Storytelling design is the first step towards a healthier future for patients at the Evangelisches Konigin Elizabeth Krankenhaus children’s psychiatric hospital in Berlin. Designed as a collaborative effort between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Dan Pearlman Creative Agency, the center creates a fantastic narrative that guides patients on a journey to “Elise Island”, a safe place to play and rest hosted by Princess Elise.
When the sun goes down many developing countries rely upon dangerous kerosene lamps, which emit hazardous fumes and generate 190 million metric tons of CO2 each year. Seeking an eco-friendly alternative to this trend, four Harvard engineering students developed the Soccket – a soccer ball that generates and stores electricity during play. Soccer is found in just about every African country, so the energy-generating ball has great potential to encourage healthy activity while producing clean electricity to light up the night.
A crowd that included actor/activist Don Cheadle gathered last week to celebrate the completion of the Upward Bound House Family Shelter in Culver City, Los Angeles, what is undeniably one of the prettiest and most cheerful homeless shelters we’ve ever seen. Once the site of a rundown motel with transient tenants, this 18-unit complex received a complete make over by an all-star cast of Los Angeles interior designers. With no budget at all, designers used their creative muscle to transform dark and dreary motel rooms into bright and uplifting spaces for homeless families in need.
The tragic earthquake in Haiti has provoked a number of architects to think about how they can help with disaster relief. One recent example we looked at was the SEED project, which uses shipping containers as temporary housing. Now architect Andres Duany has designed a fireproof, waterproof, and moldproof flat-pack temporary house that could easily be shipped to the ailing country.
Red+Housing Emergency Housing by OBRA Architects
Inhabitat recently wrote about Emergency Shelters and Disaster Relief For The People of Haiti and how Shipping Containers Could Provide Disaster Relief For Haiti, both which reflect the standard thinking among architects and designers for decades: “we have great ideas, and if you just let us get involved we could make a huge difference.” And why not – we can design our way out of any problem. Cameron and Kate of Architecture for Humanity, who are young enough that they shouldn’t know better, take a completely different approach – they think that the last thing we should be doing is dropping in shipping containers and hi-tech architectural solutions.
On February 1st, design nonprofit Project H Design (run by Inhabitat’s own Emily Pilloton), will hit the road for a 25-school, 75-day, 6300-mile tour and exhibition showcasing design for social impact! The Design Revolution Road Show will take place in a vintage Airstream trailer that features a mobile exhibition of 40 humanitarian products and a lecture/workshop series that will visit 25 high schools and colleges around the country. The tour kicks off in San Francisco on February 1st, and you can check out the whole itinerary here.
If you live in SF and want to be the first to see the exhibition, join Project H for a VIP Sneak Preview on January 30th at Stable Cafe! They’ll be opening the Airstream exhibition doors, serving delicious food, and raffling off great design gifts!!
Throughout India there are many rural villages that are completely removed from the grid. With no source of power for cooking, light, and heating they currently must rely on firewood, kerosene or diesel for fuel. Now green jobs are blossoming throughout these remote areas as the Orissa Tribal Empowerment & Livelihoods Programme trains women and youth to become barefoot solar engineers. This brilliant initiative provides a bright future for the semi-literate and illiterate rural poor by teaching them to harness the sun through the construction of photovoltaic systems and solar powered lanterns.
Drinking water is all around us — if we know where to look. The Giving Tree-inspired Savior Bud designed by Seol Ah Sun and Kim Hyo Jin is a portable device that attaches to tree leaves and slowly collects water. After four hours, a full cup of water is ready for drinking.
We posted about the exciting release of Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, a few weeks back, and now it’s time to celebrate! Join author Emily Pilloton (founder of humanitarian product design coalition Project H Design and Inhabitat Senior Editor) on Tuesday October 6th, 6:30pm, at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City for a panel discussion with Cooper-Hewitt curator Cynthia Smith, Metropolis editor-in-chief Susan Szenasy, and Core77’s Allan Chochinov, followed by a reception and book signing. Register for the event via the Cooper-Hewitt site here ($10 members and students/$15 non-members).
Danish design consultancy Index: recently announced the winners of the 2009 Index:Award, an international design competition that highlights the scale of the problems we face globally, while rewarding design work that points the way towards intelligent solutions. The prize is 100,000 euros per winner in five categories: “Body“, “Home“, “Work“, “Play” and “Community“. This year’s prizes have been chosen from more than 700 entries, all of which had to meet the theme: Design to Improve Life.
Design gets very literal in this toilet made from poop!
Form follows function to whole new level in Virginia Gardiner’s energy generating toilet – which is literally made from poop! Designed for use in developing countries, the LooWatt is a waterless toilet system that transforms human waste into a highly valued commodity – energy. The low-cost mechanical eco commode encourages people to trade in their waste for biofuel, creating an urban infrastructure that encourages proper waste disposal, cuts down on the spread of water-born illnesses, and provides a reliable source of energy (so long as you’re regular). Check out Dwell’s fantastic video (below) for an interview with designer Virginia Gardiner, and read on for more on the poop toilet!
LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!
© Inhabitat.com 2010 | Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Inhabitat, LLC
