AUT - 24 Hour Product Design Challenge
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24 Hour Product Design Challenge
Supporters’ challenge wins design competition
A concept to get rugby fans battling for their teams was the winner of the 24 Hour Design Challenge competition this year.
On July 18 and 19, teams of AUT product design students took part in the contest which tested their creativity and skill to come up with ideas for temporary moveable structures or spaces to welcome rugby supporters to Auckland.
The 10 teams, made up of 70 students, were randomly assigned to work with different areas along the official Rugby Walk from Auckland’s Britomart waterfront area to Eden Park. Each design had to exploit unique aspects of the location to give people on the journey from city to park a series of stimulating and different experiences.
The winners, Wilson Sue, Alldyla Firdauzy, Josh Munn, Nikolai Sorensen, Justine Keyworth and Jennifer Clent, were given the end of K Road/start of New North Road. As it is roughly half way to Eden Park they gave their area a ‘half time’ theme with the aim of hyping supporters for the rest of their journey. They designed an area where supporters could write support messages for their teams on iPads or similar devices, take part in virtual shearing contests and compete to out cheer each other.
The judges, including James Coleman the host of TV3’s Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger, said the winning concept forced people to engage and was very viable.
The runners up designed giant cloud-like structures suspended above Queen Street which fans could climb into for a break.
About the challenge
The 24 Hour Product Design Challenge is an annual competition organised by the School of Art and Design. The challenge is for Product Design students to design socially responsible and sustainable designs.
Last year, the school ran the inaugural event in association with 2010 New Zealander of the Year, Ray Avery. The challenge: to develop a humidifier for the ‘Liferaft’ baby incubator designed to work in the extreme conditions of developing countries.
With just three days, $100 and basic prototyping materials, 10 teams of seven students from years one, two, three and post-graduate level competed. The winning team which called itself PureLife was made up of Tamarin Howse, Hannah Clark, Arvin Slayer, Daniel To, Vasyl Rabshytna, Jana Durdevic and Lucy Liu.
Using no additional electricity, their Pure Humidifying system uses gravity to pull the water through a micro-filter with magnetic properties, eliminating minerals and waterborne bacteria. A single drop of water drops from the reservoir in front of the incubator’s fan and using the airflow evaporates into the incubator’s atmosphere. A fabric over the incubator’s outlet valve allows air to escape but not water molecules so that the water recondenses and can be re-used.
Product Design at AUT
Product Design is an exciting and rapidly changing profession, focusing on the design of products, services and systems that will benefit individuals and society.
The philosophy behind product design at AUT is to design with constant reference to environmentally sustainable and socially responsible ideas.
Study Product Design
For more information, contact:
Andrew Withell
Head of Product Design
ph 09 921 6249
Steven Reay
Senior Lecturer - Product Design
ph 09 921 6719
Nick Charlton
Senior Lecturer - Product Design
ph 09 921 5086
Andrea Malcolm
Communications Manager, AUT University
Ph 09 921 9523/021 924314