Facility design is operating leverage.
Get it right before the concrete sets.
Foundation is Grownetics' facility design offer for commercial CEA operators building new rooms, retrofitting old ones, or planning the next phase of scale.
The biggest design mistakes do not show up on install day. They show up for years in energy cost, contamination risk, workflow friction, uneven rooms, and expensive retrofits. We help operators make design decisions that hold up in the real world by understanding the tradeoffs in equipment selection, layout, and control strategy before systems are locked in.
The operations that win long term
are designed to win long term.
When markets compress, design quality stops being an engineering detail and becomes a business advantage. The operators who hold consistency, protect margins, and scale more cleanly are usually the ones who made better design decisions earlier.
Facility design is leverage. A more efficient environmental strategy lowers operating cost every cycle. A better workflow reduces labor friction every week. Better bio-security and zoning reduce avoidable risk before it becomes a remediation problem.
That is why Foundation is not just about drawings. It is about helping operators make design decisions that create a better production system for the next 5 to 10 years.
Four design priorities. Every facility, every project.
These are not brand words. They are the practical requirements that determine whether a facility will be easier or harder to operate profitably over time.
Hyper Efficient
Every watt. Every BTU. Every gallon.
We design for the operating costs of year 3, not the capital budget of year 1. Energy load calculations, HVAC sizing, lighting density, and water/nutrient system design, all optimized before a single permit is filed.
- HVAC load calculations with safety margins
- Lighting density mapping vs. DLI targets
- Water + nutrient system sizing
- Energy ROI projections pre-build
Bio-Secure
Contamination stops at the design stage.
Airflow pressurization, traffic pattern engineering, and HVAC filtration design that prevents cross-contamination between zones. Pest and pathogen entry points eliminated architecturally, not managed with protocols alone.
- Positive/negative pressure zone design
- HEPA + UV filtration specifications
- Personnel traffic flow modeling
- Quarantine zone integration
Compliant
Designed to pass every inspection.
Regulatory requirements are a moving target. We design to current standards while building in flexibility for what's coming, so your facility isn't a renovation project every time the rules change.
- State-specific regulatory mapping
- UL electrical specifications
- Security system integration planning
- Track & trace infrastructure support
Precise
CAD-level detail on every system.
We don't hand you a concept drawing. Every Foundation project delivers construction-ready CAD documentation: HVAC schematics, electrical one-lines, plumbing layouts, and sensor placement guides.
- Full CAD/BIM documentation package
- HVAC and electrical schematics
- Sensor placement design for CropVision
- Contractor handoff documentation
Different facility situations need different design work.
Foundation is not a one-size-fits-all package. A greenfield build, a retrofit, and an expansion each create different risks, different design priorities, and different leverage points. We scope the work accordingly.
Greenfield
Make the big decisions before they become expensive mistakes.
For new facilities, the leverage is highest before equipment is ordered and infrastructure is locked in. We help shape the facility around long-term operating performance, not just first-pass construction convenience.
- Site and facility planning inputs
- Concept design and system layout
- Full CAD / construction documentation
- Contractor and implementation handoff support
Retrofit
Fix the constraints that are already costing you.
For existing facilities, the goal is not to redesign everything. It is to identify the true bottlenecks, rank them by impact, and plan improvements that increase performance without unnecessary tear-out.
- Existing conditions and system assessment
- Constraint identification and priority ranking
- Phased retrofit roadmap
- ROI-driven upgrade recommendations
Expansion
Scale without reproducing the wrong problems.
For growing operators, expansion work is about carrying forward what is working, correcting what is not, and making sure new rooms perform with the same or better consistency than your best current spaces.
- Capacity and infrastructure planning
- Expansion integration strategy
- Uniformity and repeatability review
- Build-out and handoff documentation
Built on real facility context,
not theoretical design work.
Our team brings design, operations, and controls experience from real CEA environments. That matters because good facility design is not just about what looks right in a drawing set. It is about what performs under production pressure, holds up over time, and gives operators a cleaner path to consistency and scale.
We also bring a real-world understanding of how CEA microclimates are created across greenhouse, indoor, and vertical deployments, and how equipment choices create tradeoffs in performance, cost, and control. By combining what we have measured in the field with 3D environmental mapping and CFD tools like ANSYS, we can validate airflow, equipment layouts, and system decisions before a trench is cut or concrete is poured. That is dramatically cheaper than discovering and fixing those same problems after the room is already built and planted.
Make the design decision before it becomes the operating problem.
If you are planning a new facility, evaluating a retrofit, or trying to understand where the current design is holding performance back, start with a conversation. We will help you identify where the leverage is and what the right next step looks like.