Aquino:
Reimagine a new way for city dwellers to bring nature to their home
Role Timeline Team Tool
Product Designer
Two weeks in May 2021
Illustrator, Rhino, Keyshot
Individual
Overview
01
PROBLEM
City life has become the norm for most of the global population and designing sustainable cities is a growing trend, together with an increased focus on healthier lifestyles in urban settings. With the rapid expansion of urbanism, many skyscrapers and freeways gradually replaced the forests, farmlands, and lakes. Citizens are more and more detached from nature, which is harmful to their mental and physical health. Thus, there is a growing interest among citizens in bringing natural green spaces within home settings. I found that besides the feeling of disconnection from nature, many young urban citizens, especially those who live alone in big cities, expressed their sense of loneliness at home. This makes me begin to think about how to create opportunities for people to have live “creatures” at home.
SOLUTION
Combine aquaculture and hydroponics methods to create a water cycle between plants and fish to mimic the symbiotic ecosystem in nature.
GOAL
Design a piece of innovative home furniture that functions as a table lamp and creates an efficient symbiosis system, providing users a chance to grow their own green plants and fish in a confined space.
It's designed for those who love plants but can't be bothered too much with all the work, and who need an extra warm light source in the home to create a cozy atmosphere. It’s the perfect little ecosystem that gives you the possibility of bringing a little green and fun to your home. You can grow organic vegetables, houseplants, and leafy herbs.
02
Get Inspiration from Research
In No.11 of the UN sustainable development goals, it proposes to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
INFOGRAPHIC
The starting point of this project is the beautiful and mysterious Amazon rainforests. I was deeply attracted by its vast green land and ecosystem. I designed this infographic to visualize all the information I got from research.
INSIGHTS
A large amount of precipitation
Water circulation
390 billion trees across the Amazon rainforest
Plants as natural air purifiers
Four-layer structure
Vertical green
Nutritive symbiosis
Mutualistic symbiosis
With the rapid expansion of urbanism, many skyscrapers and freeways gradually replaced the forests, farmlands, and lakes. citizens are more and more detached from nature, which is harmful to their mental and physical health.
03
Brainstorm
With the overarching goal of sustainability in mind, I started to brainstorm potential ideas.
MIND MAP
USER INTERVIEW
USER PERSONA
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PAIN POINTS
Disconnection from nature
Lack of vitality at home
No time to take care of plants
No good light source
Limited home space
Sense of loneliness
04
Define the Problem
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Design an innovative home furniture piece that functions as a table lamp and creates an efficient symbiosis system, providing users a chance to grow their own green plants and raise fish in a confined space.
SOLUTION
I decided to integrate light, green plants, and fish into a self-sustaining system. It is called the “aquaponics system” that combines hydroponics and aquaculture to mimic the symbiotic ecosystem in rainforests.
05
From Insights to Ideation
AQUAPONICS SYSTEM PROTOTYPE
FORM EXPLORATION
I designed the lamp as a modular structure that customers could add multiple layers to grow more, and diverse kinds of plants based on their needs. Since it’s a vertical structure, multiple layers would not occupy much space at home. With this system, customers can grow organic vegetables, houseplants, or leafy herbs.
3D MODELING
It has a removable lid like a lampshade. On the top, it is a sprinkler that could water plants. The vertical column beneath it is the light source. The material is the frosted finish combined with extruded facets in order to optimize light diffusion. The light makes use of the physical similarity between LED and sunlight which helps plants to do photosynthesis. At the same time, it could function as a table lamp at home. Then it’s the platform for growing plants. And the Media bed. On the bottom is the fish tank and water pump to circulate water continuously.
FEATURES
Self-cleaning
Low maintenance
Sustainable
No need for sunlight
Save resources
Make home more playful
The fish tank is self-cleaning and helps to grow organic plants on top. Aquaponics creates a cycle that saves resources of water and energy. It is a scaled-down aquaponics system, so it saves a lot of space at home. It is low maintenance, highly sustainable. No need for sunlight.
RENDERING
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