Curriculum
1) YOUR DESIGNERS BRIEF – The most important first step
- How do you envision your finished windows and the rooms they’re in?
- How do you want to use each window?
- What are the site conditions inside and outside your house?
- How to make a Design Brief
- Basement Window Well Types
a) Concrete lined? Corrugated metal? Custom? Rock lined? Timbers? Terraced? Open or covered?
b) Outside: Patio? Lawn? Gravel? South facing (the best) or not?
c) Egress: Can you and do you want to get in and out of which wells?
d) Walkout basements: while not being window wells, can be developed into a large attached greenhouse.
e) Inside: finished or unfinished basement? What rooms are served by each window?
2) BASIC ELEMENTS – Sunlight, Water, Soil, Temperature
a) Sunlight
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- Painting the inside of the window well with white paint increases the light getting to the plants and brightens the basement. Highly-reflective material increases this.
- Un-shaded, South-facing window wells can grow well without supplemental light
- Supplemental lighting system
b) Water
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- Hand watering
- Automatic irrigation
- Filtered water
- Sink at stairs level
- Washing hands, tools, and produce
c) Soil & Soil Health
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- Every square inch counts! Designing for maximum space using the bottom of the well, raised beds, esplanade vertical walls, hanging pots, ground level
- Composting, worm farms, mushrooms & mycelium
d) Temperature
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- Climate-battery designs
- Using the home’s HVAC system
- Venting & Misting
- Insulation
3. CONSTRUCTION
a) Inside the Window Well
b) Inside the Basement
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- Kitchen?
- Plumbing?
- Electrical?
- HVAC?
c) Outside the House
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- Ground-level soil gardening
- Ground-level container gardening
- Canopy
d) SmartHome Integration
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- Solar energy independence
- Lighting argumentation
- Climate control
- Hazard control (flooding, insects, etc.)
4) GROWING, HARVESTING, COOKING
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- Organic Gardening, Permaculture, Self-sufficiency, food and water security, well-being, and the joy of old-fashioned Dirt Therapy!
- This is your window to suburban micro-farms, edible landscaping, food forests, agricultural neighborhoods, urban gardening, wilderness regeneration, wildlife care, and sustainable lifestyles!
5) ERGONOMICS, SAFETY, SECURITY
Design the WindoWell garden around the gardener
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- Sliding windows or French door type?
- Climb up into the window well, or just garden from in the basement?
- Climb up inside the window well to garden the ground level?
- Climb up out of the window well and access it from outdoors too?
- Building a stairs cabinet