How can individual designers like Jasper and I tackle global problems?
Our idea: Scale down everyday processes so that they can be experienced, explored and understood by a single person.
Concept: Experiment with small material cycles in an urban apartment and close them
More information in our pitch video
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Water cycles in urban apartments
Concept: we experimented with small water cycles in an apartment in different ways, trying to understand the logic behind them and, where possible, to close them, or at least explore that experimentally.
Kitchen: how fresh is the water we use?
We tested natural filter systems on our own tap water and measured the sediment left behind, asking a simple question: how fresh is the water we use every day, and how could it be filtered and reused right where it's needed?
We tested natural filter systems on our own tap water and measured the sediment left behind, asking a simple question: how fresh is the water we use every day, and how could it be filtered and reused right where it's needed?
Bathroom: do we need drinking water to flush?
Most of the water flushed down a toilet is perfectly clean drinking water. We explored the dry separation toilet as an alternative, with urine collected separately and only flushed occasionally instead of after every single visit. But a simple construction like this raises its own questions: what hurdles come with handling our own waste, and how does that actually feel?
Most of the water flushed down a toilet is perfectly clean drinking water. We explored the dry separation toilet as an alternative, with urine collected separately and only flushed occasionally instead of after every single visit. But a simple construction like this raises its own questions: what hurdles come with handling our own waste, and how does that actually feel?
Kitchen table: can a household grow its own food?
Using only what's already lying around at home, we set up a small hydroponic system and tested unconventional nutrient sources, from coffee grounds to, quite literally, our own urine, to see how far a household could go in closing its own nutrient loop.
Using only what's already lying around at home, we set up a small hydroponic system and tested unconventional nutrient sources, from coffee grounds to, quite literally, our own urine, to see how far a household could go in closing its own nutrient loop.
Dinner 69
Exhibition Number Two closed with Dinner 69, a multi-course meal made from what we had grown ourselves in the apartment, combined with local, seasonal vegetables. Jasper planned and cooked the menu, and together we hosted an evening of friends, professors, and fellow students who wanted to experience the project firsthand. The table itself was part of the experiment: Part of the plates and vessels was made from locally sourced clay, created by Franziska Lyon as part of her thesis, [link to her portfolio]. Guests could see the pieces they were eating from in the same context the clay came from.
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Electricity usage in urban apartments
On April 22nd & 23rd, "The Open Studios" took place in Pforzheim. We opened our studio at the “Alter Schlachthof” and took the opportunity to realize our first exhibition of project 69:8 to present our key ideas!
Electricity is something we use constantly but rarely see. What actually is electricity, what impact does it have, and how can something this invisible be made visible in everyday life? We related these questions to concrete everyday situations. For example, there was coffee from Gentelmansblend! In our pop-up café, we compared different ways of preparing the beverage in terms of their energy consumption.
More information about the Open Ateliers: http://www.offeneatelierspf.de
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discover more about our project
on our Instagram channel
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by Andreas Dannemann & Jasper O'Callaghan
