As part of the BMBF initiative RES:Z – Resource Efficient Urban Neighbourhoods for the Future, we are partners in the collaborative project GartenLeistungen (GardenServices), led by IÖW Berlin, together with the Department of Urban Planning and Human Settlements at TU Berlin.

Together with other partners & operators of public parks and gardens such as Grün Berlin and Himmelbeet, we develop, build and research test sites of Mobile Blue-Green Infrastructure in prominent public parks and community gardens. Module sets for combined water, farm and biodiversity management are installed there. We are testing how we can use rainwater or shower water to make edible greens and biodiversity grow and thrive in a mobile and productive way.

The first prototype SHOWER-TOWER was built for the Reallabor site BEACH61, the world’s largest beach volleyball facility in Berlin’s Gleisdreieckpark. Here we want to treat the shower water produced during the playing season on site and use it as irrigation water. Fresh salads, herbs and edible flowers from the newly installed vertical water farm modules can be enjoyed directly at the BeachBar! In addition, the new raised reed beds behind the showers produce a pleasant urban climate through their evaporative coolness and are simply cool!

On 7/7/2020, SHOWER-TOWER 61 was planted, irrigated and ceremonially inaugurated as part of a living-lab workshop.

More Information: https://www.gartenleistungen.de/reallabore/mobile-blau-grüne-infrastruktur/

Designteam SHOWER-TOWER: Grit Bürgow, Andreas Horn, Tim Nebert, Gabriel Segler

NEWS

The project has been successfully completed in spring 2022. You can find the results here.

Meanwhile, production continues at both GardenServices pilot sites: Beach 61 in PARK am Gleisdreieck and the himmelbeet community garden – now that the research-building phase is over. Our “shower tower” hydroponic vertical farms, which use either locally treated shower or rainwater, produce ultra-local edible greens for bar, café and bistro use. There is now even the PopFarm on Berlin’s KuDamm.

#happylocalfarming

#happylocalwaters

Press & Media (2020-2022):

In English: https://www.hortidaily.com/article/9242247/fresh-vegetables-from-the-shower-tower-61/

In German:

rbb Beitrag, Studio 3, 14.06.2022, ca. ab Minute 15: https://www.rbb-online.de/abendschau/videos/20220614_1930.html

Pressemitteilung TU Berlin, 29.07.2021: https://www.tu.berlin/ueber-die-tu-berlin/profil/pressemitteilungen-nachrichten/2021/juli/lebensmittelversorgung-in-der-stadt-auf-wenig-flaeche-und-kurzen-wegen/

Ernährungspolitischer Stadtspaziergang, 2021 mit ROOF WATER-FARM und Shower-Tower 61: https://ernaehrungsrat-berlin.de/dem-geschmack-der-zukunft-lauschen/

Wissenschaftsbeilage der Berliner Zeitung Nr. 203, 01.09.2020, S. 23, Duschen für’s Basilikum, Autor Ralf Storck: https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/gesundheit-oekologie/duschen-fuers-basilikum-wie-man-abwasser-zur-kraeuterzucht-nutzen-kann-li.101206

ZDF-Doku, Sendereihe Plan B vom 17.09.2020, Die Wasserretter – Kampf gegen die Trockenheit, Regie Cordula Stadter: https://www.zdf.de/gesellschaft/plan-b/plan-b-die-wasserretter-100.html

Photos/Grafics: (c) Grit Bürgow, Andreas Horn, Tim Nebert