From the Series
New York-based non-profit design group Terreform ONE have recently revealed a prototype for their Urban Farm Pod. The futuristic pod is the organisation's contribution to the future of urban farming. In places where space for agriculture is scarce, Terreform ONE believe families could take farming to a vertical form.
The group described the product as a “living” cabin for individuals and urban nuclear families to grow and provide for their daily vegetable needs.
Based on the principles of Agronomy (the science of using plants as fuel, food, fibre and land reclamation), the inhabitable pod plugs ecology into city spaces. “It can be outfitted with a number of optional systems to adapt to different locations, lighting conditions, and habitation requirements,” says the group.
The sphere prototype is made of reclaimed flat packed materials. It comes fitted with a sub-irrigation system and its shaped foam panels serve as sleeves for planting and potting.
In the future, Terreform ONE hopes to naturally grow the structure over time “within a new form of mediated arboreal culture, to integrate the biological and mechanical elements more closely, to transform the object into one that grows and changes symbiotically.”