Walker S. Sustainable by Design: Explorations in Theory and Practice
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Figure 9.7
Cable Radio:
Reused electrical parts, steel
r
od, chipboard, water pipe
Figure 9.8
Cable Radio detail
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The Application of Theory
Energy use
Miniaturization of electronic components over the years means
that we now live with a profusion of small, portable, battery-driven
products. The widespread use of portable radios, personal stereos,
digital cameras, motorized toys and so on means that vast quantities
of batteries are being discarded, often after only a few hours of use.
Even if rechargeable batteries are substituted for disposables, the
inefficiencies in recharging still represent a rather immoderate use of
energy. Such wasteful and harmful practices are a common feature of
product design.
The Cable Radio is a design for a mains-powered radio. Part of the
design challenge was to resolve two seemingly contradictory elements.
On the one hand, the small size of components and circuitry allows
the product envelope to be quite small. On the other hand, a mains-
powered, and only mains
-powered, product is not a portable object.
It is therefore important to convey this idea – that it is non-portable
and requires a ‘place’. Together, the inclusion of the long legs and the
use of the power cable as a visual element articulate this requirement.
The housing for the electronics and speaker is relatively small and is
positioned at an appropriate height for ease of operation and
for listening.
Local manufacture – forms and fastenings suited to
basic tools
All the designs presented here can be manufactured at locally based,
generally equipped production facilities that are capable of producing
a range of products in relatively low quantities (batch production) for
local or regional markets. The design of such products is, of course,
influenced and constrained by the economic, environmental and social
considerations of the local production scenario.
Today, capital- and energy-intensive techniques are widely used to
produce complex, moulded product casings. These parts, which
are commonly defined by the industrial designer
, require no further
fabrication, and integral fittings, for holding internal components, allow
assembly times to be kept to a minimum, a process that is often labour-
intensive. Almost all the design precedents for electrical and electronic
products rely on high-quantity production techniques such as polymer
injection moulding. Most historical and contemporary telephones and
virtually all personal computers, PDAs
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and portable music equipment
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Sustainable by Design
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feature injection-moulded casings made with automated equipment.
These processes, used to produce goods for international markets, are
not appropriate, desirable or economically viable at the local level.
The local approach requires the development of alternative techniques
that make use of knowledge, skills and materials in new ways and in
unconventional applications.
The Plaine Telephone, Figure 9.9, is made by attaching the components
to a single piece of plywood, thus avoiding the need for the fabrication
of a casing
. All cuts and drilled holes are at right angles for ease of
manufacture with basic equipment. The dial keys are simple cylindrical
pegs, the ‘handset’ utilizes a reused bottle cap and some wire and is
set on pads fashioned from a rubber inner-tube, an off-the-shelf toggle
switch replaces the switch that is normally activated when the handset
is replaced, and the circuitry is simply screwed to the underside of the
board. The intent here was to create a usable telephone by employing
the simplest of local techniques – it represents an exercise in looking
for alternatives to precedents, rather than any suggestion of a definitive
local design. The Wall Phone, Figure 9.10, follows a similar idea, but
the circuitry is exposed on the front of the design and has been coated
in latex paint for protection and to provide colour contrasts. In this case,
the circuitry is a decorative element in the design. The Solar Calculator,
Figure 9.11, also features exposed circuitry rather than styled enclosure.
Here the materials and components are bare and undecorated; the
intent was to allow the texture and natural hues of the piece to provide
aesthetic interest.
Figure 9.9
Plaine Telephone:
Reused electrical parts, plywood,
r
eused rubber, dowels, mild steel
wire, tin lid, acrylic paint
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Figure 9.10
Wall Phone:
Reused electrical parts,
plywood, cork, brass hook,
dowel, acrylic paint
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Figure 9.11
Solar Calculator:
Reused electrical parts,
r
ecovered mahogany,
cardboard, paper
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The Application of Theory
Integration of scales – mass-produced plus locally
made parts
An important but little explored aspect of sustainable product design
is a reassessment of our scales of production so that products can
be made, repaired and reused within an industrial ecology of cyclic
resource use at the local or regional level. Where appropriate, products
and parts could be made using locally available resources, but there
would remain many components that would be more appropriately
manufactured in high quantities. For example, light sockets, bulbs
and electronic parts would be difficult to manufacture at the local
level and it would be inappropriate to do so. It is important to retain
standardization of these types of components for safety reasons and
to ensure compatibility. Sustainable product design must, therefore,
combine and integrate scales – using locally and regionally produced
parts from regional materials in combination with mass-produced parts.
If the mass-produced parts are designed so that they are not specific
to a particular product, they can be recovered and more easily reused
in other applications. A standard, mass-produced lamp socket can be
used in a variety of lighting designs; similarly, a length of threaded rod,
electrical cable or a keypad has many possible design applications. On
the other hand, a specialized moulding produced for one particular
product application might be difficult to reuse.
The Lumière Floor Lamp, Figure 9.12, is a simple design that illustrates
this integration of scales. It utilizes a number of off-the-shelf, mass-
produced components, including a lamp socket, a mini fluorescent
lamp, cable, a floor switch, threaded rod and fasteners, together
with locally produced and found components – reused hardwood
components for the cross
-arms and base, a sheet of locally made
paper as the shade and a large pebble for the base weight. Packaging
and shipping of components is reduced to a minimum. Fabrication of
several parts and product assembly is done locally and the basic design
can be modified and adapted to suit local requirements. In addition, the
design is such that its construction is explicit and easily comprehended
– this facilitates repair and disassembly for replacement or recovery
of parts. Reuse is encouraged by the fact that all mass-produced
components are standard, off-the-shelf parts. Another design that
combines a mass-produced part with a locally made base is shown in
Figure 9.13, G-Clamp Nutcracker.
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Figure 9.12
Lumière Floor Lamp:
Threaded rod, recovered
ash wood, handmade paper,
steel rod, pebble, standard
electrical parts
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Figure 9.13
G-Clamp Nutcracker:
G-clamp, concrete
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Elegance and empathy through design
When developing products within the limitations imposed by locale,
processes, techniques and human skills must be used imaginatively to
convert often uninspiring or non-ideal materials into elegant forms that
contribute in a positive way to our material culture.
The Remora Box, Figure 9.14, is a legged, leaning chest constructed
from recovered planks with screw fastenings and threaded-rod legs.
Here an attempt was made to bring an element of finesse to an
otherwise prosaic item constructed in an expeditious and rudimentary
fashion from commonplace materials. An additional feature of
this approach is that the simplicity and evidently basic means of
construction allow a certain empathy with the object that is based
on an understanding of what the object is made from and how it is
constructed. The materials and finishes bring a character to the piece,
which can contribute to its sustainable value. Many contemporary
products lack this sense of connection because they are made using
processes, materials and fastenings that are unfamiliar to the user or
owner
. This lack of understanding of one’s material environment not
only hinders product repair and maintenance, it also distances us from
the objects we use. Without a greater sense of rapport with our material
surroundings, we tend to value products only for their functional
convenience but not as material things. Consequently, when products
fail to perform their intended task they are discarded and replaced
rather than maintained, repaired or upgraded.
These examples represent an approach whereby environmental and
social considerations inherent to the notion of sustainability can
be made relevant to the discipline of product design. These initial
explorations were conducted through direct engagement in the
creative activity of designing itself
, rather than through investigation of
technical issues, which can inform, but are not central to, the design
process. It suggests that a reassessment of our approaches to product
manufacturing is both necessary and feasible. A greater emphasis
on the local could start to transform our infrastructures, our economy
and our attitudes, and begin to align them with the principles of
sustainability. Large manufacturing plants located in industrial zones
and producing a limited number of models of new products in large
quantities would be replaced by the local production and re-production
of a variety of products in smaller quantities for local consumption.
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This could be accompanied by the evolution of a more service-oriented
economy where products could be maintained, repaired and upgraded,
and parts could be reused and recycled. Consumers and users of
local products would have the assurance that their products could
be maintained within the local region. Smaller-scale, less-intrusive,
production facilities could be located closer to residential areas, thereby
reducing the need for commuting. Furthermore, the production of
products that have aesthetic and cultural attributes, which raise them
above the merely functional, can help reduce emphasis on consumerism
and ‘the new’ and begin to foster attitudes of responsibility and care.
However, it is the designer who must put the flesh on the bones of this
potential. It is through design that we can envision and demonstrate
how ‘things’ could be, how products can be redefined for local and
regional conditions, how a diverse and thoughtful variety of routes
could bring a richness and depth to the creation of our material culture
so that it is not only environmentally and socially responsible but also
aesthetically expressive of the ethical core at the heart of sustainability.
Figure 9.14
Remora Box:
Recovered wood, hinges,
threaded rods
The Application of Theory
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