Aire Acondicionado
Green air conditioner - Image found on Urbanarbolismo's website
Who?
Urbanarbolismo is a young group of people based in Spain that works with architecture and nature.
What?
With Aire acondicionado project they propose a green wall as climate control solution. Each liter of water evaporated by vegetation produces 0.64 kWh of cooling air, this is the natural way that plants use to refrigerates.
Why?
It could be a good alternative for climate control inside the offices growing different kind of plants on the walls.
Vertical Garden
Who?
Patrick Blanc is a french botanist, working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he specializes in plants from tropical forests. He is the modern innovator of the green wall.
What?
A vertical garden’s aims are the isolation of the building, the depollution of an area and the “green” design of the building. There isn’t any place where plants can’t grow up. The artist starts the process and then nature takes over.
Why?
This natural ventilation system will force the urban air to get more oxygen in the Fabriek area, as this air passes through the vertical garden wall to be released into the atmosphere. Moreover, this vertical garden would protect the building and save up to 30% of the energy during summer.
WallGarden
Who?
This is a project by Studio Lord Interior Architecture, which aims for a dynamic practice for interior architecture with a focus on creating unique and healthy interiors as well as sustainable designs.
What?
WallGarden is a system of vertical growing supported by an online community. The goal is to link the wealth of knowledge of the Dutch growing industry via design to the home gardener for use on a small scale. By using modern growing techniques and efficient space-saving design, the goal is to create living walls that will produce fresh air alongside small crops for personal use. The WallGarden platform will link users together and facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience. On the platform site, you can find instructions for setting up a system, find out which plants are best suited for a WallGarden, share your own growing experiments, and find other users to share your excess crops with. Next to the platform, technology can be integrated so that the WallGarden can stay in contact with it's owner by sending tweets that it needs more water or other maintenance. Read more about this project on our Growing Mediamatic blog here.
Why?
This project can provide a good way to include the community and new media in the growing of a garden wall. The wall can function to clean the air in the Fabriek, but also provide a way to bring neighbours together through different forms of social media.
FraîcheStories
Who?
Fred Sionis and Jerome Garzon are the two designers behind MACHIN MACHIN and the research project FraîcheStories.
What?
This research project on cooling houses is composed of three objects: a door frame to generate air currents (FraîcheTablo), a natural air conditioner (FraîchePo) and a fan (FraîcheVentilo). This functions as a more affordable substitute for the electric air conditioner and relies on the exchanges between water and air. Their design is based on the adaptation of older concepts of places and culture to contemporary principle, but also on physical phenomena : human perspiration, evaporation and air motions.
FraîcheTablo consists of an assembly of PVC foam strips. It attaches to the door frame and allows you to lock the door while it's ajar, thereby letting outside air in so that air currents are generated. The second object, FraîchePo, is a natural air conditioner. It is composed of a double skin ceramic in which water is poured. Placed in front of the window, exposed to sunlight, it literally 'sweats', causing the cooling of the expelled air. Unlike a standard fan which only stirs up ambient air, FraîcheVentilo generates cool air. This air is charged with water by a wet core of polyacrylamide gel and then expelled through the plastic strips that form the structure of the device.
Why?
For spaces that are full of dust and stale air, this designed ventilation would be a good climate control solution.