This rainwater harvesting vertical terrace is the brilliant idea of Ontario College of Art and Design Student Michael Tampilic and has been entered in the Rocket 2008 Industrial Design Graduation Show and Competition. The terrace connects up with a downspout from your house and stores water in a large tank to continuously water the plants over long periods of time. It does this by using cotton wicks to transport the stored water by capillary action. Not only is this great for saving water in a desert environment like most of us in Arizona live in, but it looks awesome and you don’t have to worry about watering.
Vert is a rain terrace: a rainwater harvester and vertical garden. This project establishes sustainable water practices through the harvesting of rain, and brings the advantages of a living wall to the backyard through vertical gardening. Vert alleviates a homes reliance on public utility systems while beautifying unused vertical space.
More info at the Rocket 2008 page and at Treehugger.com.
Related Post: [Rainwater Harvesting: A beginners guide.]
James Towner | Posted in 
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May 12th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Cool! What a great looking and practical implementation of smart water use.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Thats a really pretty concept. Would the shade from the house influence the kind of plants that can grow there?
May 13th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Carrie, I’d think so. Depending on what side house and it’s exposure to the sun you’d need to figure out what kinds of plants would do well.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
One could also put this idea to use outside, depending on materials used, with existing water drainage systems. Add a solids filter and a rain barrel and One could have fairly good veggie/herb garden goin in no time.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Gorgeous and eco-friendly, how could one say no!!
May 16th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
great posting. the ultimate resource for rainwater harvesting is this cat in arizona:
http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/
he has transformed a housing community there using only the rainwater(which isnt much!)
very, very interesting material. especially for a world that is increasingly dry and lacking in fresh water.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Really nice and innovative design.
Don’t use it in Colorado, though. Rainwater harvesting is illegal!
http://www.balconycompost.com/gardening/catching-rain-in-colorado
May 16th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Excellent idea for water conservation. We need more people like this Michael fellow in the world
May 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Good idea, but I live in humid, but drought stricken state of GA in the USA.
Mold will corrupt the cotton.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
but if it doesn’t rain, your plants don’t get watered. Sure there’s a tank but rain still has to fill it.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I like the ungrounded outlet next to the garden. Nice!
May 16th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Wait, why is there no switch on that power socket (Australian sockets always have switches)?
May 16th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Great idea - where’s the picture?
May 17th, 2008 at 6:19 am
[...] What a brilliant idea! This rainwater harvesting vertical terrace is the fantastic creation of Ontario College of Art and Design student Michael Tampilic. According to AZSustainably, [...]
May 17th, 2008 at 6:36 am
For most food growing applications larger containers would be necessary. I would like to see a mock up of a design with the much larger containers needed for the root structures of veggies. This is a fantastic innovation. Can you imagine and entire wall of tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and basil?!
May 18th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
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May 26th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Good idea,but I live in Istanbul,Turkey..
May 27th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
OMG,
I just contacted my realator to Buy me Me a Prop in a Hilly but stable area!.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
What a great idea. I received an upside down planter for tomatoes for my birthday and it uses a similar system, with a water reservoir and a cotton wick to water. Smart smart smart, since I regularly forget to water in the summer.
May 30th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Excellent for adding dimension to a garden and feasibility to water. But where is the tank located? Under or above ground? What is the lifespan on the cotton-wick? Does Vert come prepackaged, if so, what type of wood is used?
Overall, this is a very cool design.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
This is too cool to have not been thought of before.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:13 pm
what happens with the water if you get to much rain? will it flood your house?
June 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm
It’s meant to be outside. In the picture it is inside because it was being shown off at a conference. When it fills up the overflow goes down the rain spout.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Awesome idea, looks good too!
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
What a great idea for an addition to my patio. I won’t have to worry about my plants dying while being away for a week or two. Looks like this one will be my next home project. Thanks!