Zense Garden

Bring nature into your home!

Creators:

André Vu

Ruben Haugland

Ole Andreas Stavå

Category:

#Sensory #Prototype #Nature

Project details
Date 1 December 2021
Time 3 weeks
Course IDG 4112
Methods Sketching, prototyping, gamestorming
Target group families, children and informal carers to persons with dementia
Technologies Lasercutting, video editing, arduino, painting, 3D printing
Materials MDF board, LED lights, buttons, resin, plants, acrylic paint, spray paint, wood, rocks, moss, sand, tea, flowers, yarn

Project description and goal

The goal of our concept was to bring the feeling of nature into the home of the target group, to promote the feeling of relaxation and mental health for patients. Young children might not understand and enjoy visiting the elderly homes if they do not have activities to do there. Our prototype allows the family and the target group to connect with each other, by having a customizable garden, leaving value for the patients even after the family leaves.

Our concept focuses heavily on sensory feelings, with focus on tangible physical materials. Traditional sense gardens are shown to be therapeutic and promote mental health in patients with dementia. With our prototype we wish to emulate some of those benefits, in the comfort of your home, whenever you feel like it. Especially in times when it is not possible to do so naturally. To best accomplish the feeling of nature, we decided it was best to limit the technological components as much as possible.

Interaction

The prototype consists of a container box, that holds all the various components of the garden. The container is filled with different parts:

1. Sand

2. Moss

3. Lights

4. Decorative shed

5. Smooth resin coated rocks

Our concept is best used in low lighting, to fully experience the visual and calming sensations.

What actions could the user do? Our prototype tries to stimulate all of the 5 senses:

  1. TOUCH: put pressure and feel the carpet to activate lights, care for the garden through raking sand and watering plants
  2. TASTE: containers that allow the user to customize with their food/drink of choice (in our case tea)
  3. SIGHT: visualize the calming effects of lights, sand, and nature
  4. SMELL: nature and herbal scents
  5. SOUND: listen to calming nature sounds, or other sounds of your choice

Materials

The case for the prototype is made of laser cutted MDF-Boards. With one case that is removable. We have added a compartment underneath for the Arduino Uno, and breadbord, which is hidden away. Visible on the prototype is LED lights molded in resin with floral decoration, which are activated through a touch sensor. We chose to use white LED lights, because they turned out to be the brightest, and spread more light than the colored ones. We used plastic cylinders as molds for the resin, with flowers as decorative elements together with the LED lights. We used extra fine sand with small quarts, moss to get the feel of nature, and black rocks coated in smooth resin that are stimulating to touch, and visually pleasing to look at.

Technical sketch