The Cradle to Cradle design principles outline how manufactured products can be returned safely to their source. (Image courtesy of C2C World.)
Since publishing the sustainable design manifesto Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things in 2002, chemist Michael Braungart and designer William McDonough have changed how designers, companies, organizations and governments around the world approach the entire lifecycle of products they design and manufacture.
Unsurprisingly, these sustainable design principles have been utilized by both designers and engineers as they seek structured guidelines for designing products that are not only innovative in appearance or functionality, but also in considered lifecycles.
More recently, the San Francisco-based Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute held the third annual Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge. The contest, which celebrates designs following sustainable principles, required that participants complete a course on sustainable design developed in collaboration with Autodesk.
In total, 138 design professionals and students from across 19 countries submitted 79 entries either as a member of a team or as an individual. These entries, 40 percent of which were created with Autodesk’s Fusion 360 CAD/CAM software, were spread across four categories: Best Student Project, Best Professional Project, Best Use of Aluminum and Best Use of Autodesk Fusion 360 Software.
The winner of the Best Student Project, Quang Pham of Virginia Tech, presented a modular shoe design called MODS, made of natural materials and designed to allow users to update components of a shoe as they deteriorate rather than disposing of the entire shoe. Designed in response to the millions of pairs of shoes that have filled landfills for decades, the modular shoe designs can also be customized without the use of environmentally harmful adhesives.
The winner of the Best Professional Project, Colombian designers Brayan Stiven Pabón Gómez and Rafael Ricardo Moreno Boada, presented a new concept for sustainable food packaging in the form of banana stem fibers. These fibers are currently considered waste by banana farmers in Colombia. The updated take on food packaging offers both an alternative to wasteful plastic and paper food packaging as well as a new economic development model for Colombian farmers.
The OLI concept won Best Use of Autodesk Fusion 360. (Image courtesy of Cradle to Cradle.)
The winner of the Best Use of Aluminum, designers Malgorzata Blachnicka and Michal Holcer, presented a self-sufficient mountain shelter called Huba capable of generating its own electricity. Designed for both emergency shelter purposes as well as a possible housing option for homeless populations, the shelter draws inspiration from traditional Alpine architecture. Its roof tiles are arranged in order to allow the shelter to collect and filter rainwater to provide drinking water.
Finally, the winner of the Best Use of Autodesk Fusion 360 went to Virginia Tech student Claire Davis, whose OLI concept for a composting bin aims to highlight the value of minimizing food waste in the home. Davis’ project was chosen by Autodesk representatives who were judging in the contest due to her excellent use of the CAD software's direct modeling functionality.
“We launched the Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge to help the global design community approach the issue of limited global resources as an opportunity for product innovation,” said Lewis Perkins, president of the Cradle to Cradle Products Institute. “Designers have a pivotal role to play in driving long-term solutions that circumvent the concept of waste in favor of materials that can remain in a perpetual cycle of use and reuse. From retail packaging to human shelter, the spring 2016 Challenge winners are outstanding examples of the way young designers and design professionals alike are stepping into the crux of this revolution, using Cradle to Cradle principles to pioneer ideas for innovative materials applications and, in turn, the circular economy.”
Each of the four winners will receive a cash prize of $2,000. The fourth Challenge will open up for entries in September of 2016. Find out more by heading over to the organization's website.