Design for the Other 90%
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 06.16.07
Design for the Other 90%, on view at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum through September 23, 2007. Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this “other 90%.” ... Design for the Other 90% demonstrates how design can be a dynamic force in saving and transforming lives, at home and around the world.
See innovations in shelter, water and transport, such designs as Domed Pit Latrine Slab kit by Martin Fisher, will help with health issues with the concrete lid creating a tight seal to keep the smell in and the flies out; and the wire handle heats up from sunlight, killing germs and reducing contamination. And the Bamboo Treadle Pump by Gunnar Barnes allows poor farmers to access groundwater during the dry season, is is able to be made locally from cheap materials thus producing income for the community as well.
Abigail Doan in her review of the exhibition says: One is struck by how simple some of the proposed solutions really are, and how necessity is indeed the mother of invention. What unites many of the objects and devices with their designers and users is their potential to allow for change or improved conditions in communities that typically subsist by minimal means but with an ad-hoc sense of design and total lack of waste.
Image 1: Bamboo Treadle Pump, designer: Gunnar Barnes of Rangpur/Dinajpur Rural Service and International Development Enterprises (IDE) Nepal. Manufacturer: Numerous small and medium-sized local workshops in Nepal and Bangladesh, 2006.
Made from: Metal, plastic, bamboo. In use in: Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Zambia
Image 2: Domed Pit Latrine Slab kit, designer: Martin Fisher. Manufacturer: KickStart International Kenya, 1992. Made from mild steel, local hard wood (kits); sand, cement, gravel, ballast, wire (slabs). In use in: Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya
Image3: Sugarcane charcoal, designer/Manufacturer: D-lab Haiti, 2004–05. Made from bagasse (waste product fibers left after the juice has been squeezed from sugar cane), cassava root binder, 55-gallon oil drum kiln, D-lab press. In use in: Haiti, Ghana; Brazil, India (field demonstrations)
Check out these designs and more either online or in the flesh. Where: Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is located on Museum Mile, at the corner of 91st Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. When: until September 23, 2007. ::Design for the other 90% ::Reviews at Abigail Doan and Love forever
I saw this show and recommend it highly to anyone who can get there. I hope it travels widely, or the materials can get a wide distribution.
To me, there seemed to be a large divide between the lower tech solutions, some of which are featured here, and the more complicated, delicate higher tech exhibits that require a very specialized set of skills to install and maintain.
I particularly liked the freight and passenger bicycles, the water purifiers, evaporative cooler, and a few others like the evergreen solar cookers.
The emergency shelters seemed to further architect's and engineer's conceits. Most of them must be manufactured at high cost in specialized factories, are pretty expensive, encapsulate first world norms and expectations for third world life and conditions, and won't last very long.
There's a great difference between emergency relief and everyday life and that threshold is unfortunately blurred in the exhibit.
If you get to the show, you'll realize that this garden display is an adjunct to the main design show in the museum. There's a good deal of exciting design and materials advancement on display in there as well. But pick and choose carefully, and be sure to get to the basement!
Just a thought on those straw water purifiers.. when filtering through iodine (one I've seen was an iodine and microfilter system) you are suposed to leave the filtered water for 3 mins or so to let the rest of the bugs die off, telling people they can suck it straight out of a stream might be more dangerous as it eliminates the natural reluctance to drink from a source and places the trust in a product that does nothing to educate the person of the reasons behind what they're doing!
there are better products out there, but as westerners we should be wary of how we judge these products that most of us will never need to use, having said that I'm all for this type of design and we need to do more of it, alot more!
If you can't get the there before September, check out this these photos I took when I visited the outdoor exhibition a few weeks ago.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidg/sets/72157600320663480/
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Africa is too hot. These people are suffering and sweating. They cannot use air conditioning because they donot have good house can make airtight, they donot have enough electricity, and they donot have enough money to buy air conditioing. It is most like after the period of China 80s and 90s times in 20th century. At that time, air conditioning is very luxury equipment for normal family.
In Ethopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Angola, mautitania, etc, the economic condition is not good. The people cannot afford air conditioning. But, evaporative cooling is good choice. They may have started use evaporative cooling hundreds years ago with thatched cottage. With model house, they can also use evaporative cooling.
Evaporative coolers are produced in many countries. The most famouse is in Australia, for instance, Breezair, COOLBREEZE, BRIVIS,COOLAIR,ect. However, these Australia evaporative coolers are too expensive for Africa. Australia evaporative cooler is even more expensive than air conditioner.
For Africa, the most suitable cooling solution is China JH evaporative cooler. As China became 'world producing center', their price is amazing. But sometimes the quality is very bad.
JH evaporative cooler is very good quality, it has been sold in Europe and America market for high quality. Why JH evaporative cooler is best from China is because they are the biggest evaproative cooler factory in the world.
As old saying, professional makes perfect. This is why JH evaporative cooler earn good reputation with high quality and reasonable price.