The Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA) booth at this years ICFF attracted a lot of attention primarily due to the clear and compelling presentation of the student work. A closer look though revealed really clever ideas. The work represented was the result of a collaboration of two programs at the school. The Environmental Design BFA program and the Graphic Design MFA program presented 2d and 3d prototypes of plausible ideas and products that could contribute to reducing energy consumption while simplifying and beautifying our lives.
We particularly liked the hydroponic garden system designed by Irena Dukhnevich. She proposes a series of planters that slide on tracks which could be mounted on the exterior of a building. The tracks overlap windows so the plants could be slid back and forth for watering and care. The plants could also provide natural shade and cooling to interior rooms rather than using curtains or drapes.
Wrapping the perimeter walls of the booth were concepts exploring ways shopping for groceries could be greener. The ideas presented ranged from a mobile phone app for buying groceries to plans for transforming unused big-box stores into local farms.
MICA’s Andrew Shea has all the work shown detailed here. Worth a look.
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another great way to conserve energy is by using a geothermal air conditioner! They are wonderful! they save so much money and use half the energy of a regular air conditioner. Plus you can get a really nice tax credit from the gov for buying one because they save so much energy
June 5th, 2009 at 8:15 pm