Sharing Our Vision of Peapod Life at Food Forward

Photos: Wo-Built Shares Its Vision of Peapod Life with Food Forward
Urban Agriculture: Foodie Drinks - Eglinton-Lawrence Edition
May 29, 2012 at Zito's Marketplace, 210 Marlee Avenue, Toronto
2012 @ wobuilt.com

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share.
It was a great evening, wonderful food and company.
A special thank you to Orla Moylan Hegarty for inviting us.
We loved hearing everyone's great community initiatives.
See you all at the next Foodie Drinks.
~ Wo Built

They say there is great beauty and wisdom in simplicity…in that which is elemental.

On Tuesday evening, Wo-Built joined Food Forward’s event held at Zito’s Marketplace, 210 Marlee Avenue, Toronto.

The venue was packed with a diverse group ranging from members of the local community to social entrepreneurs to individuals from across the GTA. Their common cause: a sincere interest in eating healthy, organic, local, sustainable, community-empowering food.

Picture it: in the heart of a gourmand’s paradise, an outstanding spread of homemade snacks courtesy of Zito’s Marketplace, delightful hobnobbing with foodies from the community … what better place for Wo-Built to talk about Peapod Life?

Speakers included Cousellor Josh Colle, member of the Toronto Food Policy Council, and Susan Poizner, founder of Growing for Green, Community Orchard and Backyard Sharing initiative.

Attila Lendvai, VP of Strategic Development, gave a lively and interactive talk on behalf of Peapod Life, highlighting the very simple fact that human beings “are what we eat.” And all five elements go into growing food: earth, wind, fire, water, and space. Ergo, “we too are those five elements.”

As opposed to legacy approaches to building which focused on sheltering people from the elements, Peapod Life embraces the fact that we are those elements. Quality earth, wind, fire, water and space are essential to our survival and well-being, and so they are essential to Peapod Life as well.

We know, for instance, how important natural light is to us; that artificial light is less than healthy. The same goes for fresh air; clean, vitalized and revitalizing water; vibrant, beautiful space that is calming yet invigorating—not unlike a forest, meadow, or just about any other outdoor natural environment.

This elemental approach means Peapod Life operates on a level so primal, so fundamental to the well-being of living things, it creates indoor spaces that are literally full of life: unmatched in terms of their ability to support productive, peaceful, healthy living.

Peapod Life ... it’s really quite elementary.

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Photos: Wo-Built Shares Its Vision of Peapod Life with Food Forward
Urban Agriculture: Foodie Drinks - Eglinton-Lawrence Edition
May 29, 2012 at Zito's Marketplace, 210 Marlee Avenue, Toronto
2012 @ wobuilt.com

And even more pictures from this Food Forward Foodie Drinks night:

Screenshot: facebook.com: Food Forward Events Photos
Foodie Drinks - Eglinton-Lawrence Edition
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
credit: http://www.facebook.com/groups/foodforward

 

Air Quality 10x Better than Outdoor Air for a Better Quality of Peapod Life

Image: Indoor Ecosystem from Peapod Life can achieve 10x Better air Quality than Outdoor Air

Another humid day in Toronto, another air quality warning in effect.  As the city waits with bated breath for a good downpour to refresh the city’s air, let’s take a moment to consider the implications.

We all know the importance of having fresh air.   

We know how stuffy and unpleasant indoor spaces can become and so we open doors and windows in our homes and install expensive HVAC systems in our commercial buildings to either get fresh air inside or process recirculated air to make it seem fresh.

Given the air quality warnings we receive on a regular basis from the city, the methods we use to get fresh air indoors should raise a few eyebrows.  How fresh is that air, after all?

What if you could achieve air quality ten times better than that available outside, with no HVAC system?  This is the magic of utilizing nature’s air purification system, ecosystems, indoors.

Peapod Life works with technologies and methodologies developed over decades by experts in the fields of indoor ecosystems.  These deceptively simple systems allow Peapod Life to create fully integrated indoor garden living spaces that are a step above potted plants or typical living walls. 

You wouldn’t want to live in a green house, precisely because of the poor air quality!  Unless you change the soil seasonally in your house plants, you’ll find they (and you) don’t do so well after a while.  

Soil is alive.  Eventually it dies.  Then it starts to decompose.  Thanks to fungus, mould, bacteria, etc., rotting soil releases putrid gases and noxious fumes that are anything but “fresh.”

One reason why the air seems so fresh in nature—especially forests—is because of proper ecosystems.  Soil dies in nature, too.  But rather than dying all at once as in a potted plant, it dies similarly to human skin: continually, constantly being renewed as it dies.  The ecosystem itself is alive.

This is Wo-Built’s approach to living structures: buildings that support life…all life…Peapod Life.  Our indoor ecosystems support vibrant, living growth media continuously regenerating itself, in turn supporting healthy plants that clean the air and feed the other elements of the complete living system. 

The result?  Commercial installations using the same methods and technologies employed by Peapod Life have achieved indoor air quality ten times better than outside air.  Just imagine what it would be like living, working and/or playing in air so fresh; in space so alive.  

It’s just another aspect of what we call Quality of Peapod Life.

Indoor Landscapes: Companies See the Light of a whole New Level of “wow, cool!”

Image Montage by Wo-Built: Indoor Landscapes
Image Credits: Travels with Zen-Aida + Plantscape - Interior Plant Service, Indoor Office Landscaping

Companies are beginning to embrace the notion of indoor landscapes with more enthusiasm, and it’s no wonder why. The business case is compelling; the players impressive; the wow-factor seductive.

eFig, a U.K.-based non-profit trade association of interior landscapers, have collected a number of reasons why organizations of all sizes and types should invest in professionally installed and maintained plants. Their list of benefits cites various researchers and studies that back up each claim.

The benefits of indoor landscapes to business begin with making a positive impression in reception and sales areas, to reduction in stress, sickness and absenteeism in employees, and an increase in overall productivity. But business leaders should be weary of that word: maintained.

There is something else at work in the mad rush to green interior spaces. It has something to do with what you might call the “wow, cool!” factor; not to mention landscape designers’ determination to “turf” existing notions of what’s “doable” indoors. Consider the following installations.

Image Montage by Wo-Built: “Turf” your notions about what’s “doable.” Above Left: Grass floor key part of Hassell’s design for PTTEP’s new 46,000 sqm Headquarters. Read More: http://www.hassellstudio.com/en/cms-projects/detail/pttep-headquarters Image Credit: http://www.hassellstudio.com/cms_images/230_02-02-2012_8366.png;

Above Right: Grass walls by Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey transform church. Read more: Living Grass Walls Completely Cover the Interior of London's Dilston Grove Gallery! | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building Image Credit: http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/04/dilston-grove-Ackroyd-harvey-grass-walls-537x402.jpg

That’s all well and good, but there’s a problem. Plants are alive. And, like all living things, they are dependent on their environment. Traditional / conventional buildings are notoriously “sick.” Adding some plants may improve things on one level, we may be creating more problems than we know.

Living walls costing tens of thousands of dollars in plant replacement costs; putrefying soil having detrimental effects on indoor air quality; inappropriate water usage causing more harm to plants than good. Interior landscapers will say anything is doable—even maintainable—but is it really sustainable?

Wo-Built loves “wow, cool!” And we would never have created Peapod Life if we didn’t believe in the benefits of indoor landscapes and healthier spaces. But we also know life comes with strings. We don’t overpromise. And with all-glass designs, you can count on the fact that transparency is our business.

Peapod Life is unique. It’s not about forcing living landscapes into sick buildings or dead spaces in the hopes of healing or resuscitating them. We build autonomous living spaces from the ground up, with an eye on creating fully integrated indoor ecosystems that are beautiful, cost effective and sustainable.

Peapod Life is based on biomimetic design & build philosophies. Our mission is to create sustainable indoor ecosystems supported by living structures that maximize the benefits for all life, especially our clients. Forget about what’s doable. See the natural light of what’s actually livable. Peapod Life.

Yeah, with Wo-Built, you could say it’s time for a whole new level of “wow, cool.”

Attila Lendvai VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Get Peapod Life™ Indoor Garden Living Space for your Non-Profit or Community Organization at Cost

Peapod Life designs indoor garden living spaces for many applications.
Ask us how you can acquire Peapod Life™ at cost for your group, non-profit or other organization that serves the local community. 2012 @ peapodlife.com

"Gardens, scholars say, are the first sign of commitment to a community. When people plant corn they are saying, let's stay here. And by their connection to the land, they are connected to one another."  

- Anne Raver Source: Quotes Daddy

Peapod Life™ is announcing an exciting offer for non-profit and other community groups in the Greater Toronto Area. Now you can get Peapod Life for your organization at cost.

As part of its community outreach program aligned with a social mission to increase food security for suburban and urban neighbourhoods, Peapod Life is offering organizations an opportunity to build fully useable community spaces that have integrated indoor vertical gardens, solar power and more.

The urban gardening movement is experiencing a renaissance in Toronto. Peapod Life supports all efforts to green rooftops and utilize other available green spaces. Our approach to healthy living brings the benefits of fresh air, natural light and organic gardens indoors, 365 days a year.

 Peapod Life recognizes the need for indoor community centres for neighbourhood gatherings, meetings, young people, learning, spiritual development, meditation and worship, and a host of other uses. We believe such centres are ideal for Peapod Life’s approach to living structures that support life.

Be it the slow food movement, urban garden sharing, or food swapping programs, we believe Peapod Life represents the ideal space for grassroots initiatives revolving around food security and healthy living.

Imagine your neighbourhood or community with its own Peapod Life building, providing essential space for young and old alike to participate in whatever activities near and dear to their heart, at the same time producing organic fruits and vegetables all year round.

Peapod Life is committed to the future of neighbourhoods and communities: with strong bonds and grassroots efforts to improve everyone’s standard of living: from energy and food security to health and overall happiness and well-being.  

That’s why we are offering Peapod Life to not-for-profit and other community groups at cost.

Contact us for more details.

 Attila Lendvai VP of Strategic Development  
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Urban Farming and Peapod Life: Grow Kids’ Connection to Community, Culture and Curriculum

Collage: Children’s Lives Enriched with Gardening Images Credit: MS Office Clip Art

"Students in a mostly Latino high school in Chicago improved their grades in science and the eating habits of an entire neighborhood with a program that began by installing greenhouses on the roofs of the school buildings and spread to one of the main parks in the city.”
Read more: Fox News Latino

This report Urban Farming Improves Nutrition in Chicago Neighborhood by Fox News Latino in the U.S., indicating the positive impact of urban gardening on kids and their community in Chicago is just the latest evidence in support Peapod Life’s push into education. 

Overcrowding is a problem in many schools, and given the choice between building new greenhouses and new classrooms, most schools would probably opt for applying shrinking budgets to more learning space. Peapod Life gives educators a third option: indoor garden learning spaces. 

The connection between children and gardening is both elemental and elementary. I certainly remember working our family’s three-quarter acre lot in the summertime, not to mention countless trips to “pick-your-own” farms. It was a connection to the earth that I’m sure has served our generation well.

The National Gardening Association has “been working to renew and sustain the essential connection between people, plants and the environment” for over 35 years, and have a website dedicated to children’s connection with gardening: www.kidsgardening.org. 

One cannot help but wonder how urbanization and modernization are adversely affecting future generations, as children become less in-tune with the natural world, and more connected to artificial, synthetic and/or virtual representations of reality. Certainly, Jamie Oliver seems to think so. 

Peapod Life’s idea of combining an indoor garden space with a fully functioning learning space counters the disturbing trend highlighted by Jamie Oliver and others. It gives children living in urban centers a taste of living and working the land, an authentic connection with life. And this is only the beginning… 

Studies have shown that focus and attention improve dramatically with the presence of plants. Peapod Life’s indoor garden learning spaces could offer parents and educators a natural remedy for ADHD and behavioural problems, as opposed to over-medicating children. The healthy organic food they eat will help counter the negative neuropsychological impacts of MSG and other excitotoxins present in processed foods. 

Finally, no matter what their cultural origin, children deserve to connect with the best traditions of their past, including native dishes, ingredients, flavors, and recipes… and by connect I mean prepare from scratch. Peapod Life gives them the chance to grow, harvest and prepare authentic meals from scratch.  

Attila Lendvai VP of Strategic Development 

Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build - Creators of Peapod Life