Re-Imagining Indoor Gardening Systems: Ceramic Light Fixtures as Food Growing Typologies
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Date
2024-04-29
Authors
Murray, Taylor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
In recent years, many Canadians have shown interest in growing their own food at home as a form of recreational hobby, to address concerns of self-sufficiency, and to
encourage greater environmental sustainability. However, individuals living in small urban
apartments are less likely to be able to start their own gardens due to distinct barriers
such as a lack of time, space and gardening knowledge. This raises the question: How can
design interventions enable apartment inhabitants to overcome these barriers and begin
the practice of at-home food growing? While many systems for indoor gardening exist
today, they face design challenges such as the construction of environmentally harmful
materials, the lack of an architectural design language, and limitations on their ability to
use aesthetics to create beauty. Innovation in the development of architectural ceramic
assemblies provides an opportunity to use these systems to propose new typologies for
indoor food growing that remedy the design flaws of existing indoor gardening systems.
Therefore, this thesis will design and construct new typologies for indoor gardens using
clay 3D printers to create multi-functional ceramic components for food growing. These
new typologies are explored through a case study, which develops the indoor gardens
as a light fixture. Additional applications for the food growing systems, such as in wall
assemblies and cladding systems, are discussed in the research outlook. The key impact of
this research is to develop a new aesthetic and architectural quality for indoor residential
agriculture.
Description
Keywords
Indoor gardening, Clay 3D printing, Light fixtures, Digital fabrication, Urban agriculture