In fall 2019, I worked with Green Souls, an urban gardening organization in Mumbai, India, to address several challenges around water conservation and community involvement. Their goals: To popularize urban gardening culture for better, smarter cities and solutions for waste management, healthy food and cleaner existence. In December, I proposed a modified hydroponic system using recycled bottles, an adaptation of “Window Farms.” The system is designed to help Green Souls conserve resources they have (vertical space, sunlight, recyclables) in creative ways to conserve the resources they need (water, community involvement).

With approval from a lead gardener of Green Souls, I condensed the original, highly technical 46 pages from the Window Farms system to an accessible 9 pages. The resulting prototype guide for “Bottle Farms” is designed to easily produce a print-and-fold booklet:

As of March 2020, the prototype of the instruction manual is being tested by eight gardeners in Mumbai, whose feedback will help me improve both the hydroponic system for their particular needs as well as improve the documentation to create it.