haldane martin: wallflower vertical garden system

‘wallflower vertical garden’ by haldane martin

on the occasion of design indaba 2011, south african designer haldane martin presented for the first time to the public his ‘wallflower vertical garden system’.

the modular planter enables urban city dwellers to grow their own organic vegetables and plants on vertical walls where ground space is limited. the structural composition of the product utilizes a fractal, honeycomb pattern in which martin has biomimicked the space efficient packing array of the actual honeycomb of bees to create nested niches that hold soil and plants.

wallflower vertical garden system, rendered on design indaba 10 x 10 house

the modular system is made up of wall mounted planters made from recycled, UV stable roto-moulded polyethylene plastic that come in three different sizes, creating a hexagonal pattern that climbs up vertical systems. the varying sizes are designed for the differing soil depth requirements for a range of vegetables. for example, large planters are for root vegetables such as carrots, medium planters are for fruits like tomatoes and small planters are designed for leaf vegetables like lettce. the planters also accommodate foliage such as creapers or scculents. these containers are attached using recycled stainless steel brackets.

wallflower exploded view

a metal trellising and branching, water efficient drip irrigation system whose design draws on the water and nutrient distribution network of plan leaf and branching patterns, is mounted onto the brackets behind the planters, creating a network of pipes that run up the wall. this modular tripod trellis enables climbing plants such as beans tomatoes or creepers to spread out beyond the planters. feeder pipes enter the planters from behind, that sit just below the soil surface irrigating the plants with water efficient, self-regulating, dripper valves. a liquid, organic, nutrient delivery system can also be incorporated into the irrigation system. drainage holes are positioned within the planters allowing excess water to filter from one planter into another below, minimizing water loss.

‘wallflower vertical garden’ is registered as a crowd-funding campaign on kickstarter.

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication.we have already acquired many submissions, so keep on the lookout for more of your projects to be published in the coming days!