The Unwired Garden of the Future at Sydney Olympic Park was an unprecedented Display Garden at Sydney’s ABC Gardening Australia Festival in August 2005. Designed by Andrew Davies (Landscape Design Director of Dig Design Ideas Gardens) and PC Authority magazine, it was built to represent any outdoor space (balcony/courtyard or a section of a backyard) where the user can leave the confines of the indoors and go outside to use the computer.
Special Promotion - Win one of 15 Garden of the Future prize packs worth over $10,800.
The garden demonstrated the freedom and flexibility today’s technology can bring, specifically to the management of resources in the domestic situation as it relates to the outside/ lifestyle areas of our lives.
Through the use of Unwired’s wireless internet service and home automation we are better able to manage our resources -- from accessing email and the web in a pleasant surrounding (for work and leisure) to measuring the amount of moisture in the soil to determine watering regimes, to turning feature walls into projection screens.
The Unwired Garden of the Future at Sydney Olympic Park
How we made it work:
The design incorporated a number of different visual displays to demonstrate the products being used, and to maximise visitor viewing.
Three LCD monitors, three notebooks, an outdoor cinema with an automated projector screen, a projector with built in DVD and speakers, a home theatre system and of course Unwired’s modems set the scene.
Unwired’s wireless Internet connection got beamed using their modem and then shared to all of the laptops and Media Center via a wireless router. This way all of the notebooks could wirelessly browse the Internet and the Media Center could automatically update its electronic program guide (EPG) listings.
Meanwhile, sound was beamed wirelessly from the Media Center to the Home Theatre audio system meaning you don't have to deal with a spider’s web tangle of wires.
Using W Home’s HAL 2000 software through computer interface, we were able to manage the garden from the notebooks, so that the user can tinker away at their garden anywhere in the world -- from Drummoyne to Dubai.
Functions were designed to make garden lights pulsate to the movement of water features; water management and content can be tested – from moisture levels to the Ph of the soil. Ensure that your neighbours aren’t using your BBQ while you’re away by checking the CCTV camera footage.
The future is at our fingertips. Entertain your friends, automate your garden, connect to the internet and help the environment – without wires, without hassle and without a big budget.
How it works for the environment:
The Garden of the Future and its micro management impacts upon the wider environment in managing finite resources at the user end, providing positive financial and environmental benefits to the user and the community at large. The cutting edge technology and innovative products help manage resources, green management practices, environmental practices and conservation.
Outdoor furniture was made from shopping trolleys. Road signs were made into tables. Even recycled computers and other IT products have been used to make ewood which was used to make our timber edging.
To see more of this innovative type of construction, make sure you visit Sydney Olympic Park’s Houses of the Future exhibition before it closes! Until October 30, 2005 you can visit this innovative and FREE public exhibition showcasing sustainable design excellence and environmental innovations in 6 Houses made from clay, concrete, timber, steel, cardboard, and glass and 2 creative responses that showcase sustainable gardens.
Houses of the Future challenges us to consider the future of our built environment and two of the most tangible elements of that environment -- the ‘house’ and the ‘garden’.
The exhibition highlights renewable energy, nanotechnology, recycled water, the use of recycled materials and design features that promote water and energy conservation.
Go to the next page to see how you can create your own Garden of the Future today.