mobile: Prinzessinnengarten

Nomadisch Grün (Nomadic Green) launched Prinzessinnengärten (Princess gardens) as a pilot project in the summer of 2009 at Moritzplatz in Berlin Kreuzberg, a site which had been a wasteland for over half a century. Along with friends, fans, activists and neighbours, the group cleared away rubbish, built transportable organic vegetable plots and reaped the first fruits of their labour.

Imagine a future where every available space in big cities is used to let new green spaces bloom. Green spaces that local residents create themselves and use to produce fresh and healthy food. The result would be increased biological diversity, less CO₂ and a better microclimate. The spaces would promote a sense of community and the exchange of a wide variety of competencies and forms of knowledge, and would help people lead more sustainable lives. They would be a kind of miniature utopia, a place where a new style of urban living can emerge, where people can work together, relax, communicate and enjoy locally produced vegetables.

In future ever more people will be living in cities rather than in rural areas. The city will therefore become the decisive place for the development of more sustainable ways of eating, living and moving. The city of the future should be a climate-friendly, pleasant place to live, where every care is taken to conserve our natural resources. 

Prinzessinnengärten is a new urban place of learning. It is where locals can come together to experiment and discover more about organic food production, biodiversity and climate protection. The space will help them adapt to climate change and learn about healthy eating, sustainable living and a future-oriented urban lifestyle.

With this project Nomadisch Grün intends to increase biological, social and cultural diversity in the neighbourhood and pioneer a new way of living together in the city.

Urban agriculture on Moritzplatz

 

- The story so far -

For half a century Moritzplatz hid in the shadows of the Berlin Wall. This almost forgotten corner, once zoned as a motorway junction, is now experiencing a new lease of life.
First it was just a vision: Sitting in the middle of our field at sunset, the wind rustling through the poplars, the air scented by ripe tomatoes and fresh herbs, chatting with our friends and neighbours, having a good time – right in the middle of the city !

This was the picture Robert brought home to Berlin after a trip to Cuba. In Havana and other cities, agricultura urbana is not just about producing one’s own vegetables but more about creating an urban living-, working- and meetingplace. This is where neighbours would gather and adults would pass on their knowledge to children
as they relax over a cup of coffee.
“Let’s do it in Berlin!”, with this rallying call and the help of children, youth, neighbours and friends we are transforming Moritzplatz into an urban garden, café and place of working, learning and relaxing.

Nomadisch Grün (Nomadic Green)
Starting in the summer of 2009, the non-profit company „Nomadisch Grün“ has leased a site in Berlin/Kreuzberg in order to create a mobile urban farm:

The Prinzessinnengarten.

Locally grown organic vegetables
Our fresh, organic, locally produced herbs and vegetables are grown in raised compost beds without using any pesticides or artificial fertilisers.

Mobile Gardening
Nomadisch Grün stands for mobile gardening. We temporarily
transform unused spaces such as buildingsites, car parks and roofs into urban farmland and green meeting places.

Sustainable Living
The Prinzessinnengarten is a place of discovery where children, neighbours, experts and those curious about sustainable living can come together to about and explore alternative visions for our city.

Hedonism as we understand it
Our garden is a place of pleasure and rejuvenation. Relax and enjoy watching the vegetables being harvested and freshly prepared in our small garden restaurant.

Help grow a new city: Join in.
We couldn’t wait, so we’ve already started.
Come along and find your role – together we are building the future of our city.

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Biologically Inspired Engineering : SHRLIK

"Shrilk" could one day replace plastic in consumer products, be used to suture wounds, and serve as scaffolding for tissue regeneration.

 Shrilk is similar in strength and toughness to an aluminum alloy, but it is only half the weight. Shown here is a replica of an insect wing, which was made with the new material.

BOSTON -- Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a new material that replicates the exceptional strength, toughness, and versatility of one of nature's more extraordinary substances -- insect cuticle. Also low-cost, biodegradable, and biocompatible, the new material, called "Shrilk," could one day replace plastics in consumer products and be used safely in a variety of medical applications.

The research findings appear today in the online issue of Advanced Materials. The work was conducted by Wyss Institute postdoctoral fellow, Javier G. Fernandez, Ph.D., with Wyss Institute Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. Ingber is the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston and is a Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Natural insect cuticle, such as that found in the rigid exoskeleton of a housefly or grasshopper, is uniquely suited to the challenge of providing protection without adding weight or bulk. As such, it can deflect external chemical and physical strains without damaging the insect's internal components, while providing structure for the insect's muscles and wings. It is so light that it doesn't inhibit flight and so thin that it allows flexibility. Also remarkable is its ability to vary its properties, from rigid along the insect's body segments and wings to elastic along its limb joints.

Insect cuticle is a composite material consisting of layers of chitin, a polysaccharide polymer, and protein organized in a laminar, plywood-like structure. Mechanical and chemical interactions between these materials provide the cuticle with its unique mechanical and chemical properties. By studying these complex interactions and recreating this unique chemistry and laminar design in the lab, Fernandez and Ingber were able to engineer a thin, clear film that has the same composition and structure as insect cuticle. The material is called Shrilk because it is composed of fibroin protein from silk and from chitin, which is commonly extracted from discarded shrimp shells.

Shrilk is similar in strength and toughness to an aluminum alloy, but it is only half the weight. It is biodegradable and can be produced at a very low cost, since chitin is readily available as a shrimp waste product. It is also easily molded into complex shapes, such as tubes. By controlling the water content in the fabrication process, the researchers were even able to reproduce the wide variations in stiffness, from elasticity to rigidity.

These attributes could have multiple applications. As a cheap, environmentally safe alternative to plastic, Shrilk could be used to make trash bags, packaging, and diapers that degrade quickly. As an exceptionally strong, biocompatible material, it could be used to suture wounds that bear high loads, such as in hernia repair, or as a scaffold for tissue regeneration.

"When we talk about the Wyss Institute's mission to create bioinspired materials and products, Shrilk is an example of what we have in mind," said Ingber. "It has the potential to be both a solution to some of today's most critical environmental problems and a stepping stone toward significant medical advances."

For more information:
http://wyss.harvard.edu/
twig.mowatt@wyss.harvard.edu

breathing construction: archytipe

Pioneering Timber Construction

Value: £450k; client: The Horniman Museum; complete: 1995

 

 

 

 

  

 

London Wildlife Trust Education Centre & Centre for Understanding the Environment, Horniman Museum Architype’s Centre for Understanding the Environment at the Horniman Museum in South London was built as an expressive, highly visual demonstration of ecological building. The design incorporates a natural passive ventilation system routed through large section hollow prefabricated timber beams and columns, integrating structure and services. The building collects rainwater, recycles its own greywater through reed beds, generates electricity through photo-voltaic cells, heats water through solar collectors, and utilizes the reed bed water for auditorium cooling. 

 

The centre won a ‘Green Building of the Year’ award in 1997 

 

Our award winning and much loved centre for the London Wildlife Trust creates an idyllic garden within a residential street. The building itself was the first in the UK to employ a ‘breathing’ construction using recycled newspaper insulation. The orientation of the building is designed to maximise solar gain in autumn, winter and spring. In summer, natural through-ventilation is created and solar shade maximised. Non-toxic paints, stains and floor finishes are used throughout. 

 

Community Enterprise Times Environment Award, 1992; Green Building of the Year Awards Commendation, 1993

Value: £56k; client: London Wildlife Trust; complete: 1992