Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Sustainable Design Education:Students take charge of creating a clean, green university

Nicola Bould

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

The terms ‘sustainable design’ and ‘product design’ appear to be polar opposites

Design history

Form & function

Human factors

Material selection

Manufacturing processes

Interaction between user and product

Sustainable design?

Introduction

Moggridge, 2007

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Comp -rubbish

How often do we judge designer objects on superficial values?

How do we believe we are cutting edge designers when we are producing consumer products that are made using un-renewable resources, polluting processes or encourage un-

sustainable behaviour?

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Can product designers balance ‘desirable’ (appealing and engaging to consumers) with ‘sustainable’ (environmentally acceptable and can

continue indefinitely)?Charter & Tischner, 2001

Balance

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Design Brief

Create a product, system or service to reduce waste (paper, trash, recyclables, organic, energy or water) which is useful, usable, desirable and sustainable.

To 27 students taking full year papers:DESI 301 Product Design TwoIn conjunction with DETE 321 Professional Design Project

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Research

Free exploration = student + digital camera

Research

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Bibliographic search

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Audit of waste | Visit recycling centres | Meet experts in waste minimisation | Interview peers, academic staff, general staff & cleaners

Understanding the problems and achievements of recycling

User observations = students observed fellow students and staff

Field research

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Design OutcomesRetroCycle

Retrofits existing bins

Bottle & Can

Recycling

Trash Paper Recycling

Aluminium construction clips onto the current bin

frames. Three bin bags securely

attach to legs.

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Tri-Cycle

Retro fits existing small bins

Design Outcomes

Uses same symbols as RetroCycle

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Design OutcomesPaper Tower

Located next to the library Poster/sticker campaign advertises paper recycling

Paper stacks; covers trees. Aim is to reduce amount of paper waste

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Design OutcomesLED White Light

Plugs directly into computer

Light goes blue when computer sleeps

Brightness controlled from desktop

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Design OutcomesHydro Power

Bridge over Leith…

…becomes the home to the Hydro Power Station

Users interacting with info station

Info station on Leith Bridge

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Design OutcomesLowtech Furniture

z stool

One shape creates a multitude of furniture

lowtec.furniture@gmail.com

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Sustainable Product Design

Desirable determines how appealing & engaging the product is to consumers.

Useful considers the point of view of the user & queries if the product does its job.

Useable questions whether the product fits the hand & mind of the human being.

+ Sustainable ?

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

cradle-to-grave

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

McDonough & Braungart,

2002

cradle-to-cradle

z

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Sustainable Economy

Triple Bottom Line: Economic prosperity, Environmental quality & Social justice

Elkington, J. (2005). Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. Connecticut, United States: New Society Publishers.

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Better by design

“Design for the Environment” “Does design shape your enterprise?”

Better by Design,

New Zealand

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

Sustainable Design Education

Surrey >> www.cfsd.org.uk

RMIT >> www.cfd.rmit.edu.au

www.io.tudelft.nl

www.innovationspace.org

www.lboro.ac.uk/

Carnegie Mellon >>

www.ce.cmu.edu/GreenDesign

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

However…

Design Evaluation

Has the year provided the students with enough

knowledge to ensure they practise sustainable solutions themselves?

The project promoted social responsibility and

challenged student’s ideas about both the design process and their own ethical considerations.

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

“The reason this started was because one of our lecturers, Nicola Bould, got us to write a submission for the Dunedin City Council waste strategy….” lowtec.furniture@gmail.com

Questionnaire results

Evans, 2007

Questionnaire

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

References

Datschefski, E. (2001). The Total Beauty of Sustainable

Products. England: Rotovision.

Evans, L. (2007). Dunedin Designs. Organic NZ (Soil and Health Association) January/February.

Charter, M., & Tishner, U. (2001). Sustainable Solutions:

Developing Products and Services for the Future.

Sheffield, England: Greenleaf Publications.

Flannery, T. (2005). The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Nicola Bould | nicola@design.otago.ac.nz

References

Gore, A. (2006). An Inconvenient Truth. United

States: Rodale Books.

Stern, N. (2006). Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Moggridge, B. (2007) Designing Interactions. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to Cradle:

Remaking the way we make things. New York, United States: North Point Press.