DFL Booklet

De Binnentuin is the culmination of a year long group-learning project called “Design For Life�, intitiated by designed and teacher Jonathan Looman and the head of the Interactive Media Design department, Janine Huizenga, at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK).

This booklet is made by Alexia Moutaftsi to emphasise the foundation of the garden, it’s growth and it’s possibilities.

INDEX

BRIEFING

PER

page 6-7

COMPOST

page

ROLE DIVISION page 12-13

SELF

MACULTUR

E

page 9

e 10-11

DEVE

T N E M L O P page 14-15

F - S U S TA I N I N G

page 16-17

BRIEFING We often get caught up with life and forget to stand still to reconnect with ourselves. Finding nature based sollutions have been proven to calm and sooth us. Isn’t it strange that an environment where competition and constant pushing of our boundries emphasises our insecurities drains our mental health, yet offers no space to let go?

We were offered a small space within the school, on the main floor of the Bleijenburg building close to the audiotorium and the department of IMD. A cold and empty space to be turned into a communual area for students, teacher and staff.

WHY

Whilst we were challenged to think of the design, I believe we all shared similar values we’d want to implement into the garden. We all believe it to become a place where people come together to eat, to take in a breath of nature, to reconnect with themselves, to participate on workshops or to maintain their allotment. We also discussed attracting birds and insects.

And so, we measured the space, taking notes of obstacles, windows and so on. We started capturing the sun-shadow fall which will come in handy in the design process.

CONCEPT

The twenty of us made sketches, created mock-ups and gathered materials to visualise our ideas for the garden.

Given the size of our group it took quite some time to form an understanding but with the progression of time and the frequency of group discussions it became clear how and what we’d want to achieve.

DESIGN

In the end, the design of Jeroen Meijer was chosen; A garden inspired by the great Fibonacci sequence, a space where one can truly wander into a peaceful, yet secluded area to

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catch a glimpse of the sun. Where one can be close with oneselve and one with their thoughts. When walking through, you’re greeted by an arch of greens, emphasizing a spiritual pathway in the search to tranquility.

As seen above, a scale model of the design, as well as some sketches, which illustrate the pathway to an area in the back of the garden. This area will include benches and a surrounding wall of plants. A compost bin, centered, to keep on creating healthy soil which can be used in the future.

VISUALS

At this point we started discussing materials and how to achieve certain structures. We agreed on using crates which could be gathered for a small price. A 3D model was made my Lorenzo Quint to show the structure of a garden made with models. In addition a greenhouse and a roof were added. Now we have a way of knowing how to manageand store our tools.

3D MODEL

Although we do have a small budget available, it was of utmost importance to gather ethical and sustainable materials. We mostly partake in dumpster diving, finding stuff on the side of the road and using second hand shops to contribute on our garden.

M AT E R I A L S

The space itself was empty and not inviting as it was used as an art space before; filled with graffiti and trash which we cleaned up. The only thing growing there was weeds, indicating a somewhat healthy place. This made us hopeful that when combining our skills we could turn this into a spatial area where people would like to be, as oposed to a tiny empty space in the back of the school. Soon we

brought in more and more materials and started building

compost bins and furniture as well as other structures.

SPACE

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PERMACULTURE Permaculture tries to look at a piece of land in a holistic manner, integrating every animal and plant living on it, and combining that with social structures designed to foster long-lasting agriculture as well. Each element of a food cycle is broken down into what it requires and what it contributes, and then each element is pieced together to form a dynamically self-supporting whole.

David Holmgren is one of the first people to use the term. He wrote down a list of 12 principles, some of which we’ve applied to our garden: 1) Observe and interact – by taking the time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.

2) Catch and store energy – by developing systems that collect resources when they are abundant, we can use them in times of need.

3) Obtain a yield – ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the working you are doing.

4) Use and value renewable resources and services – make the best use

of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on non-renewable resources.

5) Produce no waste – by valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.

6) Integrate rather than segregate – by putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.

7) Use and value diversity – diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.

In conclusion, permaculture is an attempt to best use land so that generations in the future can continue to make use of the land in productive manners.

Permaculture lies on three ethics: care for the earth, care for people and fair share.

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COMPOST Good compost consist of an even amount of brown and green waste. Green waste consists of organic waste, think fruits, veggies, peels, egg shells whilst brown waste consists of leaves, cardboard, and coffee grind.

The quantity needed to build the garden was greater than the waste we could produce, therefor we collaborated with multiple shops, schools and restaurants nearby. Furthermore, worms were added to the pile. This is called vermiculture, which some advocates have dubbed “the organic garbage disposal.” Worms recycle food waste into a rich, dark, good-foryour-garden soil conditioner.

Furthermore, we’ve added a few layers of woodchips which act as insulation (mulch) and some seaweed. If you do it right, the compost should be hot. “Hot composting” refers to a method in which microbial activity within the compost pile is optimized, resulting in finished compost in a much shorter period of time.

We measured the temperature with a thermometer to know when it’s ready to use.

ROLE DIVISION Everybody within the team played their part. Over the course of the year we’ve all focused on different aspects of the projects, be it irrigation, propagation, fertility, water supply, biology, construction and so on. I was part of the material group, energy group and community-communication group.

The material group consists of Xiaoyao, Gaetan, Hungrae and I. We made a list of crucial items we’d have to collect for the other teams in the near future, kept track of the budget and established partnerships in the neighborhood. The waste got collected once or twice a week. We devided the tasks and grew a big compost pile.

M AT E R I A L

The Energy group is one man fewer so I had to leave the Material group to join Melisa and Jeroen. At this point there’s been some prototypes on how to gather energy, particularly solar and a potential water stream.

ENERGY

Besides this I’ve also helped shape the garden, planted seeds, worked on some furniture and electronics.

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During the second semester I was placed in the community group but since the communication group overlapped in duties we decided to work together. We were writing text and focusing on the opening ceremony as well as creating content and establishing social media accounts to announce our work to the school.

CO-CO

Be sure to check out @kabk_garden to hear our community talk about their experience and to get inspired by their work!

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By the time the compost was ready it became time to transform the place to a fully functioning garden.

Keeping the spatial design in mind we looked for ways to tighten the crates.

They’re stackable and have holes on the side which we fixed with tie wraps and poles. Chicken wire was used on the greenhouse structre and the compost bin. We used pipes found around the academy to create and arch and a roof. Bubblewrap works as insulation and keeps our plants warm.

Plastic being re-used is sustainable.

After all why buy something new, when we have it laying around?

BUILDING

Melisa and I made a bench after dumpster diving in the container by the parking lot at the academy.

It took ages to carry all that junk to the woodworkshop and with no experience at all. Luckily Ronald helped us out. Melisa continued this practice and made a stool later on.

FURNITURE

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DEVELOPMENT In tiny containers we used some soil and fertiliser to plant spinach seeds. Sungin, Lorenzo and I planted 60 spinach seeds but there’s also other veggies and herbs done by our classmates. We left those for 2-3 weeks until they grew big enough and needed to be placed in bigger containers. We continued to plant all sorts of herbs, veggies and flowers to encourage a permacultural approach to urban gardening.

SEEDS

Each one of us has researched the biology aspect of the garden, keeping in mind the sun, the shade and permaculture.

Within permaculture it is advised to use certain plants together as they enhance growth, protection and/or fertilisation.

Knowing how much sun light your plant needs is crucial to keep it alive.

The same applies for the shade but also the rain. It is for that reason that I planted my indigo plants on a mid to lower part of the garden wall. A sheet of plastic is blocking rain water from the back.

BIOLOGY

During this time we worked on electronic projects for the garden. I worked on two seperate projects: a plant sensing human contact and a bike-blender mix. Melisa, Gaetan and I worked on an electronics project in which our plant reacts to someone approaching it. When coming to close it starts playing Darude - Sandstorm.

It’s genius, I know.

I/M/D

For the bike-blender project Wies, Sarah, Sungin and I used an old bike and a tiny blender which can be charged when cycling.

PLANTS

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S E L F - S U S TA I N I N G The garden has been built! Now it can manage on it’s own.

We’ve done our part and now it’s time for the garden to thrive. A combination of plants are able to survive the cold winters only to blossom in the spring. I am nervous about this transition but I believe we’ve done our research well. So far the academy has received the news of the garden well.

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The garden is now open to the public who can rent their own crates for personal use. Our tutor Jonathan Looman will be managing the garden in the future so if anything comes up be sure to get in touch with him or simply approach I/M/D (year 2018-2022 students). I am ecstatic to see the garden grow throughout my education.

I wonder what will come of it.

Happy gardening!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY

As you can see the garden truly wouldn’t be here without our teamwork! Got excited? Do you have green fingers or are eager to learn how to keep your plants alive? Don’t hesistate to pay a visit or contact us @kabk_garden

Are you curious about what’s going on in this space? Within this booklet you’ll find more information about the garden. How it came to be, it’s principles and how to join!

Founding gardeners Hung Rae Lorenzo Isabelle Melisa Samriddhi Xiaoyao Gaetan Jeroen Marco Jillbert Pedro Sarah Wies Alexia Sungin Andrea Roberto Eva Jonathan Janine