Spherical 'Growroom' Offers a Delightfully Fresh Solution to Sustainable Urban Farming

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A delectably delicious dome has popped up at Copenhagen's Chart Art Fair. Created by “future-living lab” Space10, the Growroom prototype presents a new approach to urban farming.

Space10—an innovative hub launched by IKEA in 2015—serves both as a research lab and as an exhibition space, uniting technology and science with art and design in order to explore the future of urban living. Space10 is a collaborative platform that enables like-minded creatives “to get inspired, gain fresh perspectives, and discover new talents and ideas to invest in and bring forward.”

Like many experimental expositions generated by Space10, the Growroom proposes an inventive approach to sustainability. Danish architects Mads-Ulrik Husum and Sine Lindholm designed the eco-friendly orb as a way to ignite an interest in urban farming and to bring a much-needed green space to metropolitan environments.

The Growroom is a spherical pavilion that is structurally comprised of stacked plant-boxes overflowing with vegetation. Rearing a wide variety of crisp vegetables and fresh herbs, it provides “food that tastes better, is healthier for us, more nutritional and doesn’t put massive pressure on our dwindling supplies of fresh water nor our environment.”

Though predominantly a source of sustenance, the Growroom is so much more than a globe-shaped greenhouse; with an always-open door and ample seating inside, it is also an escape from city life and a multi-sensory exhibition, inviting the public to taste, touch, and smell its lush foliage.

With the Growroom, Space10 has undoubtedly planted the seeds for an increasingly sustainable—and tasty—future.