Premajorprojects2012

PreMajor Projects 2012

OneStep: Visualising sustainable changeRebekah CrawfordOne Step is about visualising sustainable change in communities. The community of focus for the development of this service is Malvern East, an affluent, south-east Melbourne suburb, colloquially known as a leafy green suburb. However, the average greenhouse gas emissions per person per year is around 5 tonnes above state average. One Step is a service that combines mapping with a customised toolkit to help reach the sustainability goals of an area. For Malvern East I am developing a Greenmap, to visualise data, actions and services of the area, to communicate what is already happening and what can be built upon or improved. The toolkit of actions and services will be something that residents can take home and use as guide on how to live more sustainably in this area. I am working with various local community groups and the Environmental Officers for Stonnington, to better design a toolkit that meets the needs of this area.

Social & Sustainable 2012 | 2

Learning Lab: Design in contemporary learning spacesSiobhan CribbinLearning is a process of being; of thinking, questioning, making and doing.A lesson can be taught, but becomes more powerful when it is outwardly experienced.Learning environments are designed to give life to our thinking. Whether we realize it or not, the way we act and behave in these spaces can be largely attributed to the design of the environment itself. Our mode of operation & capacity to learn is quite literally shaped by the tangible objects that surround us.

The project aims to investigate the role of Design within these contemporary learning spaces, both physical and digital. By taking a research approach, the project intends to provide a snapshot of the future learning environment. Proposing affordances around the key themes; Material Play & New Digital Realities.


Soda: Social enterprise and designLucy FraserSocial innovation and design thinking are gaining increasing recognition for their role in successful enterprise. Yet there are not many organisations that combine all three fields; applying design thinking to social enterprise. The Soda project aims to nurture this area by supporting the surrounding community and encouraging action.

The pre-major project has focussed on developing a deep understanding of the overlap between social innovation, design and enterprise, looking at international and local cases. Primary research and immersive action have been key, as previous investigation of the topic is scarce, and social entrepreneurship is about people connecting and sharing their stories.

Insights gained from the pre-major exploration will culminate with a replicable and scalable model of support and action to be implemented in the second half of the year.


WAFFLEON: Explorations in handmade footwearBolaji TeniolaThe notion of sustainable footwear has been greatly exaggerated and misconstrued as nothing more than a marketing ploy used to help brands keep up with competitors and trends. Although an effort has been made to use alternative materials and manufacturing techniques in order to lessen the environmental impact caused by the manufacture, use and disposal of footwear, the time, energy and reduced costs are negated once serial production methods are used.

Understanding the essence of sustainability within bespoke footwear has given me a sense of material sourcing, usage, management and disposal, enabling me to explore the various forms which may be achieved when taking these considerations into account. Immersing myself within the bespoke footwear art form has been enlightening helping to challenge pre conceptions towards conventional construction techniques and thinking.Furthermore, the knowledge gained informs the next phase of the project, enhancing my ability to develop unique methods and results.


80:20:00CharlotteThe inherent nature of fashion is unsustainable. Although there are present models attempting to address this issue there is still wide space for innovation. Through both personal experience and a thorough investigation into the fashion industry I have based my investigation on the 80:20 fashion rule, stating that individuals only wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. This implies that the other 80%of clothing is left stagnant within the wardrobe waiting to be worn. Through the project 80:20 I aim to activate the stagnant 80% of a wardrobe whilst also reflecting the inherent social nature of fashion consumption, with the overall aim of reducing fashion consumption to increase sustainability within the fashion industry.


Growing Awareness: Propagating the Future of Urban Agriculture Zachary BealDuring my Major Project I will be focusing on Food. Many of the agricultural systems that produce, distribute and sell food around the world have become inherently unsustainable. We are living in the midst of a Global Food Security Crisis. New sustainable infrastructure urgently needs to be designed to restructure our urban environments in order to create food abundance in the future.

It is my intention to develop and design productive, efficient and sustainable systems for growing food in the urban landscape of Melbourne. I want to concentrate on producing designs which enable people to reconnect to nature though empowering them to be self reliant in grow their own food, and work at the community level to implement projects which educate and bring people together around growing healthy and nutritious food.

Having real community projects creates the context which adds deeper meaning and value to the design outcomes I produce. I have been working with The Carnegie School, located in Kew, to create an urban food system which maximizes the growing potential of their small urban school scape. I am also in the process of developing an Aquaponic demonstration system at the Port Philip Eco Center located in the corner of the St. Kilda Botanical Gardens which provides the fertile grounds to enable me the opportunity of installing a working aquaponic unit that will show the many visitors, and members who are invested in the garden, the simple process of growing food sustainably using fish.


Small ChangeKateThe project focusses on small businesses based in the Geelong region and aims to create a consolidated method by which these small businesses can improve their sustainability practices. Current methods do not cater for the large percentage of small business wanting to make and document these changes. The method, through five stages, allows time poor small business to iterate their sustainable practices. It aims to be easy to follow, non-time restrictive and create a recognised document format with its completion. There is the possibility for collaboration throughout the process, only at the beginning, only at the end or none at all. This is the toolkit of all toolkits; with references, tools and methods gathered from multiple resources aimed at giving the very best overall instrument to small business. It aims to be available online in a digital format with editable fields negating the need for printing and allows a platform to convene with users.


Share Smart 2030: Visualising Domestic Washing of the FutureAsh2030 is a world where consumption and the purchasing of products is banned, where renewable energy has taken over as the dominant source of power, over 75% of the population live in urban areas, and one of the greatest issues is the growing lack of water to produce food for the ever-increasing population. Cleaning your clothes is still a required task but it is vital that the amount of water used to do so is kept to a minimum. This projectís hope is to produce a solution to this basic need through the investigation of collaborative consumption methodology and the development of products within such a collaborative system.


Flowing AwarenessCharles SkenderAustralia is the driest inhabited continent in the world. As a result current water resources face growing pressure from an increase in households and consumption levels resulting in widespread urban water shortages. In focusing on either empowering consumers to reduce their demand (Queenslandís target 140 campaign and Melbourneís target 155 campaign) or designing more efficient supply systems and household technologies (water efficient showerheads), we reinforce this production/consumption relationship that overlooks reasons why people use resources, how these ëneedsí and ëwantsí are constituted and how they can change within the broader context of everyday life where day-to-day practices. There is a clear gap between consumer beliefs on individual responsibility to conserve water and day-to-day usage behaviour; A gap which this project aims to bridge. The artefact, an intelligent device, will track volume, temperature, duration and motivation levels providing real and accurate data on shower activity. Trends and patterns of shower usage start to form, from which the device can extrapolate achievable targets for water consumption minimisation. By broadcasting conservation success to social media, no matter how small, the device facilitates a natural growth of further and bigger success. It allows users to compete within their community and play games powered by the water not used. Suddenly we have the ability to make water conservation addictive. What emerges is truly exciting; a paradigm where water conservation isn't just about fleeting occurrences of high motivation but a routine in which water conservation efforts constantly grow.


Village FestivalEk Teck SuThe intention of this project is to develop Human powered Games product as a sustainability way or fun games for Village festival event as per client request. To approach the idea of the village festival is to produce social enrichment effects or interesting effect and aesthetic effect that could attract people in the way of thinking such as gestalt. Most importantly, it can stimulate idea of people experience, sharing, Playfulness, social curiosity, inter-dependencies and knowledge from the product their play. Also, the idea will bring people about the life in fun and relay on environmental technologies that could bring people knowledge by reducing the impact of the amount of the carbon dioxide or energy consumption The outcome of this project is going to make new fun games that could bring people into life and cheerfulness by using human powered games such as ìblowing method and human breath and sound to interact audienceî. ìMemories and unforgotten experienceî will be a focus point to make the village festival attract more community that toward to participation, playfulness and impressed with the New Unforgettable game.


Prin3d: Enabling self-manufacturePhilip PilleRapid prototyping and in particular additive manufacture; is a developing technology that has a lot of potential to have positive impact in the manufacturing cycle. It has environmental benefits due to efficient material use and low run capabilities. There are social benefits where individuals have the potential to take charge of their own manufacturing - becoming more self-reliant in the process. I aim to make additive manufacture accessible to the general consumer, enabling these benefits to impact the self-manufacturing cycle. This will be achieved through propositional design which is to visualise an additive manufacturing module which affords greater independence and freedom in terms of self-manufacture whilst using this technology.


Fabricate: A textile upcycling initiativeMichelle McDonellFabricate is an initiative project which aims to educate people about the possibilities of upcycling waste materials and evoke inspiration to conceptualize and consider waste materials as a useful resource. Focused through my own personal passion for textiles, my aim was to conduct research to achieve a holistic view and approach towards upcycling textile materials.The projects ultimate aim is to create an upcycled product using a new manufacturing approach to disrupt peopleís perception and to inform through the visual comprehensive mapping of the material ecosystem noting the possibilities for improvement and interventions of development towards a more efficient system.


In FrequenciesBryceHearing impairment is a condition that affects us all in some way. We all know that grandparent who can’t quite hear us over the telephone or that elderly uncle that has trouble keeping up with the conversation over Christmas dinner. It is estimated that of the entire population who suffer from treatable hearing impairment, only twenty percent access hearing aids. For whatever reason, this leaves eighty percent with some sort of hearing deficiency. To me this sounds unacceptable.

My project aims to target subgroups within this eighty percent bracket by addressing the issues around existing hearing aid products. Factors such as cost, stigma, discomfort and a lack of awareness all contribute to reasons why hearing aids arenít working for the majority of people who could potentially benefit from them. My research has involved analysis of what is currently available in the market, as well as what is potentially possible from a technological stance. From this, my focus has now shifted to creating social acceptance of hearing products and finding niche markets where I could implement cheaper and greater functioning products determined by specific activities, rather than hearing everything all the time.

Discoveries and propositions incubated within the pre-major project will be refined towards gaining a direction for the second semester. Ultimately, I propose to create a working prototype with capabilities and a target market(s) derived from this pre-major work.


Project Kindling: Keeping Organic Waste in Yarra Green Spaces and Create a Visible relationship with the waste processChris Herman To design a project within the brief set by Yarra Energy Foundation and Green nation.Question our societal relationships with waste in modernity. Create an identity for organic waste through social relationships and ëcreating a conversationí. Decentralize collection systems, disposal, distribution and financial systems. Touch points and self-generating consumable products that can allow the system to be self sufficientwith the aid of minor service/ maintenance contracts. Touch points remain the central focus of interaction within the system, as they are the most significant part of social engagement, making the waste process visible and connected to everyday practices and life of the participant.


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Premajorprojects2012