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IKEA Announces DIY Garden Sphere
April 10th, 2017
IKEA launched an open source design plan for a spherical garden. This Do-It-Yourself structure was developed by IKEA's innovation lab, Space10, to enable people to gain access to locally grown sustainable food by giving them the power to do it themselves. The design plans have been made available online for free via an open source platform allowing anyone the immediate opportunity to build their own garden sphere. IKEA hopes that this sphere will stimulate interest within communities to start their own urban gardens. IKEA's intention is to provide an alternate solution to traditional farming in urban environments, where open space is a scarce resource. The sphere takes up only 2.8 x 2.5 meters of space but is customizable to each individual's intended use whether it will be a personal home garden or communal. The spherical shape was intentional so that the plants are able to receive ample light within a vertical setup.
"It is designed to support our everyday sense of well-being in the cities by creating a small oasis or 'pause'-architecture in our high-paced societal scenery, and enables people to connect with nature as we smell and taste the abundance of herbs and plants," Space10 explained. "The pavilion, built as a sphere, can stand freely in any context and points in a direction of expanding contemporary and shared architecture."
The set up for the structure will be familiar to IKEA customers. The step-by-step instructions are like any other self-assembly item purchased from IKEA and materials consist of 17 sheets of plywood, a rubber hammer, and some metal screws.
"Local food represents a serious alternative to the global food model. It reduces food miles, our pressure on the environment, and educates our children of where food actually comes from." Space10 emphasized the benefits of installing the garden spheres and establishing community gardens.
According to IKEA's press release, there are already plans to build these community Garden Spheres in California, Finland, Brazil, and China.