The vision was to create a sustainable food hub that could provide local sourced vegetables, as well as a community space that could connect and engage the neighborhood during the long and cold winters of Helsinki.

Winter Garden

TILT Lab co-founder, Kaja Koppang, was leading the project group that won Helsinki Climathon in 2019 which qualified the team for City of Helsinki's testbed innovation contest. The Winter Garden team won the latter competition as well, leading to the status and funding as a testbed innovation project in the Tukkutori area of Helsinki.

Winter Garden is a 1800 square meters greenhouse. Consider it an indoor park for community gardens, outdoor yoga, food market with local food-preneurs and saunas. The project applied principles from circular economy by closing loops such as using sluf from a fishery close by to heat the saunas, spill heat from the saunas to heat the greenhouse and so on. The intention was to develop a local sustainable food hub and a local community space where the neighborhood can connect with each other and nature – also during the ice cold winter of Helsinki.

The project team consists of Plant Scientist Chicuan Chen, Environmental Engineer Omar El Daghar, Environmental Economist Tin-Yu Lai and System Designer and co-founder of TILT Lab, Kaja Koppang. 

The winners, including TILT Lab co-founder Kaja Koppang in the middle, with their solution Winter Garden are awarded by the jury members Oona Haapakorpi (Omnia Education), Iina Oilinki (City of Helsinki), Hanna Tuomisto (University of Helsinki) and Jouni Spets (City of Helsinki). Read full article here.