Groof
In collaboration with Colivando, Politecnico di Milan
Product design
B R I E F
Reinventing Coltivando*: To design a greenhouse that protects Coltivando's garden greenery in Milan, and create a system for the elderly gardeners to independently implement this product. This project was done with international students from Hungary and Italy.
* Coltivando is a shared vegetable garden located in the green spaces of the Candiani campus of the Politecnico di Milano.
R E S E A R C H
Working alongside the gardeners, we identified several problem areas with the current greenhouses: Bulky, heavy and difficulty for storage when not in use.
Prototypes were implemented to select the most suitable material and most efficient method of keeping.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Groof is a collapsible roof for your greenery, protecting them against the wintry frost.
Designed with and for the elderly Coltivando gardeners, it consists of 4 simple and easily sourced materials: elastic hooks, PVC tubes, TNT fabric and a pipe cap.
Team: Alberto Bettega, Aniko Biro & Marta Fancellu
C O N S I D E R A T I O N S
Low fidelity prototypes and discussions with gardeners informed our design and material choices. These were some of our considerations:
1) Method of storage: all-in-one, portable, lightweight, suits all seasons (even when not in use).
2) Material: easily sourced, cost-effective, best to reuse existing materials or suit existing structure.
2) Material: easily sourced, cost-effective, best to reuse existing materials or suit existing structure.
music by Alexandre Desplat
Together with the product, an instructional booklet was designed to enable the gardeners to recreate this product independently from purchasing the materials to setting up.
E F F I C I E N C Y W I T H C A R E
Groof is an all-in-one lightweight solution, quick to set-up and very compact. It's designed to reduce the complexity in caring for your greenery.
Presenting our final product to the gardeners
Explaining the choice of materials
I M P L E M E N T A T I O N
An exhibition booth was set-up during the summer term in Polimi, to explain and exhibit our design process and material choices to the gardeners and visitors of the garden space. Gardeners will be able to implement Groof in the future, with quick reference to the booklet.
For more information regarding Coltivando:
http://www.coltivando.polimi.it/
http://www.coltivando.polimi.it/