SMIT is a sustainable design start-up company that is developing a new approach to solar and wind power.

We are honored to exhibit our prototype of GROW, a hybrid energy delivery system inspired by ivy, at the Museum of Modern Art in the exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind
(Feb 19th - May 12th, 2008).

Introduction | The Idea | Grow .1 | Grow .2 | Applications Back to Top X

Introducing GROW: a new approach to solar and wind power.
GROW is a hybrid energy delivery device that provides power via the sun and wind, and draws inspiration from ivy growing on a building.

GROW appeals to quality of life concerns (environment, health, energy dependence) by providing a product that adheres to the values of environmental responsibility.

Using a life-cycle analysis (LCA), GROW will utilize recycled and reclaimed materials wherever possible and insure that at the end of GROW's lifespan, sustainable methods of recycling and reclamation will be carried out to minimize GROW's environmental and resource footprint.

All iterations of GROW will incorporate an intuitive energy monitoring system allowing both SMIT and end-users to have a one-to-one relationship with their energy output, while enabling the ability to track and fine-tune the performance of GROW's wind and solar energy production.

GROW's unique design incorporates a proprietary, patent-pending combination of photovoltaic and piezoelectric technologies in one system that can adapt to different building typologies, programmatic demands, and regional climates.

SMIT has been pursuing GROW conceptually and technically for over two years, and we have made significant progress in that time. Our two parallel lines of development, GROW.1 and GROW.2, represent different stages of technical resolution and conceptual clarity/ideology.
GROW.1 is currently on display at MoMA, and is the original embodiment of the GROW concept.




First realized as an Industrial Design Thesis project at Pratt Institute in Spring 2005 by Samuel Cabot Cochran, GROW.1 employs thin film photovoltaics with piezoelectric generators and screen printed conductive ink encapsulated in ETFE fluoropolymer lamination.

GROW.1 is designed to utilize emerging technology of the photovoltaic and piezo industry. Based around a modular brick system, .1 is composed of a small number of different parts. Each brick has 5 solar leaves which have a very flexible piezo generator at their stem. The manufacturing of these bricks could happen in a roll to roll printing process where PV, conductive ink, and piezo generators can be layered quickly and efficiently. The rolls can then be stamped and formed to create leaves and connection points. Each brick is designed so that at the end of their life cycle the valuable components, i.e. photovoltaic and piezo, can be stamped out and up cycled while the reusable material, i.e plastic, can be up recycled back into the production stream.

We at SMIT are pursuing the necessary technical and industry relationships needed to make GROW.1 a reality. Until then, please read about GROW.2 which will be available in the near future.

SMIT has been invited to include GROW.1 at an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art: Design and the Elastic Mind in New York City. The exhibition highlights examples of successful translation of disruptive innovation, examples based on ongoing research, as well as reflections on the future responsibilities of design. Of particular interest will be the exploration of the relationship between design and science and the approach to scale.

The exhibition will be open from February 24th, 2008 - May 12th, 2008.
GROW.2 is a solar only iteration of GROW that uses a combination of off the shelf products, and a proprietary leaf design to realize a working model of the GROW concept.




GROW.2 utilizes a structural stainless steel mesh system, which is manufactured by Carl Stahl Decorcable in Germany. Their system is designed to enable plants (such as ivy and other crawlers) to grow up the sides of buildings without causing damage to the building's exteriors, a typical problem of many vertical gardens.

Our leaves are made of 100% recyclable polyethylene, and are available in a variety of colors and opacities. The solar cells are thin film flexible photovoltaic modules encapsulated in Tefzel, and are manufactured by PowerFilm Solar. GROW.2 is a flexible system that can adapt to most building types, sizes, orientations and latitudes. We have the ability to provide varying degrees of opacity to modulate heat gain, light transmission and view. Because of our modular design, future iterations of GROW.2 will be able to include more efficient and less expensive PV modules once those products are both available and cost effective. This modularity also makes GROW.2 easy to support and update: if one leaf should fail, we can replace it very easily.
Residential Applications
SMIT's first product will be a solar-only version of GROW. The modular 'panel' will be approximately 4' X 8' and will be able to be installed on most residential building types. It will use standard grid-tie hardware that will allow easy integration with the typical building's existing electrical service provider. More information will be available soon, please contact us for further details.

Commercial & Architectural Applications
GROW is a flexible system that can adapt to different building typologies, programmatic demands, and regional climates. SMIT hopes to collaborate with architects, builders, and real estate developers to produce innovative projects that utilize GROW on architectural and urban scales.










SMIT | Principals | Sponsors | Interns | Consultants & Contractors Back to Top X

Our mission is to create Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology. We will provide a sustainable relationship between our clients, our products, and the environment. SMIT's work will connect and provide for people in pursuit of a zero footprint lifestyle by creating a rich portfolio of products and a dense network of relationships.

SMIT was founded as a start-up in the Fall of 2005 by brother and sister Samuel Cochran & Teresita Cochran, and is currently located in Brooklyn, New York. As of November 2007, SMIT formed SMIT - Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology, LLC and brought on an Architectural Designer, Benjamin Wheeler Howes.
Teresita Brigitte Cochran
Co-founder
Chief Executive Officer
Teresita Cochran grew up in St. Louis, MO until she attended Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1993. She then attended the Rhode Island School of Design and received her BFA in 1999. She received her Masters in Interactive Technology in 2005 from New York University's Interactive Telecommunication Program (ITP). At ITP she focused primarily on bringing sustainability to urban environments through new and efficient technologies. Her thesis, Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology (SMIT) was a business plan for creating SMIT as an innovative, sustainably focused, action-oriented business. She and her brother, Samuel Cochran, shared this vision and officially formed SMIT as a start-up centered on Sustainable Design at the Pratt Design Incubator at Pratt Institute in September of 2005.


Samuel Cabot Cochran
Co-founder
Chief Design Officer
Samuel Cochran grew up in St. Louis, MO until he attended Northfield Mt. Hermon, graduating in 2001. He then attended Pratt Institute and received his Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design in 2005. Sam's thesis project at Pratt was GROW, a hybrid solar and wind device that took on the biomimetic form of ivy. GROW was featured at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City in May 2005. It was featured on various blogs and in Icon Magazine and Azure Magazine from the ICFF exposure.

Sam was a designer on The Dumpster Shed project for the Mayor's office of NYC from 2005-2006, and is currently doing pro bono work as design director on the Lab on a Chip project in conjunction with Columbia University and Smart Design.

Sam has also taught Drawing for Industrial Designers at Pratt Institute from 2006-2007


Benjamin Wheeler Howes
Partner
Chief of Architectural Design
Benjamin Howes grew up in Rochester, NY before receiving his Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the Pratt Institute School of Architecture in 2006.
Ben has extensive construction and fabrication experience, and specializes in architectural applications and design at SMIT. His academic design work focused on the understanding of architecture as an assembly of discrete systems, and the relationship between architecture and its environment. Ben has worked for Graftworks LLC and Greggory Merryweather Architect among others.
Pratt Institute Design Incubator
Special thanks to Debera Johnson

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)
Special thanks to Jennifer Keller Jackson and Humera Fasihuddin

Family and friends :
Special thanks to all of our family and friends who helped make our prototype of GROW at the MOMA possible.
Debera Johnson
Jamie Allen
Tom Igoe
Kelly Talcott
Ricardo Hollingsworth
Daniel Friedson
Micah Kotch
Diego Portillo
Erik Cooper
Jose Alcala
Jude Heslin-Di Leo
Mori Buster
David Gibbs
Stacie Plassche
Jonathan Lee
Travis Donia
Kevin McElroy
Paul Schwartz
Ross Derrico
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Situated Technologies!
by Ben in Announcements

SMIT has been chosen to proceed to the next round in a competition called  ”Situated Technologies: Toward the Sentient City,” curated by Mark Shepard and organized by the Architectural League.  The competition website is here.  We are honored and exited to be on the short list, and anxious to get going on our proposal.  SMIT worked with Carrie Mcknelly on the winning submission, and is one of 26 teams that have been chosen to move on to the next round.  The deadline is September 3rd, and the commissioned winners will be announced in mid September.  Stay tuned for more news about sit tech!


What blog?
by Ben in Ben

Well, we have not been great s-m-i-t bloggers so far.   In fact, our site has been pretty static since its february launch.  However, you will all be glad to know we have been very busy since then, and things are great here at SMIT.  Keep an eye on the site for some upcoming changes & additions, and look for our first newsletter soon.

Since this is my first post on s-m-i-t, I should tell you a little bit about my interests and what you can expect to see me blogging about.  First things first - I  have developed a real taste for google reader.  I’m all about the feed.  Almost every day I see things that are very relevant to SMIT’s work and I say to myself ‘if I blogged, this would be a good thing to write about…this matters to SMIT’.  Most of these little gems show up in one of four folders in my expanding reader account: arch, design, science, or green.  Sometimes if they are very lucky, they are starred & end up on my delicious page, and are subsequently sent around by Sita, Sam & myself.

I am going to use this blog as another place for this information to live.  I hope that by referencing & writing about my interests in science, architecture, design and sustainability, I can better describe the evolving ambitions and ideology of SMIT.

Hopefully, in the future our posts will be much more frequent then they have been.. and if not, write us and tell us our blog is WEAK! (all caps required.)

Until next time - Ben.


Greetings
by Sita in Sita

Hello millions of SMIT blog readers…we are happy you have found your way to us.

I am Teresita Cochran, CEO, co-founder and partner of SMIT.

All of our start-up team members wear multiple hats…so because I am more of the operations and management person, what you will be reading in my posts will have to do with business opportunities, market trends, leading technologies in our marketplace and perhaps some surprises.

I also have interests in outdoor activities (gardening, composting, biking, travel, sailing, etc.) as well as indoor activities (home improvement, recycling, cooking, eating, sewing, making things, etc.) so some of those sub-categories may find their way into my postings.

I welcome your input and hope you visit us often.
-Sita.
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