Watching “Plant Machete” in action is a little surreal. The multi-jointed robotic arm pivots and rotates, the blade swinging to and fro in a threatening manner. The plant appears to be fighting back against humans that approach it, warning us that it’s no longer defenseless. Skeptics might immediately wonder whether this disturbing display is actually controlled by a computer program, but it’s the result of EEG sensors translating the electrical signals inside the plant into movements.

The system uses an open-source Arduino micro-controller connected to the plant to read these signals across the plant’s leaves. Bowen’s custom software maps them in real time to the movements of the joints in the arm wielding the machete. This basically makes the plant the “brain” of the installation. Bowen mounted the plant to the wall and filmed the results in all their glory.

Another recent project by Bowen called “Plant Drone” gave a plant the unlikely ability to fly. As with Plant Machete, this project translated the real-time variable resistance data collected from a live on-board plant into movements: left to right, forward to reverse, up and down. That allowed the plant to pilot the drone, with a mounted LED light creating long exposure drawings in the night sky and tracking its path.

Similarly, “Fly Revolver” tracks the movements of flies inside an acrylic sphere with a target backdrop, processing them with custom software and outputting them to a robotic device that aims a revolver. Collectively, these projects might induce a feeling of unease in the viewers. What if plants and animals really could use our own weapons against us? What would that say about our accountability to them, and the consequences of our actions?

“Using intersections between natural and mechanical systems, I produce unique relationships within my sculpture and installations,” says Bowen in his artist statement. “With robotics, custom software, sensors, tele-presence, and data, I construct devices that are set in motion to interface with the physical, virtual, and natural world. The devices I construct often play the roles of observer and creator, providing limited and mechanical perspectives of dynamic situations and living systems. These devices and situations create a dissonance that leads to an incalculable changeable situation resulting in unpredictable outcomes.”

It may seem absurd to imagine that plants have the capability to communicate with us, but scientists have found evidence that they speak to each other in languages we simply don’t register or understand. UK-based computer scientist Andrew Adamatzky recently published a study in which he compared electrical signals in mushrooms to human language, finding that their patterns can be interpreted as up to 50 different words. In another study, ecologist Suzanne Simard demonstrated how trees “talk” to each other by sending each other nutrients via a network of fungi buried in the soil.

The post Nature Strikes Back: Living Plant Swings a Machete Using a Robotic Arm first appeared on Dornob.

The LEGO Botanical Collection, announced on December 30th, 2020, is a range of “mindful models,” including a flowered bouquet and a seasonally changing Bonsai tree.

“While many people seek out green spaces to de-stress and relax, adults can now bring a touch of nature into their home and unwind as they create and customize their botanical builds,” LEGO said in its official press release. “And the great news is that LEGO plants don’t need to be watered to stay fresh.”

Those are some encouraging words for aspiring gardeners who don’t have much of a green thumb. And appropriately, both sets feature some components constructed from plant-based plastic, itself made from sustainably sourced sugarcane.

The 756-piece, first-ever “Bouquet” set consists of an assortment of roses, poppies, snapdragons, asters, daisies, and various grasses in a visually-striking array of colors. The stems can be adjusted to fit in any size vase, and the petals are repositionable for an endless combination of displays. The company suggests this bunch of beaming blossoms would even make a “special and unusual gift” for anniversaries and birthdays.

The Bonsai tree kit, with its 878 pieces, allows LEGO fans to experience the ancient art of carefully snipping leaves and branches to create an exquisitely shaped shrub. The green leaves can be swapped out for pink cherry buds to keep pace with the seasons, or simply whenever builder wants a change. Only astute observers will be able to tell that most of the blushing blooms are actually tiny and charming LEGO frogs. Standing in its included slatted wood-effect pot, the tree is a decent synthetic version of the real thing. Its soothing shape and hues could believably help liberate some of those feel-good neurochemicals that help people calm down.

“As adults look for new ways to switch off and relax, we’re delighted to be able to help them seek solace from their busy everyday lives as they immerse themselves in creating these beautiful botanical builds,” says Jamie Berard, Design Lead at the LEGO Group. “The customizable elements and mindful building experience will hopefully help them express their personality as their creativity blossoms.”

LEGO may have been right about adults using to play to relax, because within days of its January 1 release, the new collection completely sold out on the company website, as well as on retail sites like Target and Walmart. Once back in stock, the Flower Bouquet can be purchased online here, while the Bonsai Tree is listed here.

The LEGO Flower Bouquet perennials can stand more than 14 inches tall and are priced at $49.99. Plastic horticulturists can add to their arrangements with individually sold LEGO Roses and Tulips for $12.99 each. The completed LEGO Bonsai Tree reaches seven inches high and also retails for $49.99.

The post LEGO’s Botanical Collection Helps Adults Shed Stress and Sprout New Energy 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.

The dandelion is an invasive weed to some and a beautiful flower to others. To Japanese cinematographer Takao Inoue, the dandelion is a delicate work of art.

The Tampopo – Japanese for dandelion – is immortalized in this ethereal lamp, OLED Tampopo. An actual white-headed dandelion, carefully picked in the Spring, is captured and permanently preserved within an acrylic block.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtGLWLfGYVI

A tiny OLED light is embedded within the stem of each flower, illuminating both the flower and the acrylic block from the inside with a mysterious light.

The lamps are a simple but striking representation of the fragility of nature. They cause us to recall the wondrous days of youth when we made a wish and blew away the seeds of the dandelion head. Inoue says of his project “The mysterious light gives us a moment to release ourselves.”

“As soon as the brain encounters something organised or designed, it starts a process of analysis. This causes tension and fatigue. The things I make are elaborate and complex, but at the same time it looks simple. The quantities of visual information I use are beyond what can normally be assessed, but paradoxically, this relaxes the viewer.”

“It is like looking at, say, the grain of well-thumbed wood, or a city at night, or movement on the surface of water: viewers’ brains give up attempts at analysis via established knowledge and notions. As if tricked, the viewer can gradually accept a pure relationship between the thing in front of them, and what lies within themselves. They are freed from all restraint.”

“Modern society is for ever expanding. This is true even in situations where individual consumption shrinks. Society seeks profit, promoting more and more systematisation and control. Established notions also function to constrain people and make them rigid. My work, I hope, finds a chaotic niche within this, and so provides clues to a break from our problems, or even their resolution.”

The post Ethereal Acrylic Dandelion Lamps first appeared on Dornob.

Most standard building materials are designed to attempt to thwart nature, whether they’re successful or not. But what if architecture and infrastructure were made to live in harmony with it instead?

A new material called Green Charcoal bio-bricks gives us an intriguing glimpse at what this could look like. Engineered by researchers at the Indian School of Design and Innovation in Mumbai as a more sustainable alternative to concrete, the bricks are intentionally porous. The aim is to provide more places for plants and wildlife to thrive within urban environments, boosting biodiversity.

Made of charcoal and organic fibers from the loofah (also spelled luffa) plant, which is actually a vegetable, this brick is infused with soil and contains thousands of tiny air chambers so living ecosystems of plants and insects can grow within it.

Researcher Shreyas More says the bricks could also help cool buildings naturally by absorbing and releasing water while also providing us with a sense of material connection with nature, even in the middle of the city. Plus, concrete manufacturing is responsible for about 8 to 15 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, making the building industry one of the largest contributors to the climate crisis.

“The green charcoal brick replaces metal reinforcements found in standard RCC with luffa’s fibrous network, which provides strength, appropriate flexibility, and ensures a high porosity. These luffa pores provide anchorage for plants and act as thousands of tiny water tanks reducing the temperature of the brick, thereby cooling the interior environments.”

“One of the components of the biodegradable brick mixture — charcoal being an adsorbent of nitrates — is used in small portions on the surface. This creates a co-dependent system where the charcoal adsorbs impurities from the air that serve as nutrition for the plants to feed on.”

“In biophilic spaces, people are happier, patients recover faster, students learn better, retail sales are higher, workplace productivity goes up, and absenteeism goes down. If the facades of buildings, compound walls, and dividers that follow the road network are built using the green charcoal bricks, they will not only clean the air or control rise in temperature, but [they] will also inspire a positive social behavior.”

One thing More doesn’t mention is what materials the bricks might have to be lined with on the interior side of a building to keep insects, mice, and other potential pests from burrowing straight through to our kitchens, bedrooms, and other areas that should really be kept as pest-free as possible. But there are probably ways to handle that problem.

With important pollinators declining around the world (and cities occupying some of their prime habitats), the need to make room for nature within our built environments will likely only continue to grow in the years to come. Natural building materials that collaborate with nature instead of fighting it could be one way to help do that.

The post Charcoal Bricks Offer a Biodiversity-Boosting Concrete Alternative first appeared on Dornob.

Wanting to do something more than just stick a cactus in the corner or hang a few baskets from your balcony? You’ve come to the right place. Try out one or all of these DIY hacks to bring your humble abode a little closer to the natural world.

Wall Hangings and Dreamcatchers

Whenever I go down to the beach or lakeside, I always seem to find myself collecting shells, bits of driftwood, and uniquely shaped rocks that might look cool on my shelf. Once I’ve actually brought them home, however, I’m never sure of what to do with them. If this sounds like you, don’t worry — there are actually a few ways to expertly incorporate these finds into your home. Many crafters have created wall hangings and dreamcatchers using the twine, wood, shells, and stones they find on their walks, hikes, and general travels. Lucky for us, dreamcatcher tutorials have been around since the internet was invented, and a hanging can entail anything from a horizontal branch with weavings coming off of it to more complex geometric patterns made by tying twigs together.

Indoor Hanging Plant Terrarium

You can find these Pinterest favorites in most interior design stores, but where’s the fun in swiping a credit card for a premade plastic version when you can just source your own DIY kit and have a ball designing it yourself with real plants? Get your hands on a hanging glass bauble or jar and get creative with the arrangement. Common layouts see antique cacti-containing mason jars bolted to driftwood planks and baubles hanging from the ceiling with colored twine or ropes engulfing them like baskets. You can also work small stones, gravel, and potting mix into the containers to create a bedded terrain for your little buds to sit on and help with the drainage of water.

Plant your small shrubs or cacti into the potting mix, water them, and watch them grow. For added visual interest, layer in some precious stones or colored shrubs. Before you know it, you’ll have created a mini fairy garden for your living space.

Air Fresheners and Reed Diffusers

Love the smell of freshly-cut grass, spring meadows, flowers, and damp tree bark after it rains? Why not craft yourself some scented air freshener bags or a natural reed diffuser for your bathroom? To make the bags, you’ll have to upcycle a few clothing scraps, stitch them into little sachets, and fill them up with your favorite herbs. Muslin, organza, and cheesecloth are popular choices for fabrics here, while lavender, rose petals, chamomile, mint, sage, and rosemary all make for delightful indoor smells.

If you’re more interested in making a reed diffuser, just find a small glass bottle or jar (you especially want it to have a small opening at the top) and pour in some carrier oil (safflower oil is ideal) and an essential oil of your choice. Then place either bamboo skewers or rattan reeds into the container and swirl them around to unleash delicious aromas. Potpourri can also be easily made if you have some petals, fruit, and an oven on hand.

Carpentry Projects

Found some old pine lying around in a friend’s garage? As long as you’ve got the tools, you don’t necessarily need the know-how. You can easily YouTube a step-by-step guide on how to create furniture using wood that would have otherwise ended up as compost. It’s super eco-friendly, and it looks amazing when placed in a home in the form of a coffee table or grand dining set. A lot of natural wood still has its weather indentations and growth marks from when it was a tree, too, so be sure to play those up to create some very unique points of interest in your house!

The post 4 Ways to DIY Yourself Closer to Nature first appeared on Dornob.

In the northern outskirts of Madrid, next to one of the city’s major highways, is Desert City. It’s much more of a greenhouse complex than it is a city, though, having been built to promote educational events and eco-leisure and overflowing with cacti of all shapes and sizes. It’s sort of like a 21^st-century Spanish version of Arizona’s Arcosanti, minus the residential component and a lot smaller.

Designed by Garciagerman Arquitectos, Desert City is a biotechnical nursery built to cultivate over 400 species of cacti, succulents, and other xerophytic plants. Some of these plants come from places as far as South America, Oceania, and North America, but many of them are local to the Madrid area.

Ever since it opened in 2017, the complex has been a place where people can learn about sustainable gardening. In many places that suffer from prolonged droughts, water usage can be restricted, especially for landscaping purposes. Promoting the cultivation of xerophytic plants is a way to help those who want to have more vegetation around their homes and businesses while simultaneously observing those regulations. Desert City tries to show that although a garden full of these plants might not be considered lush to some, it can still be incredibly beautiful.

Visitors walk on stone pathways through five sections of the garden: “Arizona,” which boasts an impressive range of cacti, “Oasis,” with its small forest of palm trees, “Tabernas,” with its linear pool and minimalist landscaping, “Guajira,” comprised of species that grow in shaded areas under a catwalk, and “Tuscany,” the garden’s smallest section full of pomegranates and olives. Desert City is a showcase of possibilities, and if the scenery is not enough to impress visitors, then the research most certainly will.

According to the nursery, a Madridian household or business with a 1076-square-foot conventional garden spends an average of €1,050 a year on landscaping. That figure includes the cost of watering, irrigation, maintenance, and the upkeep of tools. With an xerophytic garden, however, those gardening expenses would be cut by two-thirds, creating a total savings of just over €7,000 in ten years. If saving water does not convince people to make the switch, Desert City hopes that saving money will.

Under the taut roof of its main building, Desert City hosts various conferences, exhibitions, activities, and workshops, all of them serviced by an on-site restaurant and shop. Everything’s enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass, too, giving visitors uninterrupted views of the gardens outside as they mingle among the plants inside.

To call such an institution a “city“ is more a matter of marketing than reality, even though there is subtext to its very existence that is based in reality. Still, it’s really more a promotion of a lifestyle that we all need but do not want. That is what makes this desert oasis such a curious creation. We all need to use water more judiciously, but we do not want to live in a world where water is scarce. Unfortunately, in parts of the world that have historically suffered suffering from droughts, that choice has already been made for the people.

The post How Madrid’s Desert City Encourages Sustainable Water Use first appeared on Dornob.

At the base of the school are the common areas, including a library, three gyms, a cafeteria, and facilities for the performing arts. When classes are not in session, those areas are made available to the general public. The rooftop over the common area is occupied by a playground, with a glass wall around the perimeter to keep the kids from falling. The school’s classrooms are subdivided into four towers, each one dedicated to a different academic level: early years, primary school, middle school, and high school. All in all, the building takes up 269,097 square feet. Designed by C.F. Møller, it’s contained within in a whimsical façade that doubles as a pedagogical instrument.

What qualifies CIS Nordhavn as a power plant is the presence of over 12,000 solar panels on its façade. Capable of producing 200 MWh per year, over half of the school’s electricity is generated by these panels. The data collected from monitoring the energy produced by the panels is in turn incorporated into the curriculum. Understanding one of the city’s major commercial functions helps introduce the students to the reality of the national and global economies. Moving way beyond theoretical lessons comprised of fictional numbers, the CIS Nordhavn curriculum uses real data to teach its students about the world around them.

The students also learn from things happening inside the school. Captured rainwater is used to flush toilets, organic waste is converted into animal feed, and horticulture is promoted via the growing of one’s own fruits and vegetables.

With a student body made up of kids from 80 countries, CIS Nordhavn is undoubtedly a desired school for those parents who want their children to receive a hands-on education. You might expect to see such an institution in a quiet residential neighborhood, in low-rise building on a tree-lined street with a park nearby. But when you want to prepare the youth of the world for the future, a new perspective on teaching is required. CIS Nordhavn offers students bright spaces for learning, where critical thinking and creativity are practiced with the real world right outside the window. In this sense, the adjacent urban context becomes an extension of the blackboard.

The post Copenhagen International School Unleashes the Power of Education first appeared on Dornob.

High-tech plant nannies are undeniably cool. Some of them simply offer plant lights and water level tracking, like the soil-free Botanium. Others, like the NATEDE by Clairy, pair houseplants with state-of-the-art technology to improve the air quality in your home. The fun HEXA robotic planter even crawls around to follow the sunlight to make sure your plants are always happy. But perhaps the most refreshing aspect of the new “Plant Hero” is the fact that there are no electronic components involved. No plug, no wires, no sensors, and no lights.

Easy? Check. Moderately attractive? Check. Cuts down utility bills? Yet another check.

So how can it possibly prevent “sad plants” as it claims? The Plant Hero focuses on the three main causes of early houseplant death and solves them with a no-brainer setup that couldn’t be easier to use. If you’ve ever tried and failed to keep houseplants, you probably overwatered them, dehydrated them, or failed to provide the right nutrients for them. The Plant Hero consists of three transparent volumes, all of them filled with special plant-boosting materials to make maintenance virtually foolproof.

First of all, it’s self-watering, with the water held in one volume always slowly seeping out into the pebble-filled tray. Instead of using soil, the Plant Hero implements a special ceramic growing medium that’s pH neutral, disease-resistant, and pest-resistant (eliminating a host of other potential plant problems). This medium retains water extremely well, sucking it up out of the tray only when the plant needs it. Finally, a “multi-vitamin pill” containing probiotics and essential plant nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium keeps your healthy and strong.

You’ll still need to determine how much sunlight your particular plants require and place them at a proper distance from a window, but since the rest of the work is basically being done for you, that doesn’t seem like such a daunting task. The water tank only needs to be refilled about once a month, and the pebbles in the tray prevent mosquitoes from using it for a breeding bonanza. Other than succulents, most indoor plants are suitable for use with the Plant Hero. Its creators note that you should keep the planter out of direct sunlight to avoid the growth of algae in the water.

Designed by a startup based in Singapore, the Plant Hero made its debut on Kickstarter this summer to resounding success. Pre-orders are still open to the public, and kits that include the plant holder, water reservoir, tray, clay medium, pebbles, and plant booster start at just $33 plus shipping. The planters can be shipped anywhere in the world, with deliveries estimated to start arriving in April 2019.

The post Turn Your Black Thumb Green with the Foolproof Zero-Energy Plant Hero first appeared on Dornob.

For Sun Tianqi, a Chinese roboticist, the sight of a sunflower dead from too much shade prompted a question: what if he could grant a plant the ability to move around and save its own life? The result is a creation that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, attaching plants to robotic bases that resemble nightmarishly large insects.

Named for its six legs, HEXA is a black and white robotic planter that acts as a nanny for plants, which stick out of a hollow in its top like spiky green hair. Spatial sensors help it orient itself in its environment, keeping it from bumping into other objects, while optical sensors guide it toward or away from light sources.

It runs on an operating system called MIND, which guides it as it crawls, stands, and squats. If you’re handy with code, you can even download MIND and alter the HEXA’s movements yourself — but it also comes with an app that makes customizing the robot and downloading updated skills a total breeze.

Even if you’re scared of bugs, the HEXA is pretty cute. Its sensors allow it to not only seek out light but also rotate regularly to ensure all parts of the plant get equal exposure. It will dance when it’s well-lit and watered and stomp to let its owners know the plant is thirsty. But even beyond all that, this robotic plant nanny will play with you when you tap on its shell, so it’s almost like having a mechanical pet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OQrAyfnBBo

When the HEXA needs to juice itself up, it simply navigates to a nearby power outlet and automatically recharges, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to care for your robot in addition to your plant. Its battery life is about four hours, but it takes just two hours to charge. Weighing just under four pounds itself, it can carry 3.3 pounds and stands at about six inches tall with a 20-inch diameter. Each of its legs has three degrees of freedom.

“Each life has its own default settings, including human beings,” says Tianqi. “We humans are not built to go to the depths of the ocean to explore its wonder; nor are we meant to fly to the skies to have the clouds beneath our feet. We’re not meant to land on the moon to view the blue planet. For millions of years, humans have been following their settings, and it’s not until the last century that we started to break those laws. We invented submarines, airplanes, and the Apollo Program, essentially helping us to break our default settings.”

“However, for billions of years, plants have never experienced movement of any kind, not even the simplest movement. Their whole lives, they stick to where they were born. Do they desire to break their own settings or have a tendency towards this? If human beings always try to break the settings with technology, how about plants? I do not know the answer, but I would love to try to share some of this human tendency and technology with plants. With a robotic rover base, plants can experience mobility and interaction. I do hope that this project can bring some inspiration to the relationship between technology and natural default settings.”

In 2017, Tianqi and his robotics company Vincross launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to get the HEXA off the ground. Today, it’s available for purchase with either wired or wireless charging capabilities on the Vincross website for $949 – $999.

The post Robo Planter Crawls to Follow the Sun and Dances When It Needs Water first appeared on Dornob.

Scientific studies have proven that a person’s stress levels increase when they’re removed from an environment where nature abounds, indicating the vast importance of peacefully coexisting with the natural world. For that reason, a healthy home can contribute to a healthy mind. Ever wonder why a walk in the countryside can fill you with a sense of calm when you’re feeling angry, frustrated, or even depressed? It’s because nature is your brain’s miracle medicine — and it costs nothing.

Not only does nature service our mental health, but it also stimulates our creativity. In one study, cognitive psychologist David Strayer of the University of Utah demonstrated that the average human brain was heavily impacted and fatigued by a fast-paced modern life full of technological distraction. When we place ourselves in an environment that’s isolated from such distractions and begin to rely on our in-the-moment free thinking, we begin to feel physically restored and improve our overall mental performance.

What Designers are Saying

City living comes with its fair share of baggage. Expensive homes, high bills, busy social lives, demanding jobs, chaotic schedules — the list goes on and on. Designer Rowena Gonzales of Liquid Interiors believes that filling your living space with plants is a great and inexpensive way to counteract such a hectic lifestyle. Indoor greenery can improve air quality by producing cleaner oxygen, regulating humidity, and absorbing carbon dioxide. Houseplants can also absorb volatile organic compounds, a group of harmful chemicals that can seriously impact our physical health.

But aside from boosting our immune systems and getting our creative juices flowing, plants are an effective way to enhance our home decors. Foliage should be seen as a work of art. Hang a basket of flowers like you would hang a Monet. Stuff your shelves with overflowing flower pots like you would a library with books, and place cacti on your coffee table the way you’d place coasters. Indoor water features, wooden wind chimes in the window, pebbles and shells in the bathroom — it’s all basic, but it’s also brilliant. The trick is to capture the same vibe you feel when you’re on a stroll by the river or hiking up a steep mountain: fresh and blissful. Why not bring it home with you? 

How to Incorporate the Green

Earthy colors are so easy to mix with both quirky prints and minimalistic shades, so whatever your palette preference may be, green will always go. Whether you want to add a more rustic feel to your home with spiky cacti and driftwood decor or go for more trend-focused look by putting banana leaves against a pastel pink wall, you can never outgrow or outdo nature.

Try hanging foliage in glass baubles from the ceiling for an artsy modern look, or keep it simple by placing tiered plants on your shelving units. Living walls are another trend 2018 is welcoming with open arms. Popular in corporate environments as well as living rooms, these vertical gardens take up no floor space and sit like paintings on your walls.

Ivy and jade both work well in bathrooms that are lacking in natural light, whereas lavender can help one relax in the bedroom come nighttime. Plants have powerful properties that go way beyond their physical beauty, so research is essential in order to source the most possible magic from them! Bring texture and animation into your home so your soul can be at ease in the place where you’re meant to feel most nonchalant.

The post Why Home Interiors Need Nature first appeared on Dornob.

One of the project’s most contentious aspects has been its method of procuring funds for its chimney. In 2015, BIG launched a Kickstarter campaign asking for $15,000 in public donations to fund construction. Many questioned why this money hadn’t been included in the building’s initial budget and whether the steam ring generator was truly an architectural consideration or an artistic one. However, a lot of people still believed that BIG was trying to create something beneficial for the environment. The firm’s initial goal was reached less than a week after their campaign began. In total, 399 backers came together to pledge nearly $30,000 toward the completion of the smokestack.

Be sure to check out our site for updates on this monumental feat of design and architecture.

The post World’s Cleanest Power Plant to be Completed This Year first appeared on Dornob.

If you feel like the stuffy air, close confines, and general dreariness of your office environment is making you physically ill, you’re probably right. Many office buildings are poorly ventilated and either too dry or too damp, the latter condition leading to mold growth. Plus, everything from the paint on the walls to your coworkers’ perfume adds to the mix of chemicals you breathe in every day. But according to the NASA Clean Air Study, a variety of indoor plants can help filter all sorts of pollutants from the air, including benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, and ammonia.

With that knowledge, most offices might add a few hardy plants here and there, which is definitely better than nothing. But what happens when you take it to the extreme? Architecture firm Salgascano presents a stunning example of prioritizing greenery in the workplace with its design for Second Home Lisboa, a co-working space in Portugal’s capital city. The bright, airy complex provides an open-plan workspace and a variety of other facilities for its 250 members amidst the tropical foliage of over 1,000 plants.

The warehouse-style facility provides a high ceiling, lots of windows and plenty of artificial lighting to augment the daylight that comes streaming in through the glass. Curvilinear work surfaces flow throughout the space in organic arrangements, all topped with dozens of potted plants. Some of them stretch almost all the way toward the ceiling, and it’s easy to imagine the whole place feeling more and more like a lush jungle as they continue to grow.

Not only do the plants serve as a decorative element, they reduce background noise, improve the air quality, provide privacy and help boost the productivity and well-being of workers using the space. Wouldn’t you feel more inspired and focused if you were gazing at all that greenery every day instead of cubicle walls?

Selgascano’s efforts to make Second Home Lisboa a green, healthy space don’t stop there. The building was renovated with recycled and environmentally sustainable materials, and features an advanced radiant heating and cooling system to promote cross-air ventilation. This co-working space is set inside the Mercado Da Ribeira, a historic market hall built in 1892, and overlooks its rows of colorful produce in the market below.

“We wanted absolutely to maintain that inherited idea of one single open space, getting small companies to share a huge table divided in three, encouraging relationships,” says architect Lucia Cano. “The flowing design of the table gives members their own area of private space to focus on their work whilst keeping a sense of community.”

“Another big aim was to reduce the energy consumption of the building. Working with one of the best climate engineers we ever worked with, Adam Ritchie, we were able to eliminate the air-conditioning system and create a radiant floor system with natural ventilation taken from the ones used in a conventional greenhouse. And maybe that’s why we decided to give privacy and at the same time a better quality of air, placing 1,000 plants on the top of that big table.”

“Actually the plants are the only thing you notice when you enter the main space, even if 250 chairs, 100 lamps and 250 people are also hidden in between that densely occupied big ‘greenhouse table.'”

The post Breathing Easy at the Office: Co-Working Space Filled with 1,000 Plants first appeared on Dornob.

Airplantman sounds like a super hero, and maybe he is. His real name is Josh Rosen and he creates stunning air plant designs, including fantastic vertical squares to display a plethora of tillandsia aka Tillys.

Rosen’s piece the resistance is his large Airplantframe, a stunning piece of living art. The beautiful frame is made from an eco-friendly, powder-coated aluminum and hand-strung stainless steel cable. The materials are completely recyclable, and a percentage of the profits goes toward air plant eco system protection.

You can get your vertical garden started easily with the plant booster kit, which includes 10-20 species at different sizes, or sign up for club membership where fresh boxes arrive at your doorstep regularly. His website shows instructions on the “how to,” from light to watering, fertilization and more.

One can also get a gorgeous square frame measuring 11”x11” in hip colors such as matte black or white, and glossy orange or aqua.

Finally, there are a variety of stylish vessels made in ceramics, steel and wood to display the gorgeous tillandsia.

The post Airplantman: A Vertical Garden for Your Home first appeared on Dornob.

Imagine growing enough greens and veggies for you and your family to fit your daily needs – in a corner of your apartment. All the kale and herbs and melons you need. A whole tower of kale, if you so desire! The Nutritower makes it possible.

Urban and vertical farming have been gaining steam around the globe as of late. They could be a potential key factor in feeding our planet’s exploding population. But let’s just think of you and your veggie-growing kitchen for a moment. The NutriTower is an ingenuous indoor gardening system. The vertical hydroponic constellation allows you to grow fresh food right in your home. Size-wise, it comes in at just three square feet and a bit over seven feet tall. It can hold 48 pots! Its height is the key factor in producing enough food to yield a decent harvest every single day of the year. Built-in lighting permits you to grow anywhere in your house, regardless of light conditions.

The vertical system allows you to customize what you’d like to grow, including fruit and veggies such as tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, all kinds of fresh herbs and lettuce, as well as sturdy greens like kale and Swiss chard. Maintenance is rather minimal. The concept was designed by Bryce Nagels in Montreal, Canada, where folks deal with long winters. Besides the shortage of daylight for a long period of the year, Nagels was also concerned with limited space, since many of us live in urban areas in small condos and apartments.

The NutriTower arrives with a seedling starter kit featuring seeds, a three-month supply of plant nutrient formula, light bulbs, pump and timers. This indoor gardening system started as a Kickstarter campaign and received help from www.sparkinnovations.com. It will be available as of December 1, 2015, but it can be pre-ordered now.

Learn more at nutritower.com

The post Grow a Daily Harvest with the NutriTower Vertical Farm first appeared on Dornob.

Fresh herbs are integral to a well-prepared meal, and growing them right in your kitchen within arm’s reach of your prep counter couldn’t be more convenient. But let’s be honest. Most of us are a little too busy and distracted to keep up with a kitchen garden, and our efforts are likely to be wasted. That’s where smart design comes in. Few kitchen herb planters make the process of planting, growing and harvesting them easier than the Verdure, a wall-mounted planter which requires no more effort than a bit of water every now and then.

It doesn’t matter whether you have a black thumb or even a windowless kitchen; the Verdure makes indoor herb gardening as automatic as it can be. You simply plant seeds in the soil sponges, place them inside the designated trays, and add water. The plants grow upside-down.

A battery-powered halogen light helps the herbs thrive, and a transparent cover protects them from steam and oil while you’re cooking. Pour water into the reservoir, and the soil sponges will automatically soak it up as needed. A water level indicator on the front tells you when you need to add more.

When you’re ready to harvest, just pick up the included pair of scissors, trim away and your cuttings will fall into the removable tray at the base.

“As the exploded view shows, the upper area is built with one layer which features holes and five columns which works as a reservoir for the water,” the designers explain. “Water then goes under this layer and, the water slowly evaporates which then moisten the air that travels to the sponge through the holes. The sponge consists of five cuts from the bottom part. The users can then insert seeds into the cuts which then produces the seeds to grow downwards through the five columns.”

The post Grow Herbs in Your Kitchen with the Wall-Mounted Verdure Planter first appeared on Dornob.