top of page
A visual representation of a sustainable community
March 2019 - May 2019
The Origin of This Topic
The members of Friends of the Earth are these people who want to improve their local environment and see off polluting and unjust proposals together. I found them on their website, and I found although they come from all types of backgrounds, including teachers, nurses, lawyers, students, grandparents and more, they have the common target which is protecting our environment.
To effectively complete their distribution tasks, each group will carry out activities for environmental issues at monthly meetings.
But I found them enter the wrong area. They pay great attention to the details in the environment, which is conducive to the recyclability of the product and whether the product is a "green product".
With some technologies supporting many “green products” appear, unconsciously, “green products” have been given the moral value of environmental protection. This behavior just happened to promote the production of a gap between the globalization of ideas and behavioral localization. This project aims to raise awareness and educate about how to let people pay attention to the overall situation.
Inspirations
I tried to find some relevant ideas for being sustainable, and I found an interesting way online: “Some manufacturers are building fridge that can take pictures of their contents and send them to you while you’re out of shopping, so you know exactly what you need and will reduce gas and time expense.” Based on this idea, I was thinking about a standardized life. I want to build a system to let neighbors cooperate, which can achieve no waste of resources.
Reflection
1/ Lack of negotiation between neighbors The system self-distribution adjusts the resources of each room to reduce the negotiation between the neighborhoods, and there is no way to form a harmonious ecological cycle.
2/ Realizing all resource sharing is too complicated For the final rendering effect, the exchange utilization of all the resources that are desired to be presented is too complicated and not easy for the viewer to understand.
3/ Resource exchange resources are the points that can be utilized Several of the most visually identifiable resources can be selected for the exchange, and the automatic allocation of the system is canceled, encouraging independent negotiations between neighbors.
Exchange of Resources
Reflecting on some of the problems in the early stages, I selected three self-sufficient resources that can be used in my project which are solar, water and vegetable resources.
To better ensure the rationality of resource allocation, I surveyed the household production and usage of these three resources.
Solar panel
Water
The amount of rainfall that you can collect is governed by the following formula: 1” of rain x 1 sq. ft. = 0.623 gallons
The average person uses 150 litres of water every day, and here’s exactly how it’s used
Members and configurations
Based on the research, I simulated a small community and arranged their daily routines and the resources they had. In daily activities, it is not difficult to see the number of resources required in each room and determine whether the neighborhood can effectively negotiate.
Prototype inspiration
V&A Museum of Childhood holds a collection of around 100 dolls’ houses, models and shops, we can learn a lot about how people used to live by looking into these miniature worlds.
After seeing the doll house, I think that in my sustainable community, people may not be the protagonist, the resources are. I can visualize the future of sustainable lifestyles in this way.
1/ Why I choose dollhouse to be my project?
These dollhouses are toys for children to play in the past, but now it shows the interior design and lifestyle that the people in the past have which represent more meaningful things that can change people’s minds.
2/ Which group is my target group?
For the popularization of this new type of sustainable community, the most appropriate group is the child. Because they have the highest ability to accept, and can more effectively turn the concept of sustainable development into seeds, deeply planted in their minds.
3/Is the degree of visualization high?
The way in which all of these schemes are abstract graphics is not intuitive to convey the concepts I want to express. The audience is easily confused and cannot directly see how the system works.
Improvement
To simulate the process of resource exchange, I made a motion map to simulate. Each room is equipped with a unique resource for exchanging their unique resources with their neighbors to maintain their daily lives.
Problems
Is the degree of visualization high?
How all of these schemes are abstract graphics is not intuitive to convey the concepts I want to express. The audience is easily confused and cannot directly see how the system works.
Can it engage the audience as much as possible?
Only let the audience to control the exchange door may not enough. There is an important thing which is producing the resource, and it is necessary to let people understand where the resource comes from and how it appears.
Second improvement
Whether the amount of resources is sufficient to use will directly display on the corresponding appliance
I used the "smiley face" in the previous scenario to indicate that each room resource is adequately replaced with a different state of the appliance to indicate whether the resources in each room are sufficient. In this way, children can understand the role of resources more intuitively to reasonably help tenants to allocate their resources.
Let the audience control the number of resources generated
I placed a button representing different resources next to the house, used to engage the audience to interact with the dollhouse, and intuitively let the audience know the meaning of the button.
Second improvement
Change the abstract colorful squares to certain icons
Based on my target group is kids, I thought that it would be hard for them to understand the meaning of an abstract square. As a result, I decided to use icons a specific meaning to represent squares that can make it easier for children to understand.
Technology
Model Making
Display
bottom of page