Tessellating Gardens

2018. “Tessellating Gardens” aims to reduce pollution from phosphate run-off and the resulting toxic summertime algae blooms in a slow-moving urban river.

These self-contained 8-foot hexagonal gardens represent an innovative approach to cleaning urban wa- terways: Using plants, fresh-water mussels and snails to filter river water, while adding a decorative element to the riverscape that can also produce edible food.

This appears to be the first time that a floating urban garden has been presented as a practical tool for improving water quality in Greater Boston. In April 2018, my partner and I presented Tessellating Gardens as a NuVu showcase project at Harvard’s Sustainability Fair. With the cooperation of the director of the MIT Sail- ing Pavilion, the first full-scale prototype spent Summer 2018 floating near the Cambridge shore of the Charles, while we collected data on its ability to withstand river conditions.

Materials: Lumber, recycled 50-gallon plastic drums, soil.

Collaborators: Maximus Reisner