NU - Green Wall

Spring brought more construction. As a team we finished the grow box prototype and look to improve upon our design. We also began testing for our drip irrigation system which has allowed us to hone in on better equipment like a new pump. We also started to officially work with facilities to finalize the location of our green wall and look forward to continuing to communicate with them over the summer.

We look forward to continuing to refine the prototype grow box and officially start planting. With continued support from Northwestern facilities and all of our Green Wall Members, we look forward to bringing a year round living space to campus.

Green Wall is led by PMs Ellie Lind (ellielind2025@u.northwestern.edu) and Luke Simmons (lukesimmons2025@u.northwestern.edu). Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or interest!

We have begun building ! In Winter Quarter we finalized most of our design and ordered materials allowing us to start building our first prototype! Most of our team has gotten trained in the shop to use the chop saw, table saw, and panel saw, along with all of the basic tools covered as freshmen in McCormick. As more materials continue to come in we will be refining our prototype design to present to facilities and get building outside!

We’d also like to introduce our new PM who will be stepping in for Cameron as he graduates this year. Meet Luke Simmons!

Stop by our Green Wall meeting times to get involved! We meet Sundays at 4 PM at Ford G201 and Fridays at 12 PM at the shop.

Green Wall is almost ready to BUILD!!

This quarter marked a major design shift to a drip irrigation based system as opposed to a hydroponics based system. We made this decision largely to make our system more resilient to the extreme conditions faced in the winter. While this new design will make our system more robust, the switch has also led to its fair share of challenges such as rethinking the plumbing to still create a circular water flow with this new approach and increasing the structural integrity to support this increased weight of the new grow beds.

The new design still consists of grow beds stacked vertically on top of each other. To support the drip irrigation system and allow for additional storage, these grow beds will primarily be comprised of soil as opposed to our previous design of planter pods. To aid in reconstructability, the middle grow beds are designed to be identical.

This design has also incorporated some creative new design ideas. For instance, we will be covering the grow beds in panels of moss, which will naturally help insulate our system while adding an easy to maintain, year round source of green to the wall. This not only provides aesthetic benefits but also increases the wall’s ability to absorb carbon.

As we finish up our designs and start to order materials we will be getting to the shop. This quarter we will continue to narrow down our build location with the hopes of building right by Ford! This location will show off our Green Wall to all of campus and everyone driving down Sheridan.

Stop by our Green Wall meeting times to get involved! We meet Sundays at 4 PM and Tuesdays at 7 PM at Ford G201.

Green Wall Progress From Spring 2023

In the Spring Quarter, Green Wall made great progress on our project. After many iterations, we have settled on a final design concept. The basic concept consists of 5 grow beds vertically stacked on top of each other. These grow beds are designed to allow for the easy removal of plants allowing for effective maintenance of our systems. Water will be filtered and recirculated through the system, drastically reducing the water demand of the system. Our updated CAD model is shown below.

To go along with our 5 grow bed design, we have also created a plant list. When deciding on our plants, we aimed to choose ones that balance hardiness and aesthetics. The lower grow beds will include larger shrubs such as juniper and laurel while the upper grow beds will include lighter plants such as pachysandra and vines. Moreover, in the center grow bed, we will be growing edible plants including plants and onions!

We plan to begin construction of the wall next fall with the goal to eventually plant in the Spring. We will begin next quarter with prototyping our planters. We have secured our first grant to begin construction and are currently working with facilities to find the best spot for our wall.

Moving into next year, we are excited to announce our sub-team leaders for next year: Lynna Deng for botany, Luke Simmons for construction, and Emi Saegusa and Kyan Shlipak for plumbing.

Project managers Cameron Moore and Ellie Lind are extremely happy with the progress we’ve made this year and are looking forward to what next year brings!

Have a great summer!

Green Wall Progress From Winter 2023

Officially joining ESWNU this quarter, Green Wall has made strides beginning the design process and expanding the project team. We have been laying the groundwork to be able to start building early next year and identifying sustainability focuses to integrate into our design. We are pursuing a design that uses technology from hydroponic systems to recycle water thus minimizing water usage. We created preliminary design sketches in CAD that we will refine further moving into next quarter.

In the recruitment process, we have identified three main interests to focus on: botany , plumbing , and construction . As we are still in the early stages of student engagement and design, our subteams are working together. Once construction has started early next year we will start more specific tasks for each focus team. Currently we have had some great work done by many members of our team including Kyan Shlipak and Liv Fingerson .

This spring quarter will focus on water systems and structures that will allow our design to be easily reproduced for future iterations of the project.

Project managers Cameron Moore and Ellie Lind are extremely pleased with the progress made this past quarter. And we look forward to continuing to build our community within this project group as we progress.