Ecotopia - The Next Step for Your Environmental Health

After a whole month and a half's social quarantine (including 2 sleepless nights at uni and 3 sacrificial declines to party invites) I have finally accomplished this sustainability project.

Here's my appearance model which took me 2.5 consecutive days - literally - to construct. Thank god I was given some credit for it when our lecturer requested to display it outside our lab.

Basically this vertical herb garden is an integrated development of a worm farm and hydroponic system to competently reduce convenience barriers and simultaneously improve environmental and personal well-being.

1) Worm Farm
Ÿ Reduce kitchen scraps
Ÿ Worm tea produced is an indefinite natural source of fertilizer providing adequate nutrients including nitrogen which is usually an external requirement
Ÿ Eliminates the need for extra composting (which produces undesirable odour)
Ÿ Natural repellent for aphids, spider mites, scale and white flies
Ÿ Help fight common diseases and fungal infections and other common pathogens without the use of toxic chemicals

2) Hydroponic Herb Garden
Ÿ No meddling with soil and dirt
Ÿ Grows faster and healthier than normal soil-based planters
Ÿ Avoids weeds and pests

3) Rainwater Reservoir
Ÿ Utilizes natural resource
Ÿ No need to check pH level or distill other sources of water
Ÿ Reduce leakage through pipe system

DESIGN OUTCOME:
Ÿ Consumes no electrical energy
Ÿ Provides fresh homemade culinary herbs for kitchen use
Ÿ Low maintenance
Ÿ Eliminates the risk of over-drowning the herbs
Ÿ Readily available nutrients
Ÿ The single vertical unit can act as one miniature herb garden or more can be added as a modular system on a bigger scale

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Project Two: Enabling Sustainability

Second major project for Studio 3A is about enabling sustainability within a community. Our focus area is the New College on campus.

First of all, here are my 3 concepts for infusing sustainable impact on New College:

QUICK SOLUTION

SLOW SOLUTION

CO-OP SOLUTION
Basically it's a dormitory overloaded with approx. 280 students from UNSW, with around 56 students on each floor, mixed genders.

Some concerns with their energy / water consumption: 24-hour access to cordial machines & refrigerated beverages, undercarpet heating that turns on at certain intervals during the winter days (for the whole building, even when students may not be inside the rooms), 24-hr air-conditioning of the computer room to keep the server cool, unregulated use of the $2 washing machines (2 on each floor, 4 floors in total), etc.

Basically my idea behind each concept is by providing visual and interactive communication within the environment so the students can be readily informed and behaviourally ameliorated towards a sustainable norm.

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MDG Final Presentation

Havn't been able to upload my progress, but here's my final presentation posters:

DESIGN SOLUTIONS
1. A redesign of an existing medical apparatus to make it more affordable and accessible for Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) and skilled midwives.

2. Extend the postnatal survival time by reducing PPH; and even to allow transportation time of patient to the nearest hospital.

3. Distribute and promote the use of contraceptive devices, e.g. condoms within the slum communities, in conjunction with health organizations and the government.

4. Incorporate a sterilization system with local hospitals for reuse of the pump components.

5. The bellow is calculated to contain approx. 120ml per segment. The adoption of the bellow structure is to allow observation between inflations whether bleeding has stopped or not.

6. The top also allows ergonomic maneuver to vacuum out and retrieve the saline inside the intrauterine condom.

TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS

1. Saline liquid used in hospitals can be concocted domestically by the midwife herself [0.9% salt + 99.1% boiled water = saline liquid].

2. Based on substantial experiments, the combination of a filled condom and catheter is effective in reducing PPH. Hence the midwife is only required to purchase the pump pack which accomplishes both the inflating and deflating tasks of the saline solution, whereas in hospitals the tasks are done by separate methods.

3. If in need of replacement of components, the inflation needle and condom sizes are designed to be compatible against the average existing products. The catheter can even be replaced with a 15 French (=5mm) medical catheter donated by hospitals.

4. Materials: HDPE for the pump component, medical-grade PU for the catheter.

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