Monday, 23 June 2008

How might a wandering balcony garden look?

Cat's chook, waiting for us to design him a glorious balcony home

View the 'Visual inspriations' post first (over to the right), to see what we hope to create.
Below are our early sketches of the shapes of things to come, waiting for your good ideas and feedback so we can develop them.
Here I am, having a go at a water system for one of the gardens. The first flush of (dusty urban) rain is diverted into the wetland pond, the rain that falls though clean air, onto a cleaned roof, goes to feed the edibles. This system is gravity-powered, floatation-powered, and capillary-action powered with wetpots watering the plants roots. Completely passive. Suitable for viewing with the tinny perched on your belly.
Here is the t.v for the Blokegarden, by Cat


Maybe we will put some TV antena to good use, for some extra shade and green. By Cat

back-to-back style garden, in Yin and Yang formation. Topless!
How about this roof?
Or maybe patchwork?

The dividing wall has a window in the middle, so the lovers can sit in their own worlds, and still be intimately linked. A mere shift of their gaze, and their eyes connect.

Here is the diverter system, doing its thing in Michael Mobs Sustainable house, where I got the idea from:

Sustainable House collection system for catching urban rain as pure drinking water, illustration by Cecilia

Friday, 20 June 2008

Balcony Garden dreaming, visual inspirations

This tired old world needs its visionaries and its doers to meet up every now and then. This 3x2m walkabout balcony garden is a good spot for it. Ingenious inventors, craftspeople, designers and one worthwhile patron are all invited to make the world's loveliest cubbyhouse.
What may it look like?
Compact, recycled, quirky, and approachable.
Artistic influences include:


Tage Anderson, Genius Danish artist and florist
Shaun Tan 'The Rabbits'
Shaun Tan Australian children's book artist
'Chicken coop Fly trap Seedling nursery boat' by Joe Polaischer
Joe Polaischer, NZ permaculturist, dearly missed
Joe's homemade flowform for greywater treatment

Wallice and gromit
Heath Robinson


Cecilia at Gibili, with the robot from Laputa Castle in the sky, anime by Miazaki Hayao

Gibili Anime: Laputa Castle in the Sky,
and the underground garden created by princess Naucica

drawing by Maki Yohna
my enthusiastic balcony garden students

kindhearted Dr Zeuss



...and of course, the quirky, connected world I make in my own Cecilia illustrations, the world I want to live in, and sometimes actually do.
Next question is, how will this balcony look...
All juicy ideas welcome and wanted. Please post.