Green office wins a silver medal at Chelsea

8 June 2010

The first ever interior garden to be created at the recent Chelsea Flower Show picked up a silver medal.

The Living Office, a collaboration between Indoor Garden Design and Vitra, features a wall with a system that grows a salad for lunch, including strawberries, tomatoes, mint and chives.

The “working sanctuary” has a fish tank that acts as a grey water filtration system to feed the plants. A compost bin recycles waste while providing ambient heating to the work-space. 

With more than 3.5m people working from home, as noted by research conducted by the TUC last year, it is important that home-workers function just as well as their office colleagues and plants can be key to that, a statement from the winners said.

Ian Drummond, creative director of Indoor Garden Design, said plants make interiors “feel much more looked-after and clean”.

Tony Ash, managing director of Vitra, said the collaboration between Vitra and Indoor Garden Design integrated the best of horticulture with innovative furniture.