Greetings from the Ecohouse Team!

February 3rd, 2011, 5:10 pm

Window Farm from the inside of the Ecohouse

Greetings from the Ecohouse Team! This semester we will be working on three projects centered around the Ecohouse.

The first project is to create something we can place in the window of the Ecohouse.  Thus far in the semester the Window team has been hard at work coming up with ideas as well as reading past legacy reports in regards to the window farm which is currently holding the place of honor in the front room of the house.

Ideas for this project include:

Continuing to work with the Window farm project

A water wall

A waterfall

Hard at work designing a drainage system for the Green House

The Green House Team is working closely with Jennifer Willet on creating a green house which will be built on the southern facing wall of the Ecohouse.  They have been hard at work reading previous legacy reports and coming up with design ideas to please everyone involved.

Another member of the group has discovered an interesting way to make your trip to the curb on recycling day a bit easier. Justin has found designs for a pop can air heater, and the team is creating a model of this idea to test it’s possible use with the green house.

The Lot Team is back in action. All three members have decided to come back after last year’s success and continue with the work to be done. Currently they are working hard to create a design for the lot which will benefit all the students at the University, by creating a place to hang out in the spring and fall.

Possible ideas for the lot include:

A brick bbq

Swings to sit on

A seating area

A garden

A covered area

A sculpture garden

The Window Farms are almost complete!

March 5th, 2010, 8:24 pm

The hydroponic window farm is almost complete. I’ve painted the bottles and installed a row of three bottles in order to test the pump system and the structural integrity of the structure.

So far there are no leaks, it’s holding up well and the water is flowing properly. I used weeds found outside to put in the clay pellets until we get plants.

Next, the team will be assessing what works within the design and move on to complete the rest of the farm, including: getting plants, hydroponic solution and possibly a temporary light system in order to keep plants alive in their current locaiton.

EcoHouse Group: Putting the ‘Eco’ in ‘EcoHouse’

January 24th, 2010, 3:06 pm

The EcoHouse Group, which consists of: Stephen (Bachelor of Fine Arts), Jason (Mechanical Engineering), Vincent (Mechanical Engineering) and Gabriel

(Mechanical Engineering), will be working on one of Green Corridors long term projects  called “EcoHouse.”

“A demonstration project that examines and illustrates environmentally-responsible living. An existing house is being converted so that it utilizes innovative solutions for energy efficiency and environmentally-sustainable living.”     -Green Corridor

One of our most promising projects for the house is the Window Farm initiative, a project that creates “suspended, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield light-augmented window farms using low-impact or recycled local materials.”     -Windowfarms.org

These planters were designed by Rebecca Bray and Britta Riley, an artist collective that have “set out to start a window farm craze in NYC. Britta and Rebecca will work with agricultural, architectural and other specialists to create high-profile prototype window farms and means for sharing design ideas to meet varying local situations around the city.”

Here’s a video on this exciting new project.

Window Farm Project