01 / Individual · Community service
Oxygen Oasis
Connecting shared land, resident participation and property support.
Oxygen Oasis is a service concept for turning underused shared land in residential communities into managed growing plots. It connects resident applications, plot allocation, shared rules, property support and optional digital touchpoints.
- Role
- Service Designer
- Team
- Individual project
- Focus
- Field research, system mapping, service blueprint, prototyping
- Status
- Service concept with a site-based spatial test
Current outcome
The project produced a service architecture, blueprint, spatial plan and interface prototype, then placed the proposal against a real growing setting. That test clarified the difference between a feasible space and an operating service. Ownership, allocation, maintenance, accessibility and cost still need a live pilot.
Challenge
Making the service operable
What happened
The first concept centred on an air purifier connected to an outdoor growing plot. Field observation and planting tests showed that the technical link was easier to define than the service around it. Each site had different access conditions, existing users, ownership arrangements and maintenance needs.
How I responded
I moved the purifier away from the centre of the proposal and mapped the service around plot application, allocation, onboarding, shared rules, support and renewal. I used observations from the planted site to revise the ecosystem map, blueprint and digital touchpoints.
What changed
The proposal developed into a property-supported growing service with optional monitoring. The test also exposed four requirements for a future pilot: permission, long-term ownership, accessibility and cost.
01 / Context and field research
Early observation showed different starting conditions across residential sites.
I documented examples of informal growing, underused edge spaces, maintenance access and comparable residential conditions. The sites did not present one ready-made opportunity. Some already supported cultivation, while others would need permission, soil checks and basic infrastructure before any service could begin.
The observation reframed the project around feasibility and coordination: who can use a plot, how it is allocated, what the property team supports, and what happens when maintenance or access fails.
Existing practice
Residents had already adapted some spaces for growing.
Site conditions
Access, soil, ownership and upkeep varied between locations.
Service question
Define a credible route from interest to an allocated, maintained plot.
02 / Reframing the concept
The first idea focused on the device. Fieldwork moved the project toward a service.
The key design decision was to make land access and service ownership the core of the proposal.
The early concept paired an air purifier with a display of plants growing outdoors. Sensors and a mobile interface would let residents follow plant conditions from home. The sketches helped me explore a tangible connection between indoor life and the shared garden.
Field research exposed a larger problem. A device could show plant data, while plot allocation, participation, maintenance and conflict remained service questions. I kept the purifier and monitoring ideas as optional touchpoints and redesigned the core around access, roles and handovers.
03 / Service architecture
One journey connects residents, the property team and supporting partners.
The proposed service begins with a resident discovering an available plot and submitting a request. The property team confirms eligibility, allocates a space and explains shared rules. Residents grow and record basic updates, while the property team manages renewals, maintenance requests and unresolved issues.
Mapping the wider system revealed dependencies around supplies, logistics, customer support, technical maintenance and data. The blueprint then translated those relationships into visible resident actions and backstage responsibilities.
- 01
Resident
Find and request
See an available plot and submit interest.
- 02
Property team
Allocate and onboard
Confirm access, assign a plot and share rules and tools.
- 03
Resident
Grow and update
Tend the plot and record basic progress or requests.
- 04
Shared responsibility
Maintain and renew
Resolve upkeep issues and renew or reallocate the plot.
04 / Spatial and digital touchpoints
The service needed a place, a plan and a lightweight way to stay connected.
I mapped possible plot locations around the residential buildings and explored where shared tools, soil checks and cameras could sit. The plan was a feasibility exercise; it helped make the spatial consequences of the service visible.
The interface concept supports plot selection, plant records, service requests and community updates. It prototypes the information layer; the need for a full digital product still requires evidence.
Land plan
Plot allocation, paths and shared resources become visible.
Sensing
Soil checks and cameras remain optional infrastructure.
Interface
Lease status, plant records and service requests sit in one place.
05 / Pilot, limits and next test
A site-based test made the spatial proposal concrete and exposed the operating questions.
I tested the spatial idea within an existing residential growing area. The test helped compare plot size, circulation, visibility and everyday maintenance against a real setting. It did not validate the full service.
The mature planting photographs document this spatial test. They show what shared cultivation can look like once a site is actively maintained, while keeping open the harder questions around eligibility, allocation, seasonal demand, accessibility, conflict resolution and cost.
My next step would be a limited pilot with a small number of plots, a written participation agreement and regular check-ins with residents and property staff.
The project taught me to treat rules, ownership and maintenance as designed touchpoints. They shape whether people can join and whether the service can continue.
