A Modular Green House for GrwNxt
The Future of Urban Agriculture
In the first month of 2021, I was approached by GrwNxt, a start-up funded through national and international sustainability programs, to help with designing a next-generation agriculture solution for mega cities in the next 30 years.
The idea is quite simple. Have a modular system that grows any type of crop very efficiently through the newest technologies in AI, sensors and construction.
My Role
My role in this project was to give the entire project a face, through which the concept can be communicated. With this, I have designed the aesthetic, modular nature and all visuals related to the grow module.
It started with simple sketches, narrowing down on function and aesthetics. Once decided, I created professional visuals for GrwNxt to communicate to their customers.
Grow Module
The result from 12 months of sketching, CAD modelling, and talking with potential customers and clients. A 5 x 6 x 3 m module that can grow crops in an entire office building or hospital. Modular walls and racks allow for personalisation for any room size and layout, whilst keeping costs low by utilising only three-panel types and universal connectors.
From 2D to 3D
With the results from 2021, in 2022 GrwNxt again approached me to continue work on their Module. Clients were asking for scenario impressions and the company itself was constantly changing specifics about the design and function.
My solution was to develop a visual model of the entire module in Blender. This CAD would allow for rapid layout iterations, scene rendering with accurate lighting and 3D visualisation of the module and its environment as well as how the robot and workers interact with the product solution.
5 Months went into the initial construction of the CAD model, since with the development new problem and opportunity areas arose, which needed solving before continuing with the model.
Please note that this CAD model was purely for visualisation and not meant for blueprints for manufacturing. Tolerances were not taken into account, since the proposed design is still in its concept phase.