Department: MassArt Sustainable Prototype Project
Title: Climate Culture Symposium
Date: Summer 2013
The story is that Seth Jalbert and I began studying sustainable design together. We put our heads together and designed several utilities of sustainable design. We brought diagrams and drawings of these designs to a teacher of ours and she actually helped us find funding. We created the first iterations of three designs. I focused on the green wall.
I am a plant specialist. I have worked as a horticulturalist, a green roof installation contractor, and an organic landscaper, in addition to studying from books. I understood something that green walls before have not; how to create the perfect soil medium for edible plants on a green wall. The soil is lightweight, technically hydroponic, with a special microbial mixture that creates the host defense network from most diseases and bacteria.
We realized the green wall would be a worthwhile project because it is a combination of architecture and super efficient food production that although effective has not yet been thoroughly integrated into popular designs today.
The Green Wall was a success! The plants flourished and began growing immediately after being transplanted (in a rather crude way) to their extremely habitable new environment. The new soil in the fabric pockets was a combination of Mycelium that creates a the essential microbial network in soil that the original old growth forest designed. The wall becomes a symbiotic organism! A self regulating plant guild! Every species in the wall has a purpose. The first row on the bottom is a special bug repellant species that can be used to make lotions and deters pests from the wall. There are tons of edible greens, cooking spices, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, even medicinal herbs, and flowers that promote bees.
This special green wall is easy to maintain and is easily accessible. This can function as something that is effective for people who can not easily access food markets, such as the elderly and disabled. The wall requires no prior gardening experience to be able to provoke this network of edible plants to thrive.