the ambient room temperature isn’t optimal. You can even get robotic planters that will crawl over to a light source as needed.

This compact tech-assisted planter has a unique feature of its own. A telescopic multi-spectrum LED grow light popping up from the PICO pot can be raised or lowered in a single motion, effectively growing with your plant. Made of food-safe, recyclable BPA-free plastic and corrosion-resistant stainless steel, the PICO boasts “the smallest grow light module ever,” powered by high-performance grow lights from OSRAM.

All the necessary wavelengths of light are present to grow plants year-round, even if your space lacks natural light altogether. Each color wavelength stimulates a specific biological function in plants, like supporting healthy leaf growth or flowering. The planter’s telescopic arm is reminiscent of a vintage radio antenna, extending up to a foot in height to accommodate most small houseplants and edible plants like herbs.

Crucially for people who need a lot of plant care help, the PICO is self-watering, too.

The PICO’s official crowdfunding page explains that “regardless of how busy you are, PICO’s watering system makes sure your plants have as much water as they need — no more, no less — to sustain their health and beauty. All you need to do is top-up once a week. Watering too little can kill your plants, but so can too much. Getting it right takes time and experience. Not many of us have it. With PICO, that’s all taken care of for you!”

“The transparent window lets you know when it’s time to top up, typically once a week. Employing just capillary action and gravity, this design does not require any power supply or involve a motor or pumps. Your plants will also grow quicker and healthier due to root oxygenation from below, provided by the ventilation holes.”

Two USB-C cables are included to power the PICO, including a short double-ended option and a ten-foot cable with magnetic organizer loops that will help you route the cable around objects and appliances in your home. Any phone charger power block can be used with these cables. Multiple ports in the grow lights allow you to daisy chain up to three PICOs together to form a mini garden, or you can create an “indoor jungle” of six units connected through a 5V charger.

This mini all-in-one planter is perfect for ultra-small spaces, too. A variety of different mounting options including magnets, velcro, and wall mounts make it easy to put it up out of the way almost anywhere you can imagine, including refrigerators, glass windows, and even vehicle interiors.

PICO’s creators recommend plants like English ivy, spider plants, pilea, zebra plants, succulents, aloe, rosemary, and lavender for room-freshening effects like boosted air quality, pleasant scents, and meal embellishments. Get the details for pre-ordering at Kickstarter.

The post The PICO Mini Garden Features Lights That Grow With Your Plants first appeared on Dornob.