GlobalStudy
Program
Cooperative Learning Abroad

2012

Tomorrow's plant factories
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences
Chiba UniversityTomorrow'sPlant
Factories

KIOSKGREEN

In this workshop, participants will
make proposals for the preparation ofplant factories in cities

The word “kiosk” often refers
to small stands or shops sellinga variety of goods, such as
newspapers, tobacco, beverages,
snacks and the like. They areusually to be found in town
squares, parks and other urban
locations where they serve theneeds of busy commuters. InJapan, “kiosk” is the proper
name given to stalls locatedinside train stations operated
by the Japan Railway Company(JR), but, in recent years, thesestructures are gradually being
replaced by larger convenience
stores. This change is due to therise in performance of mobile
phones which enable passengers
to read the news online, andhave therefore provoked thedecrease in sales of printed
newspapers. The “eki-naka” (in-The term “plant factory” usually conjures an image oflarge-scale, suburban, industrial structures. However, more
recently, plant factories of smaller sizes have been built insiderestaurants and other types of spaces where people buy or
consume plant-based products. In South Korea, for example,
Lotte supermarkets include plant factories that promote foodsafety and attract customers. In Japan, a few restaurants, such
as SUBWAY in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district or LA BEFANA in
the Caretta Shiodome shopping mall, have also made use ofsmall plant factories for publicity. In addition, the building of aplant factory inside the lobby of Sakakibara Memorial Hospital
represents a first in world research about the soothing effectsof plants on hospital visitors and patients.
The objective of the Green Kiosk workshop was for Finnishand Japanese students to work together and devise businessmodels for the operation of convenient small plant factories
to be located in urban areas.

station) convenience store modelis also preferred for the greater
diversity of product assortmentsthat it offers.

1ScheduleSun. Arival and Orientation for
Seinajoki Students

Tue. Self introduction &Prior Study presentation

Wed. Workshop 1 & Field Trip to
Kashiwanoha campus

Thu. Workshop 2
Fri. Workshop 3
Mon. Workshop 4
Tue. Field survey
Wed. Workshop 5
Thu. Workshop 6Fri. Final Presentation
2Elderly Home Plant Factory
Concept: A plant factory located in thebasement of an elderly home. The factory isequipped with large wall screens placed in theliving room area and informing the residents of
the ways to use the factory. Additional smallsized, mobile factories of various types wouldalso be placed around the elderly home.
Inspiration: Increasing elderly populations
and the need of elderly homes are subjects ofdebate that are shared by both of our countries,
Finland and Japan. Making the lives of elderly
home residents enjoyable has become, byextension, an equally important topic fordiscussion. The elderly home plant factorywould fulfill two objectives: to grant the elderly
autonomy over their food consumption, and tooffer them opportunities to communicate witheach other while being actively engaged in asocially meaningful project.

3by einsteins
Descriptions of small-sized plantfactories:
1) one-plant factory to place inindividual rooms equipped with adigital photo frame on the side.
2) both compartments of thefactory are irrigated through a pipe
connected to the roof of the factory;
a cordless battery is also fitted on theroof to allow easier recharge.
3) the two compartments areseparated by a system of lamps thatsend light in both directions. Light isthen reflected by mirrors covering theupper and lower surfaces in order tomake the most of the energy supply.
4) the cover of the factory is equippedwith a round handle for easier use.

Green Stepby fantastic fourConcept: A type of kiosk located in train stations
and selling healthy snacks, juices, jellies etc.
made of plants grown in factories built in thestation itself. The plant factories are poweredby the train commuters themselves throughenergy generating tiles covering the station
floor. Customers are attracted to the green step
kiosk by sounds and lights produced by theirsteps, and by the wall indicator that shows how
much energy is produced for every second.
Inspiration: The idea was to bring the plantfactory into Japanese daily life. Since Japaneseliving in large urban areas use mainly trains
to commute to work, and considering thatsome Tokyo train stations have already been
experimenting with power generation floorings,
the thought of a plant factory located into atrain station sounded logical.

4Cake Shopby moomins

Concept: An original cake shop that sells
edible flowers grown at an adjacent plantfactory. The flowers are used to decorate
the cakes and are also sold as infusions or
as chopstick stands. A list of over hundred
different edible flowers is available for thecustomer to choose from, in addition tosamples for tasting.

Inspiration: Edible flowers are popular in
Finland and make for a healthy diet. Yet,people who buy them usually do not knowwhere these flowers come from. Having acake shop next to a plant factory functions
both as an advertisement for the positiverole played by plant factories and as an
assurance for the cake buyer that theseflowers are fresh and pollution-free.
Additional feature: In order to motivate
customers to grow their own plants, a“secret bag” is given for free for every cakebought at the shop. This bag contains asmall plant cultivation kit composed of aseedling, sand, fertilizer and plastic bottle.
The customer is encouraged to grow his or
her own plant and bring it back to the shop
for a discount on the next purchase.

5Green Gym

by peanuts

Concept: Green gym combines aworking out environment with aplant factory. Electricity producedby people training on the gym
equipment such as treadmills,
rowing machines etc. powers up an
adjacent plant factory. Plants grownin the factory are then used to makehealthy food sold to the customersof the gym through special vending
machines directly connected to theplant factory.
Additional features: While working
out, the customers of the Green
Gym can observe the process ofproduction of plants inside thefactory through large glass walls.
The vending machines use an ecofriendly point system, called ELECO(electricity + ecology), that gives them discountprices depending on how much energy they haveproduced. Finally, some of the vending machines
are salad dispensers showing the process ofharvesting, cutting and making salads fromvegetables grown inside the factory.

6Tree of Dreams
Concept: An amusement park attraction
placed in a tree-shaped, 50 meters tallbuilding. In the central section of thebuilding (the trunk of the tree), there isa plant factory with transparent walls.
Slides surrounding the factory allow
children to go from the top of the tree tothe bottom. These slides are equippedwith rolling cylinders generating energy
which is then used to run the factory.
The synthetic leafs of the tree collect rainwater that is recycled in the basementof the building to be sent to thefactory. Four elevators provide accessto the upper two floors where various
attractions await the park visitors: stores,a café and juice bar, a herb al spa a kidszone and a 3D zone.

7by tree of dreams

Greenbot

by usagi

Concept: a personal robot built from recyclable
materials and containing a mini-plant factory
located in its womb. In order to fulfill thegreenbot’s primary function, that is to educate
the public about the benefits of healthy andclean food-supply, the plants are visible througha glass. The robot can deliver a few basic
greetings, such as “hello” or “goodnight”, and isradio controllable. The battery which allows it toperform its functions is charged by attached solar
panels. LED lights and performance indicators
are also used to monitor the mini-factory.
Inspiration: Today automated robots performing
various daily jobs, such as lawn mowing andfloor wiping, are readily available on the market.
Greenbots could be an additional productthat offers the opportunity to grow in yourown house flowers, small-sized fruits or herbs.
Although it may be originally costly to buy, it
could be used to teach school children about theways technology can be of service to nature andecology.

8Future development: We foresee thepossibility of upgrading greenbots
through the purchase of accessories,
such as interchangeable arms, artificialintelligence, voice recognition ora self-harvesting system. Larger
greenbots could also be manufactured
to meet the needs of more people atonce.

Veggie-Chan
Concept: Veggie-chan is a small,aquarium-size plant factory(120CMx70CMx120CM) for
private use, which comes witha smartphone application thatfunctions as a controller of thefactory. The application allows
through an animated character
called Veggie-chan to monitor thefactory’s levels of temperature,water, light and nutrients. The
factory itself is equipped withalarm sounds and songs that
inform household members of
the stages of production and of
eventual problems. An automatic
mode can also be activated while
the plant factory is left on its own
for longer periods of time.

by wonderers

production process. Three games were devised:
1) a pacman-like game in which a vegetable-looking
character collects nutrients while running away fromplant eating bugs; 2) a quiz game testing the gamer’s
knowledge of plants; and 3) a first-person adventure
game in which the gamer uses his fingers to pick up
nutrients and beat the enemies. Points earned byplaying these games can be spent on taking care of
Veggie-chan by, for example, buying new furniture
for her living space. Exchange of items and points
on an internet community website is also a possible
additional feature.

Additional features: inspired by
the tamagotchi-type of games,
we thought that the application
should feature game options toeducate the owners of the plantfactory and to allow them toactively engage with the plant9

Seinäjoki Universityof Applied Sciences

Chiba University
Yuta Watanabe

Einsteins

Hanae Miyahira

EinsteinsElina Koski

Yoko Nishimoto

Usagi

Heikki Kortesmaki Usagi

Shoko Saiki

Tree of dreams

Mikko Rajamaki

Fantastic four

Jussi Takala

Peanuts
Tree of dreams

Sachia Moriyama Moomins

Usagi (Team)

Kayo Goto

Fantastic four

Simo Keskinen

Mayu Tatsuki

Einsteins

Tiina Rauhalaakso Peanuts

Keisuke Onoda

Peanuts

Ulla Kantola

Einsteins

Eri Gokita

Fantastic four

Nelli Aaltonen

Einsteins

Chihiro Sampei

Wonderers

Hannele Hyvonen Wonderers

Tianyi Jiang

Tree of dreams

Joonas Sippola

Tree of dreams

Atsuno Kinjo

Peanuts

Markus Valkiala

Wonderers

Yuri AtsutaWonderers

Joanna Niemi

Moomins

Rina Tamaki

Usagi

Heidi Matikainen

Moomins

Mira Koykka

Fantastic four

Ms. Marita Lahti

School of Health Careand Social Work

Hitomi Nakamura Moomins (Team)

Advisers
Ms. Ryoko Niikura

International Researchand Education

Mr. Makoto Watanabe Department of Design
Mr. Algis Paskevicius

Mr. Juha Sarvilahti School of Culture and Design

Department of Design
10GlobalStudy
Program

2012

GREEN KIOSK - Tomorrow's plant factories

11