Winning smiles
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:38:00 BST
Students impress at ‘design to improve life’ 24-hour challenge
INDEX: Design to Improve Life®, a Danish-based, not-for-profit organisation collaborated with the University’s School of Art, Design and Architecture, when the School held a 24-hour design challenge for its second-year students.
Liza Chong, INDEX’s Strategy and Development Director (Pictured right with the winning team), chose the winning design alongside other professionals in the industry accompanying her on the judging panel.
The theme of the challenge was ‘Design to Improve Life’ and the teams had to come up with solutions to global everyday problems that would literally, ‘improve life’.
The student teams that covered a number of disciplines were briefed to demonstrate their humanity and creativity by coming up with high impact and affordable solutions which would have an environmental, social or economic impact to make the world a better place for people and communities all over the world.
Many of the teams worked through the night to complete their presentation videos and the winning project and team was the Animatronic Green Wall by Group 9.
Their idea comprised a simple ‘animated green wall’ which could sensor the movement of a person walking past at which point the animation would begin with a view to making the person smile or experience a moment of happiness as they encounter the wall, thus creating a happier world, particularly for those suffering from mental health difficulties.
“The project was very well presented,” said Liza Chong, “and the design process of taking a global challenge, such as mental health, and communicating it to make it locally and personally relevant was what made this project stand out. The project can be scalable and contextualized in different places and countries where mental health issues are endemic.
“To say the students had just 24 hours to come with their solutions, they presented really well thought-through projects, tackling many challenges ranging from textile recycling/upcycling, incentivised recycling to flood-prevention solutions. I was very impressed.”
