Swedish furniture giant IKEA has just released free plans to the world that will allow people to build a sustainable garden within the walls of their homes.
Space 10, an IKEA laboratory that’s used for creating futuristic, sustainable designs, released the plans for the Growroom, a big, multi-tier spherical garden that can be set up indoors. It will allow its owner to grow enough food for an entire neighborhood.
The idea to release this plan for a sustainable garden for free came to fruition as a result of IKEA’s desire to empower local food growing. There is currently a debate raging within scientific and environmentalist communities around the world regarding the sustainability of the global food model that’s in place today. It’s believed that if local food growing can be revived on a large scale once again, it would go a long way toward mitigating some of the more harmful effects of industrialized global food production.
What’s more, a return to more locally-based food growing would also reduce the distances that food has to travel before it’s bought and consumed, as well as help to educated children about where food actually comes from.
The only problem with local farming is that it takes up a lot of space, therefore built-up urban environments aren’t ideal, but the Growroom gets around that by being only 2.8 x 2.5 meters. Seeing as it’s designed for vertical growth, and thanks to its compact dimensions, it means that it can be set up almost anywhere.
All you need to get started is to download the plans for the Growroom from the internet and get your hands on some plywood, rubber hammers, and metal screws. Perhaps inevitably, a little patience is also unlikely to go amiss as you’re trying to put up this contraption…
In addition contributing to the local food supply, the Growroom is also designed to support people’s general well-being by creating a little, green oasis and allow them to connect with nature. The spherical structure is also capable of standing freely. You can download the plans to build your very own here.
