Eathouse




Location: The Netherlands / Type: Edible / Gardens / Built:
Published on December 18, 2010

Marijke Bruinsma (de Stuurlui stedenbouw – www.destuurlui.nl) Marjan van Capelle en Arjen de Groot (Atelier GRAS! – www.ateliergras.nl)

EATHOUSE A house and garden to eat! That you are able to touch, smell, taste, seed, weed, and harvest! EATHOUSE is a house in a garden that attracts visitors with delicious vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers. We want to seduce people and make them taste the edible garden and the eatable house. EATHOUSE has a temporary character; it lasts a summer season. This is why all the materials used in EATHOUSE can be re-used for a new season of EATHOUSE at a different spot.
EATHOUSE consists of a modular system of plain plastic crates. These crates are used in the agricultural industry to harvest, transport and exhibit fruit and vegetables in combination with a scaffold system. With this system vertical green becomes accessible for everyone; you can make your own vegetable garden on the wall of your balcony or on the roof of your garden shed!

33 thoughts on "Eathouse by Marijke Bruinsma & Marjan van Capelle"

  1. Andrew says:

    I admire the skill of the Dutch growers

  2. Julie Wickham says:

    I would like to know more…

  3. diana gwinn says:

    Absolutely wonderful. Can’t wait to try it.

  4. Darlene Matthews says:

    Very cool !!! I was told the plastics chemical leeching at sunny temps above 73degrees F is a problem. (though it looks like the plants will shade the plastics here.) … i read that using rip stop nylon there is not leeching but not so sure about the dyes. Does anyone have the technical on this?

  5. I want to know more about this system. says:

    Could you please email me more information on how to create something like this on my own? This is a very intriguing concept! — Lori

  6. Char says:

    We have a community garden in Indianapolis, IN, USA that serves a local shelter. This would greatly extend our sq. footage; allowing us to serve more ppl who need it. Please share more details on how to create this.

  7. MaryEllen Seehafer says:

    I would love detailed instructions.

  8. Gee says:

    thank you, I have a very small yard but plenty of ‘fence’ line to grow vertically, but needed a less expensive way to hold soil and plant on the wall. Will try this next year 🙂

  9. ariana says:

    hello there i would really like to know on how you could make one. I am very interested! could it be possible if you could send a list of materials i would need???? i think is one of the most wonderful things i have ever seen!!!

  10. PauletteBuche says:

    there is no dirt involved? what is the medium onto which the seeds grow? I would like to try this on a small scale. I live in a barren place but the sun is good and I can water.

  11. jose laugier says:

    Outstanding.

  12. Laura Hudson says:

    Any way we could get a little more information? For instance, what is your potting mix and where did you find such flat packages of it? What is the (wire?) material used to hold in the potting mix and divide into sections? How you feed & water efficiently? What might be ways to do this without scaffolding? Etc.?

    Thanks! I love the idea, I’m just not very imaginative. 🙂

  13. Yael Y says:

    Hey!

    This “Eathouse” looks fascinating. I would like to know more on how it is done… Are there written instructions? Pictures of how you built it?

    Danke and dui!
    Yael

  14. Robert Thomas says:

    Is it possible to post a link of any plan design drawings for this eathouse, I would love to try this next summer here in Michigan.

  15. Richard says:

    Yes, I also would like to know more about “Eathouse”.

  16. terry says:

    Are plans for this structure available? Would you kindly let me know.

  17. John Cope says:

    This is excellent and may well be the next project for our children…we will use Bamboo in place of the metal scaffolding 🙂

  18. j. gardam says:

    Fantastic i want to do this

  19. LittleShell says:

    I would need lots of modifications to grow much of anything in TEXAS!

  20. renee barton says:

    this is totally fascinating

  21. Olivia says:

    Awesome idea!! how I can get some plans or instructions. thank you

  22. Kelly says:

    I am very intrigued. Are there plans available?

  23. Diane says:

    Love, love, love this. Will google for more info. I wonder if my flat roof in the city would hold the weight? Naybe the walls along my deck? Congratulations, jump on this and market it please.

  24. Zena Bone says:

    How can i get the plan of this wonderful construction.

    Zena

  25. Tom Powers says:

    Great idea, shared and saved.

  26. Janet G says:

    Wonderful idea id like the plans

  27. Andy Horn says:

    Great idea and great post. Of interest I have been working with a similar concept for a rooftop garden inner city initiative. The founder of this initiative Steven Lamb has already build a first prototype that has been up and running for about a year and its up on the roof top of the Dept of Environment’s 20 odd storey high building in a down town area of Cape Town. He has created a timber pergola structure providing some shade and for plasters has used the somewhat deeper stackable plastic milk crates, which are lined with a geo-textile cloth. With subsequent designs we have been experimenting with using the thinner type of crates for space efficiency. The drawbacks of the crates are certainly that plastic is generally not u-v stable, so the plastic will become increasingly brittle with age. While their liefspan will indeed be extended by shading, eventially they need no doubt need replacing. Thus they will ulimately end up as waste! Secondly plastic industries are notorious for their toxicity to the general environment and its inhabitants. However plastic milk crates here are made of poly propelene (plastic type 5), which seems to be the safer of the plastics and which should not contain harmful phthalates DEHP’s that one finds in vinl and such products for instance or the Bisphenol A that is found in can liners, nalgene bottles,most sippy cups etc.

    I would love to hear if any one has ideas for a better alternative to the plastic crates….I would imagine crates could be made of hemp or other more benign products, but that would be in a more sane world that the one it is today. Wire gagion type baskets I suppose lined with coconut fibre or bidim…. Incidentally an ideal way to solving the nutrient issue, which we are starting to toy with on the prototype is to introduce an talapia fish pond, where the water is circulated in something of a closed loop system, such that the fish droppings are fed to and filtered by the plants and the soils and the drippings of the planters are circulated back to the fish pond to cycle back again. This is known as an “aqua culture” system.

  28. Elaine says:

    Hi there! I’d like to get some how-to information about this! Also, any tips on plants to use in our short growing season (3-4 months).

  29. Veronica says:

    Really cool idea!
    If using recycled crates and scaffolding that is already accessible it’s a great example of repurposing materials. My only small critique would be the plastic in the soil bags (as some already said), but that’s how most people get their soil delivered today I suppose, so why not use it. If having access to soil in larger amounts a solution could be sewing your own bags out of fiber cloth or use recycled canvas bags.

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