A sky-high garden shed
New Zealand's Plant Room is a prefabricated 'clip-on' garden shed/greenhouse designed for high-rise apartment buildings and condos.
Renderings: The Plant Room 
A Plant Room provides hot water for one occupant and a healthy growing space for herbs, fruit and vegetables all year round. It also offers a worm farm, a rainwater tank, an outdoor space and an enclosed room.
It shades the apartment to avoid summer overheating and collects hot air to circulate warmth in the winter. It is designed to improve the quality of apartment living while reducing the energy and water use of its occupants. It could also be a suitable solution to office retro-fits.
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Comments
I think with time the “clip-on” shed concept for apartment buildings will start to catch the eye of landlords, especially something like the Plant Room, as it helps to make the building more sustainable for occupants. We will keep our fingers crossed.
This plant room is no more dangerous than any bolt on balcony so dont be scared! We have had it all checked out by an engineer and obviously designs would have to be passed through normal planning / building consent at council so yes.. your neighbours would have to agree to it. As for all the bolt on extensions to apartments in Asia. I would be very interested to see any other precedents for this kind of pre fabricated extension. Please let us know where to look. Have not found anything.... More
This plant room is no more dangerous than any bolt on balcony so dont be scared! We have had it all checked out by an engineer and obviously designs would have to be passed through normal planning / building consent at council so yes.. your neighbours would have to agree to it. As for all the bolt on extensions to apartments in Asia. I would be very interested to see any other precedents for this kind of pre fabricated extension. Please let us know where to look. Have not found anything.... More
I've never seen them available from a builder, if they ever become mainstream make sure you get one from a quality builder!
Yeah, everyone's going to be real happy when some Makita warrior does a weekend bolt-on right above their kitchen window.
Most apartment-building owners in the U.S. would never allow these. Even in buildings like mine, where utilities including heat, hot water & garbage removal are included in my rent, and thus something like NZ's Plant Room would save the landlord money, anything that "disrupts the (UGLY!) facade" of the building is banned. This is even applied to the issue of storm windows vs. screens -- I can't put in a storm (i.e. additional glass-pane layer) window, at my own expense, during the winter.... More
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How much does a plot of air that size go for.
Big deal. This is prominent in Asian cities.
a dismissive comment devoid of anything worth reading, meant for nothing more than to showcase the author's inability to be impressed, because he has seen it all. this is prominent on teh interwebs.
Please God, don't let me faaaaallllll! *Splat* bad idea.
I like it!! Everyone needs one of these, especially me!
...but what I love is seeing developers think of ways to integrate big city living with the natural world....not all of us can live in a rural area and I appreciate the thought behind this.
What a gorgeous picture to go along with your post. Like your sky high garden. wish if I could create one at home.
