Liam Hayes
he/him
Kindred Crop
‘Kindred Crop’ is a kit which enables refugees living in camps to reclaim independence over food access. The kit, when constructed, creates a closed-loop farm system which has reduced water consumption and mitigates harsh conditions.
This kit consists of a set of instructions, and the tools and custom components required to construct the system. Such a system will allow people relying on rations to supplement these with fresh fruit and vegetables, resulting in a more nutritionally varied diet, and increased personal independence. Only commonly available materials such as tent poles and tent fabric are needed to complete the kit, and the availability of these has been verified through close connections with NGOs in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon.
Through extensive iteration, prototyping and testing, the project aims to create a simple user experience that would yield a considerable quality of life improvement for those in a difficult situation.
Visualisation of the Kindred Crop system in situ in Zoghara Camp
Early testing was conducted using these scaled-down prototypes
This is the third of my full-scale prototypes, and was almost entirely made from upcycled scrap materials
Instructions were developed through iterative testing of the construction process to be simple and intuitive
The kit contains all of the necessary tools, seeds and custom parts to assemble the farming system
All components are either reusable or biodegradable
An early draft of the kit was sent to Lebanon for testing in the appropriate climate, from which important lessons were learned
Research
An image of Zoghara camp showing how inhabitants are already trying to grow food
Zoghara Camp as seen from above
In my early research, I took part in a 5km run with dozens of Asylum Seekers, and learned about their experiences