Initial Concept, Part 1 - Simon Crane.

The initial concept for this project revloved around the idea of the residents having acsess or use of a personal or communoty garden to grow produce or plants for aesthetic look. From this theme spawned a number of poissible interations of how residents could interact with a garden.

2 main idea's emerged, revolving around the use of seating, and the involving the balcony. 
From the balcony, I deleveloped two ideas. Thie first being a personal hanging hydroponics kit from the balcony. This would allow the residents to personally curate their own garden with out the use of dirt.

The second balcony idea was based around increasing the aesthetics of the buildings. Baclony hanging planter boxes would be use to help break up the grid like system of the site. The boxes would grow vine and creeper plants the would stretch down the sides of buildings, like the artist Patrick Blancs work.

The seating idea came about by wanting to create a prodcut that allowed the elderly people to tend to their garden for a long time whith out having to bend over or be on the ground. It wouyld also invoke social interaction, with seats and gardens alike being able to be pulled together to create groups. The alow for a modular system and also different ways of growing plants, through open top and greenhouse like effects.

Simon_crane_212_project_2_slide
 

Artist Research/Precedent - Patrick Blanc - Simon Crane

http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/#/en/projects/typological

Patrick Balnc is a botantist and artist who utlises plants to create vertical plant facades on the sides of buildings. His work is a great precednt for this site, which has many large vertical faces that beg to be utilised. 

He asks the question, how else can we involve plant life into residential and urban schemes, and how can we do this effectivley and aesthetically.

 

(download)