| THE AWARD |
| CATEGORIES |
| REGISTRATION |
| SUBMIT YOUR WORK |
| ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS |
| TERMS & CONDITIONS |
| PUBLICATIONS |
| DATES & FEES |
| METHODOLOGY |
| CONTACT |
| WINNERS |
| PRESS ROOM |
| GET INVOLVED |
| DESIGN PRIZE |
| DESIGN STORE |
| THE AWARD | JURY | CATEGORIES | REGISTRATION | PRESS | WINNERS | PUBLICATIONS | ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS |
Plastidobe Ecological Housing by Abel Gómez Morón Santos |
Home > Winners > Design #57116 >Interview |
 |
|
FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
AG: The idea was to create an inexpensive, environmentally friendly, self-assembled housing system. Peru was recently devastated by a series of floods that left around 700,000 people homeless. It is because of this that we decided to do our best trying to design the solution to this problem, taking into account sustainability and ease of transportation.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
AG: Our focus was mainly on the sustainability aspect and the ease both for transportation and assembly. Things such as resistance to climatological conditions were also taken into account, but this was the obvious part. Our goal was to excel in environmental friendliness and construction. And we achieved that by creating a unique self-assembled block system that has recycled plastic on the outside, and dirt on the inside.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
AG: We want to start manufacturing these and figure out the best way to get these to settlers in rural areas. But also, we’ve been working on the second version of this system which will introduce some improvements in every area of the design.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
AG: We started the development on January 2017, and we have been working on it ever since.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
AG: We decided to do this because as designers we have a moral responsibility of trying to solve problems of today. And because of the recent floods that affected Peru, we decided it was time to do something, and we decided to tackle this problem doing what we love: designing.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
AG: We have yet to decide the business strategy to get this product to the people we are targeting. But we somehow want to get this to the people as soon as possible.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
AG: We are targeting all the low-resource people that live in rural areas.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
AG: Unlike other sustainable, modular, self-assembled housing systems, this one presents the idea of a bio-structure, because the main columns are an alfalfa root, and therefore the most abundant material is simply dirt. All this encaged in a recycled plastic structure. We also thought a lot about packaging for ease of transportation since this is aimed at rural areas.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
AG: It comes of the combination of Plastic and Adobe. Adobe is the material from which most of the houses are built in Peru, these are not well-build houses so we decided to give it an update using recycled plastic thats why we get this new thing called: Plastidobe.
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
AG: Working on this project was mostly digital, therefore what was mostly used was computers, as well as iPads and iPhones for lighter tasks and research.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
AG: From the workflow to the creation itself, technology is the reason all of this is possible. This goes from getting instant information that would later inspire us, to the possibilities of a plastic recycling plant. It is a wonderful time to be live and we should use all of the technologies available in our advantage. But there is something special with this project, and that is that we focused also in ancient technologies from the Inca empire such as the trapezoidal constructions. Without the iPad making this would’ve been harder, but, what sets apart this project is that we focused on technologies that have been lost or forgotten, but are by no means outdated.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
AG: In the 21st century it’s impossible not to think in a big global scale. We knew this project had a lot of potential, that’s why we decided to promote it and see how the world could help us make it a reality.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
| SOCIAL |
| + Add to Likes / Favorites | Send to My Email | Comment | View Press-Release | Translations |
