Week 4 Progress

Using bamboo as one of the construction materials was proposed. Bamboo is a sustainable nature composite material that has relatively good mechanical properties. Using bamboo also adds an aesthetic value to the product that using PVC is lack of. The final design is as follows. Two long bamboo poles with holes spaced evenly throughout the columns will be used for the vertical structure on two sides. These holes will have a semi-conical pocket that holds lettuce plants in place. These two vertical poles are connected by two more horizontal struts that will house the tomato and cucumber hydroponic systems. The entire module will be 4 feet wide and 7~8 feet tall. The bamboo poles will be approximately 6 inches in diameter and 8 feet tall.

The visit to the ACE hardware store brought some inspirations on materials selection. The main goal for the trip was to find hose that could be fed through the bamboo and connect the nutrient solution reservoir with the plants in the hydroponic system, and find a pump large enough to move the water through the system but small enough to fit well into the design and to prevent excess pressure buildup. While the trip was informative, the store did not have most of the products that were necessary for the design; however, ordering online is still an option.

Specific, concrete ideas for the hydroponic system will be brought to the following week's lab and the best design elements from each idea will be selected for the construction of the final design. Also, literature research will be continuing during the week (see [11], [12], [13] in Reference tab).

Week 3 Progress

The coarse design of the module was made, and the varieties of plants to be cultivated was discussed, as shown in Figure 1. After analyzing factors such as growth success rate, consumer demand, and ideal companion plants, The final decision is to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce. Modifications were applied to the design of the previous week. Two vertical posts are the support of the whole planter and two parallel horizontal beams will connect the columns. These two horizontal posts will have plants growing both up as well as upside-down.The watering system for the planter is changed to a hydroponic system in the module to reduce the planter's weight and to idealize growing conditions for the plants while making the system cleaner and easier to maintain. An example of the system is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Coarse Planter Design (not to scale)

Figure 2. Example of Hydroponics [10]

The material composition of the planter was discussed. The main building material or materials must be relatively inexpensive and lightweight, while being strong enough to support the weight of the plants and the running water, as well as survive outdoors conditions. Besides, the budget must be fine-tuned for consumer cost estimates. The materials selection details are to be discussed in the following weeks. 

The actual plants for the final module and presentation have been purchased as seedlings and are currently growing so that they will be of a properly impressive size by the end-of-term presentations.

The plan for the following week is to prepare for and start the mechanical design.

Week 2 Progress

The deliverable for this week is to finalize the objectives of the project. The original plan was having vertical urban farming on the sides of buildings, such as old warehouses or parking garages. These plants can perform many different tasks for the city. For example, they can decrease the amount of extra carbon dioxide in the air and then increase the amount of oxygen. Fruits and vegetables are chosen to be the plants for vertical farming so that people may grow some of their own fresh food  in the city. This plan can be very efficient, but obtaining permissions to grow on those buildings would take a great portion of the limited time. After reevaluating the feasibility, a new approach replaced the original idea. The new approach is to design kits that have supplies for people to put together their own vertical gardens.

Growing method was discussed. Different farming approaches were brainstormed, including trellis, flaps, bags, PVC towers, tiers, and upside down growing. Growing factors and potential problems to each of these styles were evaluated, such as sustainability, cost, space use, aesthetics, and so on. A chart was made to list the if the method meets each criteria, as shown in Table 1. According to the statistics, upside-down growing and trellis growing appear to be the best growing methods.

Table 1. Statistics of the Evaluations on Different Growing Styles

Instead of choosing one of the best growing methods, the product of the project is decided to be a module that incorporated vertical farming on a trellis along with upside down farming underneath. The module contains a box in the middle filled with two layers of soil and with a trellis on top. The plants in the upper layer soil will grow vertically along the trellis, and the plants in the lower layer to grow upside-down from the bottom of the box. Such design can give people more space to grow plants. The box can be separated into the top and bottom halves, so it is easier to make different combinations of plants for multiple modules. People could buy kits that grew vegetables or flowers or herbs or a variety of different plants.


The plan for the following week is to discuss plants selections and the structure design. By the end of the week, a general sketch of a module will be produced.

Week 1 Progress

The general topic chosen for the project is Materials Selection for Sustainability. During the brainstorming process of possible projects, many great ideas were come up with, and among them, urban vertical farming was agreed to be the most beneficial and effective project. The project on urban vertical farming involves plants selection, construction materials selection, mechanical design and construction. The product will reflect the theme of sustainability on at least three aspects: providing fresh oxygen, providing fresh food, and using the space in urban area more effectively.

Video 1. Living with the Land Greenhouse tour at Epcot, Walt Disney World

Growing plants is a widely adopted sustainable solution for providing cleaner air in urban area. Drexel University's very own Biowalls is one example. According to Dr. Russell's lecture, the Biowalls use the microbes of different plants to perform bio-filtration to eliminate the harmful Volatile Organic Compounds. Another is example is the Living with the Land Greenhouse at Epcot, Disney World, as shown in Video 1, where there are many revolutionary types of plants growing. By focusing on renewable farming techniques and applying best-practices in technology, the researchers and scientists that work at the Greenhouse have been able to dramatically increase crop yields in low-soil environments, engineering tomato plants that produce up to 35,000 tomatoes in 16 months, lettuce plants that produce tens of thousands of heads of lettuce [9]. 

The advantage of this project is that the product is designed to produce the most amount of food using the least amount of space while cleaning the air.