Field Lab

Research & Design 2011

The Field Lab is an experimental garden and installation at La Finca del Sur, a community farm in the South Bronx. On a city-owned property contaminated with heavy metals, we are testing four plants for their ability to remove these heavy metals from the soil. Indian mustard, basket willow, sunflower and mugwort were planted on four plots and maintained over the course of the summer. The installation is garden furniture and exhibition at once. The individual pieces contain information on “Where do contaminants come from?” “How does phytoremediation work?” or “What are the characteristics of these plants?” At the same time they can be used to sit on, place your drink, store your garden tools or contain plants. The first season of planting has shown encouraging success in all four test fields in reducing contaminants. The project received a mini-grant from City Atlas and I blog about the process here.

Project Team: Kaja Kühl, Jay Tsai, Rebekah Dye