Two interesting case studies related to interaction design for sustainability: interactive artifacts with special features designed to deliver functional objects and, in the same time, experimental design projects.
— Sunlight table
— Helios - the power tree
Sunlight table is a table realized with tiny fiber-optic cables that create a “sunlight display grid” on its surface. The project aims to bring natural light into workspaces through a piece of furniture which integrates sunlight into its design.
The fiber-optic cables embedded in the wood table connect to an input grid placed over a window. Light and shade are transmitted from the panel through the fibers and into the table. Movement outside the window influences the system. the creators are Anab Jain and Stuart Wood, founders of the London-based collective rAndom International, born in 2002 to create unique and experiential design projects focused on the core theme of the friction between the digital and analogue domain. (via Inhabitat)
Helios-The Power Tree is a tree that converts solar power into electric power for public use designed by Oscar G. Torres (Tisch ITP school, NY).
A tree featured by a solar powered leaves that captures and stores the energy in its trunk: users are able to plug their USB devices. The leaves give off a cool blue light and this makes Helios tree a very interesting example of functional, sustainable public art: the leaves are made from thin photovoltaic cells that linked via the branches. All that energy is fed into the trunk where the energy is stored in a large battery providing energy to users’ USB devices and the led lighting system.
The model was created out of styrofoam in order to create an artifact that will serve in the dual role of public art and environmentally-friendly energy source.
For the realization of the prototype, Torres used the opensource platform Arduino. To know more about this technology follow this link www.arduino.cc.
via Inhabitat
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