The Urban Greenhouse

This is the our group's end result of project 1.

It is a 1:6 scale model of an urban greenhouse.  The idea was to address issues around existing food infrastructure.  We wanted to suggest a method for the urban dweller to grow their own food with minimal impact on their lifestyle.  The greenhouse mounts outside of an apartment window, and it offers a temperature and moisture regulated environment for plants to grow.  The owner should only have to harvest the food that they grow.

In order to regulate the environment, this greenhouse would have built in sensors that measure temperature and humidity.  The sensors are connected to a motor, which would open and close the windows.  The windows can be used to ventilate and cool down the environment if it gets too hot, and also to collect rainwater when it gets too dry.

In its final form, our model responded to changes in heat.  In order to demonstrate this, Alex put his finger (a source of heat) over the heat sensor.  Once the sensor reached a certain temperature, the windows opened.  After removing his finger and allowing the sensor to cool down, the windows closed.