Redesigning Gardens in the Air
The transformation of our cities to reconnect them with Earth's ecosystems is a long but necessary process. In this proposal, we aim to start at a everyday scale: exploring how we can employ what we do not use in private spaces to cultivate vegetation on the façades of our buildings.
A significant portion of the buildings in our cities were designed without considering how their energy needs would have a major impact on our planet's climate. This issue is even more pronounced in disadvantaged neighborhoods, which are often built with fewer resources. However, we now have the technologies and ideas to reduce energy consumption without demolishing and rebuilding, which would also displace the families who live there.
This is where the Redesigning Gardens in the Air project comes in. As the name suggests, it is a new iteration of the Jardines en el Are initiative. In this project, we reclaim underutilized materials from daily human activities—such as water from air conditioners and organic waste—to green the façades of these older buildings. The aim is to integrate these value-driven practices into the small scale of our everyday lives.
A prototype of this project will be implemented in Tres Barrios-Amate, one of the lowest-income neighborhoods in Europe, located in Seville. The goal is to enhance the building façade's aesthetics, improve indoor climate conditions through passive technologies, and provide a degree of food autonomy via a vertical garden. The intervention will be carried out and developed in collaboration with the neighborhood’s residents, building on the groundwork previously established by Nomad Garden and Ecosistema 41.
About
-
General biography
The consortium is composed of the cooperative Tejares Once, the creative studio Nomad Garden, the association Ecosistema 41, and Fab Lab Sevilla as the tech provider. Additionally, we will collaborate with AES Candelaria and other local collectives.
-
Tejares Once (José Laulhé, coordination and design)
Tejares Once is a cooperative that promotes crafts and creative activities, primarily working with wood. It is developing the T11 project, through which it is rehabilitating the old Hat Factory in Seville. José Laulhé will be the representative for GitA, contributing his experience in digital fabrication.
-
Nomad Garden (design and prototyping)
The gardens are spaces of dialogue between society and nature, laboratories where the potential of plants and human desires are linked. Nomad Garden aims to encourage and rethink these alliances by developing ideas and tools to put them in value.
-
Fab Lab Seville (tech provider)
Fab Lab Seville is the first Fab Lab developed within a public university in Spain. It features a wide range of digital fabrication technologies, ample space for prototyping, and extensive experience to contribute.
-
Ecosistema 41 (practical end-user)
Ecosistema41 is the association established to carry out interventions alongside AES Candelaria. They specialize in connecting and implementing projects in collaboration with the local inhabitants of a place.
-
Team members
José Laulhé (Tejares Once) - Coordination
Fran Pazos (Nomad Garden) - Ecosistemic relationships
Salas Mendoza (Nomad Garden) - Technical Design
Sergio Rodríguez (Nomad Garden) - Conceptual Design
Enrique Vázquez (Fab Lab Seville) - Tech Provider Manager
Juan Carlos Pérez (Fab Lab Seville) - Fab Lab Technician
Toni Hurtado (Ecosistema 41) - In-Site Producer
María José Salas (AES Candelaria) - Communitary technician
