Love the idea, might try it at home. But speaking as someone who has run both hydroponic and aeroponic systems successfully (as a hobby) - I'm envisioning a lot of dead plants in 6-12 months time and a maintenance nightmare.<p>Various issues:<p>Cleaning - Algae and diseases can quickly kill every connected plant in a hydroponic system. You also need to know how to heal a plant in this situation. Probably the easiest option is just to ditch every plant in the desk, clean, then start again.<p>Nutrient level maintenance - you now need an employee whose job it is to ensure correct nutrient balance, it's trickier than just adding water!<p>General part maintenance - more tricky with aeroponics than hydroponics, but various parts of the system quickly get clogged and caulked up (pumps, nozzles, etc). I was replacing a nozzle every 4 weeks on a relatively small 12 nozzle spraying system.
If you're looking for some plants for your own home/office that are capable of removing toxins from the air, here's a good list, originally compiled by NASA: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air-filtering_plants" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air-filtering_plants</a>
We have something similar in the Google Norway office:
<a href="http://www.tu.no/incoming/2012/03/30/1200003568.jpg/alternates/h1080/1200003568.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.tu.no/incoming/2012/03/30/1200003568.jpg/alternat...</a>
(from <a href="http://www.tu.no/bygg/2012/03/31/se-googles-toffe-oslo-kontor" rel="nofollow">http://www.tu.no/bygg/2012/03/31/se-googles-toffe-oslo-konto...</a>)<p>The desks are made by <a href="http://www.biooffice.no" rel="nofollow">http://www.biooffice.no</a>
Mirrored on imgur: <a href="http://i.imgur.com/i5YQLIN.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/i5YQLIN.jpg</a><p>The site was giving me database timeout errors so as more people wake up and hit the link, it'll surely crash.
For those who miss it, the post links to this good TED talk on "How to grow fresh air:<p><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/kamal_meattle_on_how_to_grow_your_own_fresh_air.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ted.com/talks/kamal_meattle_on_how_to_grow_your_o...</a><p>I think it's a great idea. "reducing noise" is taking it a little far though. They need to target this at Western companies with locations in popular and polluted areas (Shanghai, Beijing, Gurgaon, ...)
I've done a little bit of hydroponic growing (chillies) so I'd love to know how the perlite is going to remain algae free and how this desk would be cleaned if / when aglae starts to take hold.<p>I think this is a great idea though. I, for one, would use it.
Um, guys, the emperor's new clothes are lovely and all, but I am left wondering whether the advantages of this system outweigh, you know, pot plants?
This is pretty cool.<p>I think in a more normal office than used in the pictures (i.e. less light lower ceilings), it would feel like you were in a jungle. Maybe if you add humidity and increase the temperature, it will appeal to our jungle dwelling roots...<p>Although this is kind of impractical, I wonder if it would work well against the main evil of the modern open office - excess noise. The random angles of the leaves might reduce it a bit...
I was half expecting the story of how his desk got flipped, turned upside down, but this is actually pretty cool.<p>I think I'd want to see one in action for a bit before I got my laptop near sources of dirt and water, though.
I'd like to see this done with some kind of climbing ivy or moss and trellises since the air scrubbing ability does not interest me much at all, and the loss of working space/increased footprint seems non-negligible.<p>EDIT: After searching around for a while, I discovered a few promising leads to make this happen. The first option is more of a wall mounted solution, but could be repurposed for separating a workspace: <a href="http://www.dirtt.net/public/products/breathe_2013.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.dirtt.net/public/products/breathe_2013.php</a> It is also apparently very easy to train Ivy to climb up wires, assuming you have a lot of natural light, it seems like it would be possible to replicate something like this indoors: <a href="http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/look-modern-ivy-8702" rel="nofollow">http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/look-modern-ivy-8702</a>
I think it makes for a bad desk. Looks bad design-wise, plants block all the light on the working area and it feels cramped.<p>I love the idea though, might be better suited for living spaces in the form of coffee tables or "plant shelves" than for working spaces where the main desirable conditions are space, light and cleanness.
Umm... what plants convert CO2 -> O2 at night as claimed here? Photosynthesis = 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy -> C6H12O6 + 6O2 ... so unless you leave the lights (Energy) on at night, it's not happening...
I'd like to see a photo of it when you've got a computer and a decent sized keyboard, monitor, etc.<p>Because it looks like you've lost about 2/3 of your desk space there.
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/qey9ikr.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/qey9ikr.jpg</a>
My previous company office. Don't know what kind of plants they were though. But the owners were health freaks, and I must admit it soothed the environment.<p>(Sidenote: studio lights were a big migraine/tension headache trigger for me though :( )
Anybody knows if adding O2 into the air, and removing CO2, at the amounts done by plants, is really beneficial for humans? I can see removing formaldehyde is good, but shouldn't there be major amounts of CO2 and serious O2 deficits (like at >2000m sea level) before there is any effect? And can plants cause this effect?
I personally solve this problem by purchasing cans of fresh air and keeping them in a drawer. A guy I knew once tried to corner the market with a giant vacuum, but failed when the expensive equipment suffered a terrorist attack, putting hundreds of operators out of work and torching my life savings.
My day job is at a gardening company and we're in the process of remodeling our offices. So, do these desks actually exist for sale yet? No way we'd be able to outfit the entire office, but it could make for a cool couple of showpieces for when we have investors and suppliers dropping by.
I have a rather large spot on my desk I could use to put some plants on. Can anyone recommend a starting kit of sorts for a man who has no gardening skills whatsoever? Can someone help take the guesswork out of this for tools like me? :)
I was expecting to see a "portable outdoor desk" you can place in the middle of a park. It would have a wind/water proof hood/umbrella, and a portable accumulator...<p>Anyway I like this product a lot, great idea.
We recently started working with a client in the fashion industry. One look at our studio and she had nothing positive to say. Apparently it's very drab, and it is. We're a bootstrapped startup and I sometimes think you can track the success of a startup by how many toys they have in their workspace. We have none. I'd much prefer plants over toys though. I just worry about the bugs.
I think it is pretty cool, however I think just having the plants start at desk-height is not as good as having them start near the floor - seems too artificial.<p>Maybe a desk that has a drawer or CPU stand or cable organizer, with the plants growing from the base of the desk.
Heh, not really compatible with my modus operandi: I mainly hack at night with lights turned off. And then the plants would compete over oxygen with me :)
Neat idea! If I had a desk like this I'd prefer the metal frame to be more minimal and less hospital-like (maybe change the color from blue to grey).