Monday, 23 November 2009
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Fast Buses (Oxymoron?)
Recently I attended a lecture with Nathan Shedroff. Two of my past entries were inspired by his lecture. Shedroff has earned an MBA in sustainability management and spoke on sustainable innovation.
A specific example that he spoke on about sustainable innovation was in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. Curitiba's mayor, Lemie Lerner needed to tackle the problem of rising congestion in the city. Curitiba's master plan called for a new subway system--but not just any subway system--one that was cheap and efficient.
We all know how buses typically operate, they run along side regular traffic and stop at designated bus stops. Anyone who has ridden a bus on this type of system knows how slow and inefficient this design can be. Even those who have never ridden a bus might know. For those of us who drive, how often do you find yourselves stuck behind a slow moving bus and forced to wait as the bus picks up its passengers? The buses most of us know are not the ideal mode of transportation, but they're cheap.
Lerner took what we considered a bulky and inefficient mode of transportation and turned it into something great. His bus rapid transit system was efficient, cheap, and kept the city of Curitiba beautiful--free of congestion. BRT worked by giving buses their own lanes (no longer sharing traffic) and more efficient loading times by having "bus stations" as opposed to bus stops. Riders would pay before entering the bus instead of on the bus, speeding up the process.
In the words of Shedroff, this was an "above ground subway".
Source: EMBARQ
Friday, 20 November 2009
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Objectified
Previously, I mentioned the film Objectified. The film is about everyday objects and how we interact with them and their designers. The designers of an object invest their time into their designs, thinking about how you (the end user) will use it.
The films tells stories about designs from the iMac, to vacuum cleaners. For example, the Roomba is a vacuum cleaner that was designed to remove user-interaction from the process of vacuuming. But another company, Dirt Devil has designed vacuum cleaners that can be put away easily by focusing on aesthetics. By making their vacuum cleaner aesthetically pleasing, Dirt Devil hopes that you will place the vacuum cleaner away in plain sight--perhaps as art. And there are other vacuum cleaners that focus on function, with dozens of buttons and features. For each design there is a greater or lesser blending of function and form.
A Dyson vacuum cleaner (left) and Dirt Devil (right).
The film does a good job providing these examples; there are several of them showing us how the design interacts with its users. And although the film manged to keep me entertained throughout, it was not showing us anything especially exciting or groundbreaking.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
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(More) Sustainability in Mind
When people think of design, one of the things they think about are the tangible objects. One of the companies that take design seriously is Apple Inc. In the film Objectified, Apple's Johnathan Ive demonstrated how he had sustainability in mind when designing the iMac. When the new iMac was redesigned in 2007, the larger models were made from aluminum to allow for easier recycling. In addition to this, the screen area where the iMac was cut from was used to make the new Apple keyboards.
But like all design, even this can be subjective. Another view one can take on the iMac is that it is not as sustainable as the typical desktop tower/monitor combination. This is because replacing an iMac means replacing the monitor and the computer at the same time. But when the computer and the monitor are separate, the user has the option of only replacing the part required.
I'm not saying that iMacs are not sustainable, or that Ive's idea of sustainability is wrong, but that even brilliant design ideas can have weaknesses. There can be a place for all-in-one computers like the iMac, and desktop/monitor setups in order to allow flexibility where we need it.
Ive's iMac design.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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Bauhaus
Modern design owes a lot to the Bauhaus movement. The movement began in Germany and sought to combine the arts and technology with craft. Perhaps its most prominent effect was on modern furniture and architectural design.
One of the best examples of the Bauhaus effect on furniture is the cantilever chair by Mart Stam. The cantilever chair does not have back legs, but instead relies on support from the materials it is made of.
Left: Stam's cantilever chair.
Right: Zuma's student desk.
The cantilever design has evolved over the years to be used on tables, shelves, and even the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. It's easy to see how the Bauhaus movement has used technology as a tool to make aesthetically pleasing designs for practical purposes. -
Sustainability in Mind
What if someone told you that you are powering the subway just by walking through it? Well you can, with piezoelectricity. In layman's terms, piezoelectricity is a material that generates electricity when pressure is applied. The picture below might help you understand.
Credit: Mael Guennou
The East Japan Railroad company has taken the initiative in sustainable design by design a subway that can be powered (at least in part) by its users. EJR has covered select stations with piezoelectric material and estimate that its patrons can generate 1,400kW/sec per day.
Piezoelectricity may not produce enough electricity to run the trains, but it is one of many designs that can eventually be used to create a better world. To think that something we don't usually think about can be used to generate electricity is a great way to innovate.
Source: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081204/162357/
Image from: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/japan_ticket_gates.php
