New iteration on Verticulture

You might remember the Verticulture project, that I worked on during the RCA with Marek Bereza, Sian Smyth and Lucy Helme. It’s a vertical gardening system based on a modular stackable frame system. The frame works like a 2×4 Lego brick and can be stacked to make all kinds of structures (walls, towers, Ls, etc.). I find this structure really interesting because you can build anything 

I happened to be working with a laser cutter during the FabLab Squared project and used it to work on a new version of the frame. The original prototype was water jet cut steel and then CNC bent and spray painted. Going with simple laser cutting could lower the price of each unit. Also, the units could be flatpacked and assembled by the user himself.

Using the etching capabilities of the laser, I wrote the name of each part to make it easier to assemble.

I started with 3mm cardboard and then moved to 3mm MDF.

The pieces slide in together, the last one locking the other ones in place. The pieces are 20 x 20 x 40 cm because I didn’t want to waste too much wood. But the idea would be to double the size and keep the locking system the same size.

I added a small dent so that the frames stay in place when stacked. It still isn’t perfect but it’s always nice to breath a bit of life in an old project…

So if you want to give it a shot, get the files here. Don’t forget to send me pictures of your project! They are under CC BY-NC-SA.