The public got a chance to see a mobile greenhouse to be used by Butler University's Center for Urban Ecology farm in Indianapolis on Tuesday on Ball State's campus. BSU architecture students received a $50,000 grant from Butler to build the fully automated greenhouse. (Photo: Corey Ohlenkamp/The Star Press)
MUNCIE — Ball State University students have completed the design and construction of what is being called the first non-toxic, fully automated, mobile greenhouse for organic urban farming.
"This is a prototype that lends itself to the sort of transient nature of the urban farm, which … is moving toward the mainstream," says Timothy Gray, associate professor of architecture.
A quote posted this week on the Facebook page of Butler University's CUE Farm, where the greenhouse will be placed, reads, "I think in 100 years, urban agriculture will be as normal as the city parks we have today."
The greenhouse will be used to cultivate plant starts for Butler's Center for Urban Ecology Farm, which sells its produce to Indianapolis restaurants and to the community through community-supported agriculture subscriptions and the Farm Stand.
Butler awarded a $50,000 grant to Gray's class of fourth-year architecture students for Indiana-made/supplied materials for the green-framed greenhouse.
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