2022 Monash Design Prize Runner-Up

Congratulations to Year 10 student Hazel, who was Runner-Up for the Monash Design Prize 2022. The inaugural Design Award was hosted by the Department of Design at Monash University. Australian students in Years 10-12 were given the prompt to ‘design for good’ and address any pressing issue from sustainability and climate action to social equity and healthy communities.

Hazel’s project “Grow Cube” explores the accessibility of urban farming techniques to everyday gardeners.

“The Grow Cube combines aeroponics and artificial lighting to create the perfect environment for inexperienced home gardeners to successfully grow their food. An aeroponics system is a gardening system in which the plant roots are suspended in the air where they can have maximum exposure to oxygen accelerating their growth. These roots are then sprayed with solution to receive the nutrients they would otherwise get from soil. Artificial lighting in gardening refers to LED lights and can be used to simulate the sun and help plants grow.”

“Aeroponics and artificial lighting remove a lot of the variables that make gardening difficult, eliminating the threat of pests, insects, and weeds to crops. These provide plants with the right amount of nutrients, and light to thrive. Urban farming techniques like LED lighting and Aeroponics are already used by commercial farmers but are not widely available for home gardeners. The Grow Cube makes these techniques accessible for everyone, allowing anyone, even those with little time or experience to successfully grow their own food. The minimalistic design allows the Grow Cube to fit neatly into any home. As they are cubes, multiple Grow Cubes can be stacked to make the most effective use of space.”