The 'living fridge' that recreates a river in your front room to
give you fresh fish and vegetables to eat (but no chips,
sadly)
Designers in Paris have developed a do-it-yourself ecosystem
that lets owners grow fish and plants inside tanks in their living
room.
Known as 'Local River', the plants within the tank feed off
the waste produced by the fish and the fish can then survive in the
filtered water with little interference or cleaning from the
owner.
The system has also been dubbed 'fridge-aquarium' because
owners can use the fish as food - growing and breeding the fish
within the 'Local River' before killing and eating it.
French designers Mathieu Lehanneur and Anthony van den
Bossche created the system.
They specialise in producing industrial design and interior
architecture that blend interactions between people and living
systems within the environment.
The 'Local River' ecosystem uses the principle of aquaponics
- a sustainable food production system that combines aquaculture,
such as snails, fish and prawns, with hydroponics, plants that live
in water.
The plants get nutrients from the nitrate-rich waste of the
fish.
In doing so, the plants remove this waste from the water and
act as a natural filter to purify it.
This maintains a balance for the ecosystem so the fish can
survive.
The same technique is used on large-scale pioneer aquaponics
and fish farms, especially in the Far East.
These farms raise fish called tilapia with lettuce planted in
trays floating on the surface of ponds.
Mathieu said: ''Local River' aims to replace the decorative
'TV aquarium' by an equally decorative but also functional
'refrigerator-aquarium'.
'In this scenario, fish and greens cohabit for a short time
in a home storage unit before being eaten by their keepers, the
end-players in an exchange cycle within a controlled
ecosystem.'
The final results are a variety of food sources that are
completely fresh and that have not been affected by mass consumer
production.
'Local River' comes in two sizes.
The large model is 64 x 29 x 39 inches and costs £10,600
($15,990).
The small model costs £6,750 ($9,900) and is will fit into a
space of 29 x 18 x 36 inches.
