Soil depletion, floods, and drought. These are some of the things that could threaten our food production and lessen our chances of survival, USC Architecture assistant professor Aroussiak Gabrielian says. According to her, we need to move away from designing stuff that can only benefit us humans; Instead, we should think more about “ways to be more collaborative and ethical with our surroundings.” This is where Gabrielian’s idea of humans wearing landscapes comes in — a wearable vest that benefits the user, and serves as an ecosystem for plants, animals, and insects.
...Made from moisture retention felt in which seeds are embedded, the project is essentially a wearable garden vest that grows crops nourished by bodily waste, that also serves as a habitat for some small creatures.
A prototype of this wearable garden yielded 20 pounds of crops over only a few weeks. It grew 40 different types of vegetables, including cabbage, arugula, broccoli rabe, kale, peanuts, peas, mushrooms, strawberries, and herbs like sage, rosemary, and lemon thyme. The majority of the crops were microgreens, which contain up to 40 times the amount of nutrients as their “macro” counterparts and were able to be seeded directly into the fabric. The other vegetables could be planted within the cloak using soil pockets.
Check out Fast Company for more details about this suit.
I can’t stop but think that this could be the ghillie suit 2.0.
What are your thoughts about this one?
(Image Credit: Posthuman Habitats/ Fast Company)