TED'S TEN 7. Design to Replace the Need to Consume.

This Design Strategy addressed the idea that products can adapt and change with age and explored alternative forms of design and consumption such as co-design and collaborative consumption. We discussed the durability of a product and how the value of the material effects how we use it, i.e. our emotional relationship with the product.

“Most products create a small amount of empathy at the point of purchase , from that point on the length of the product’s lifespan depends upon how well the product can maintain empathy with the user. Waste, therefore, can be seen as expired empathy.”
Jonathan Chapman (2006)

TED'S TEN 1. Design To Minimise Waste.

Designing to minimise waste addresses both pre and post consumer waste. In the lecture we learnt how '80% of a products environments and economic costs (are) committed by the final design stage, before production begins.'  - Greadel Et Al 1995:17

Designing Out Waste:

In doing some research into ways of designing to minimise waste, I came across this diagram which shows that the largest opportunities to influence waste reduction occur at the master planning stage. This is because during this stage there is flexibility in the designing process, it is also when key decisions are made which affect waste, such as decisions addressing the size and shape of the building will have dramatic effects on the amount of waste generated.

Life Cycle Thinking: 

The goal of Life Cycle Thinking is to identify possible improvements and reduce a product's environmental impacts and resource use, as well as improving its socio-economic performance throughout its life cycle. 

The key aim of Life Cycle Thinking is to avoid “burden shifting”. This means minimising impacts at one stage of the life cycle, while helping to avoid increases elsewhere. For example, saving energy during the use phase of a product, while not increasing the amount of material needed to provide it.

After examining these key aspects of designing to minimise waste, it was clear that during the process of design is to question whether we should design with degeneration in mind? Or should we assume the product/build is to be dismantled and recycled or upcycled?

Sources: wrap.org.uk; architecture.com; unep.fr; Life Cycle Thinking & Assessment