Domestic Garden

Brief | Domestic Garden
Project Leaders | Claudio Moderini & Domenico Pisaturo
Project Assistants | Renzo Giusti & Sigrid Wiederhecker
Group Members | Nanandruethai Dhanasundara, Giorgio Partesana, Lars Rosengren

Idea | Problem | Context

Our reference framework origins from our symbiotic relation to nature, the role of the garden in our home and how living organisms could be used to visualise data and communicate with people. We have assumed that one of the primary reasons people have difficult to develop sustainable behaviours, is that we do not have sufficient awareness of the impact of our behaviours.

The intention with the project is to inspire the inhabitant of an urban apartment to act more responsibly toward the environment. The inhabitant becomes aware of the amount of his consumption relative to the geographical context he/she lives in, for example relative to the average inhabitant of the city. The project aims to incorporate a real living vegetal interface acting as media in the apartment. The garden’s health and status reflects the owner’s responsible and sustainable behaviour.

What is it?

The main intention of the project Bioaware is to provide a relatively tangible feedback to the user’s sustainable behaviour. Besides the informational function, the Bioaware device can have a positive influence on the users’ health, as it is made by living vegetal organisms. This could indirectly influence the user’s behaviour and contribute to make him/her more affectionate and responsible.

How it works

To achieve this we utlise plants which express a certain characteristic, such as movement, light or change in colour by the means of stimuli. There is promising research that indicate new technologies that will enable us to manipulate plants. The stimuli to which plants could react are mainly heat, electricity, chemicals, magnetic fields and of course light.

For the inhabitant to become aware of his/her behaviours, he/she will need feedback on the consumption patterns of resources such as water, energy and waste. Such data can be retrieved by connecting appropriate sensors to the existing sources in the apartment. The data is then transmitted via bluetooth wireless protocol, and becomes input to the electronic unit that controls the garden status by activating the appropriate stimuli to obtain tangible feedback to the inhabitant.

The garden is connected to the internet, and uses information from a web service, to map the inhabitants behaviour in relation to similar information from the local community. The web interface also enables the user to configure his garden, and define the targets of consumption for himself. On periodical basis, for example once a month, it is  possible for the garden to create simple messages, to advice the user on simple changes that could have a positive effect on his daily consumption patterns.

Value and Potential

The user directly benefits from;

Awareness of how his own responsible actions impacts the environment through visual feedback
Unobtrusive system, with functional as well as emotional value

We see future potential to further explore;

Using living plants to visualise these data (vegetal display technology)
Stimulating affection to develop responsible behaviours
Using contextual awareness to enhance the user’s perception of the impact of his actions
Unobtrusive domestic interfaces, such as the garden as opposed to traditional digital systems.
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