When we first saw this amazing mobile subway garden, we were floored – but then we realized that it doesn’t exist yet. That’s right, the green art project for Chicago is still being worked on, and there is a chance that without additional funding it might not become a reality. The basic gist of the installation is a native plant …
When we first spotted this enchanting vertical garden over at TokyoGreenSpace, we thought "Sweet, another beautiful green wall to ogle." Well, that's all fine and dandy, but there's more here than meets the eye. Hidden amongst the multi-textured leaves and blooms is a door that leads to - surprise! - a bar/cafe. And as if there weren't enough greenery on the outside of this clandestine eatery, the inside is a veritable jungle filled with ferns, palms and even a flower shop!
Gardening indoors can be tricky – especially when growing plants that require carefully controlled environments with lots of light. Enter Pocket Grow’s LabBox, a high-tech planter that is being billed as the world’s smallest automatic hydroponic system on the market. This fully-contained terrarium uses an automatic drip irrigation system and high-intensity, energy-efficient LED lights to keep your plants healthy. Plus, the trippy purple …
If you’re looking for a more eco-friendly alternative to ceramic pots for your windowsill garden, these wool felt pots offer an artful way to outfit your plants. Each Beehive Bowl is made from 100% wool felt and is handcrafted at one of the last remaining millineries around. Available in an array of colors, each sturdy shape is soft to the touch and …
At the edge of the rolling hills of England’s Cotswolds, developer Westmorland Ltd has gotten the OK to build a green service station that sets aside space for EV charging stations next to the petrol pumps and will serve locally-grown food in its market, prohibiting fast food chains. The M5 service stop will echo traditional local architecture and will have its very own vegetable garden and a green roof to shelter the pumps. But is it just, as we say on this side of the pond, lipstick on a pig?
Many city dwellers would love the opportunity to grown their own vegetables, but they often lack the space to do so. Seeking to provide a solution, New Zealand-based architect Tim Stephens has designed an urban farm that we think city folk could really dig their hands into. Spotted at ArchDaily, the Huntington Urban Farm is a model for urban gardening that provides individuals and families with container plots and creates a place for markets and community gatherings in the heart of the city.
Photo by Danica O.Kus
Norwegian design studio PUSHAK recently installed a breathtaking series of moss-covered arches in the entry and gallery space of The Architecture Foundation’s London headquarters. Dubbed Moss Your City, the project was installed during the London Festival of Architecture as a part of the foundation’s international exchange program, which promotes emerging architects in both Norway and the UK. The project encourages individuals “to become foresters in their own city” by participating in guerilla gardening actions.
If you’re looking for a way to transform your garden or terrace without dealing with messy and expensive construction, you might want to check out these modular planters and green walls from MAXIMIZE Design. The movable components sit on recessed wheels and can slide over any hard surface with ease. The pots are made from recycled plastics and the walls feature felt pockets and …
Being green is no guarantee that you’ll have a green thumb — a number of us at Inhabitat will vouch for that! Although we’d all like to be able to grow a plant or two, the thought of an inevitable death at our hands is enough to keep most of us from even trying to maintain a cactus. But fret no more, a new pot designed by 22-year-old Briton, Natalie King, just may be the solution to that black thumb. Equipped with a built-in sensor, the Tulipe Pot is a smart product that lights up whenever a plant is in need of attention.
Bored to tears by run-of-the-mill, non-glowing plant pots (so very 2009)? Then feast your eyes on these babies. Illuminated by LED lights, these luminescent planters from Rotoluxe are translucent, giving your ferns and ficuses a most ethereal-looking receptacle to reside in.
Currently 29% of New York’s waste stream is made up of materials that could be composted instead of sent to live forever in landfill purgatory. Imagine the decrease in sanitation costs, transportation costs and overall environmental costs if we were able to divert that waste back into the ground. That’s why we’re jazzed about this new project that will bring composting — by bike — to New York City! They need to raise $6,000 by September first to start their compost-by-bike project and they are giving away a slew of rad prizes for donations, so read on to learn how you can contribute!.
A warehouse rooftop in Brooklyn is probably the last place you’d expect to see a farm — however this year the Broadway Stages Building burst forth with a burgeoning rooftop crop of fruits and vegetables. Measuring 6,000 square feet, the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is one of the few places in New York you can catch a view of a bed of lettuce growing against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. The farm is an incredible local establishment that boasts a diverse crop of organic vegetables and even maintains a colony of Italian honey bees! Their onsite market — which is open to the public on Sundays — gives any enterprising individual the opportunity to purchase freshly-picked vegetables and learn about the process of organic farming in an urban environment.
Not that we condone fast food or anything — because we don’t, it is unhealthy for us and the environment — but we can’t say we weren’t fascinated by what this Japanese Subway sandwich shop is doing. They’ve started growing hydroponic lettuce right in the middle of the store – talk about local ingredients! In order to make this truly sustainable, they’d have to start growing all of their veggies in-house, but for now, this is a great start. Not only is this hyper-local lettuce healthy, it’s a great visual centerpiece for the space.
We didn’t think Paris could get any more beautiful, but a recent installation on the Champs Elysees proves that the city of lights is a stir pot for stunning things constantly in flux. Artist Gad Weil recently hit the streets of the city with an amazing installation that transformed the famed boulevard into an incredible stretch of greenery. Dubbed “Nature Capitale,” Weil’s work of art took 8,000 parcels – totaling 323,000 square feet of land – and covered them with lush plant life. The incredible undertaking provided a welcoming space for over 2 million Parisians and tourists alike to frolic and laze some of the summer days away.
This past April we got excited for this year’s FIGMENT Festival after taking a sneak peek at the design drawings and plans for the event’s Living Pavilion. Now that the annual festival has come and gone, Figment’s City of Dreams Pavilion Completion-winning creation stands erected on Governors Island, where it will reside all summer long! The designers, Ann Ha and Behrang Behin kindly provided us with some awesome images of the 10-foot tall structure that is made of recycled-incentive milk crates planted with both sun and shade-friendly growing surfaces.
Garden space is hard to come by in dense urban places, so enterprising urban gardeners have to get creative. Formwerkz, a Singapore-based architecture firm, was asked by one of their clients to design a home that maximized the garden space on their 300 sq meter lot. The resulting house includes a vertical living wall and green roof that is not only beautiful and functional, but also serves to improve the building’s performance.
The typical seed bomb explodes in slow motion — the ball of compost, mud, and seeds dissolves as the plants sprout and colonize the bomb site. These flower grenades from suckUK explode very literally. The outer shell of unfired clay shatters upon impact, leaving a fodder of soil and flower seeds! Now guerilla gardening comes with the delicious crunch of destruction.
Just in time for the World Cup, PostCarden has released this clever mini-garden greeting card to pay homage to the beautiful game of “Football” (apparently what they call it in the rest of the world). Combining gift and greeting card, PostCarden’s Football design is a fun way to share your …
