FIRST IDEAS

After brainstorming around the different demands & wishes, we started to take these ideas into concrete products. We became the following designs:

1st idea is an axis with watercatching leaves that can be folded open into a spiral.

2nd idea is similar to the first: the form of the leave is replaced by triangles for a larger surface. The fabric is supported by fence nets.

3rd idea is to use the entrance of the garden as a water collector. This could be done with two barrels on both sides of the entrance that capture the water from the roof inbetween.

4th idea is based on one of the benchmarks (rack of barrels). This idea attaches a foldable roof to the rack to catch the rainwater.

5th idea: rain water mostly doesn't fall down vertically cause of the wind. This idea is a turnable rainwater catcher to optimalise the angle of the used surface.

6th idea is to use the industrial m³ fluid containers (1000l, they already got 1 on the site for free). The idea was to use the protection frame as a foldable catcher (fold it upside instead of downside).

7th idea is a lightweight structure with flexible tubes (pvc) hold on form by some steel cables.

We discussed the form of the catching surface. The consensus was that a square surface has the best surface occupation (20% more than circle...) This idea is one of our favorites because it can be easy made as a DIY'er!

An expansion of the previous idea is to close it automatically when the collector (bag) is full.
We became the idea by watching the timelapse of a swimming pool. We use the position of the floating band to regulate the opening of the flexible catcher. 

An extra feature could be a standing table if we use oil barrels to collect the water. These are 90cm high, so ergonomic height for standing tables, as used for parties/apero's. The catcher could also function as an umbrella for the people underneath. We think this could definitely be an extra trump for the urban garden!

8th idea we call the inverted umbrella. The catcher is folded open with an umbrella-like mechanism, but over the top so it becomes a cone to catch water. The central axis functions as a pipe to collect the water. 

 Because the site needs about 720 liters/week for watering the plants, we calculated we're going to need 40 m² to fulfill these needs. If we take 3x3m (9m²) for 1 catcher, we need 4 of them to catch enough water. Therefore we thought of making the catchers separate from the collectors by making them modular. As a DIY'er you could build as many catchers you need and them connect them on a central water tank (like the m³ industrial fluid tank).


We choose the last 2 ideas as the best ones to prototype.
Next thing we will do is go the DIY-shops and look for usable materials and make some prototypes + testing!