Rocket 2008: The Best of Industrial Design Student Work in Ontario
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05. 6.08
Joel Mulligan of Carleton University points us to Rocket 2008, a show of graduate work from the Industrial Design departments at Carleton University, Humber College and the Ontario College of Art and Design. There is some interesting work in the sustainability category; I liked Scott Bodaly's ideas:
"The Element Personal Computer is designed to promote sustainable computing and a sustainable lifestyle. The Element uses a simplified assembly and manufacturing technique to convey enough information to the user as they will need to repair, upgrade, and eventually disassemble their computer. The materials are chosen for their reprocessability, and value, as aluminum helps to fund the recycling of less profitable materials. The main goal of this is to prolong the useful life of computing products, and to make their waste a resource instead of a burden."
We have seen all kinds of Kill-a-watt type devices that measure overall use of energy in a house, but Shawn Chiang lets you know what each and every device in your house is using.
"Econometer offers consumers an innovative new method to monitor their energy usage and control the energy flow to devices in their household. The Econometer monitors energy through the use of Bluetooth enabled transmitters that provide information to a base unit that processes, stores and displays the outputs."
Joel Mulligan applies "the industrial design process to a service/systems opportunity involving sustainability. The project explores alternative commuting options for the Associates of Honda of Canada Manufacturing, identifying opportunities that are beneficial for the company, surrounding communities, and Honda Associates, while decreasing negative environmental and social impacts associated with commuting. Objectives include bringing together a range of sectors and stakeholders, engaging users and participants in the design process, and generating a project model that can be applied to broader themes and across sectors."
See them all in Toronto May 10th and 11th at the Great Hall ::ACIDO
Images of all the projects from the Carleton University 2008 Industrial Design Graduate Exhibition can be seen here:
www.flickr.com/photos/joelmulligan/sets/72157604819607492/
A smaller set with just the sustainability-related projects is here: www.flickr.com/photos/joelmulligan/sets/72157604874196530/