A project that integrates a student design with community led bottom up assembly.

The project consists of 18 individual wooden planters each built and stewarded by an individual family in the surrounding community. Each plugs into an elevated wooden aqueduct that channels harvested rainwater collected from an adjacent rooftop. The water is stored in an elevated water tank and may be turned on to flow down at any time to water a specific allotment with the help of personal dams that slot into the aqueduct beside each box.  Individuals can chose where they want to place their allotment box in relation to the location and height they chose.

The planters are positioned at different heights and modules that can be chosen throughout the structure in order to cater children, the elderly and all residents of the community. The final form develops bottom up and the entire structure becomes a living entity, open for change and growth as more individuals get involved and contribute their part.

This approach was developed so the project is open ended and can continue to evolve long after it ends creating a focal point for the community. (Picture left - proposal for phase 1; Picture right - proposed extension for phase 2)

The design process engaged with many members of the community as each individual box owner physically built their own box and an intrinsic piece of the overall whole. Each box owner was given a DIY based / IKEA inspired diagrammatic instructions to personally build their own allotment box and got to work .

All boxes are attached to the central wooden water aqueduct and gradually the 18 boxes found their place on the main structure.

The water source can be turned on at any given time from the elevated water tank and is gradually brought down to the ground in a series of branching aqueducts.   Individual dams owned by each participating box owner, can be slotted into galvanized slits , creating local flooding and channelling the water into the allotment box.

The garden forms an integral part of the park and can be accessed by all members of the community and reclaims ownership of a previously under-used public space.