Element
Anton Gustafsson and Magnus Gyllenswärd
Element is an innovative radiator design that uses light bulbs as both a heat source and as a visible indication of energy use.
What was the significant innovation in approach or thinking behind the project/artwork? How can this be recognisably attributed to the involvement of creative practice?
Element can be understood to represent the following innovations:
1. The employment of qualitative interviews as part of user-centered design practices wherein future end-users are recognised as contributing creatively to the conception of the radiator.
2. The use of an array of light bulbs to produce and represent heat.
3. The re-interpretation of a mundane technology, the radiator, as both an aesthetic and material tangible.
The involvement of creative practice can be understood as the combination of the above achieving the novel reformulation of domestic radiators.
Collaboration
What were the disciplinary contributors to the project? What model of research / development was followed? What were factors leading to success / problems?
STATIC! was a collaborative research project led by the Swedish Interaction Institute between 2004-2005. The purpose of the project was to employ interaction design as a research tools to investigate awareness of how energy is used and for prompting changes in energy use practices. The project utilizes critical and user-centered design as a basis for communication and cooperation between designers and imagined end-users. The project was a collaboration between the Swedish Interactive Institute and the design studios POWER STUDIO and Design Göteburg. Additional collaborators included: Front, Göteburg Energi, Ludvig Svensson AB, Mälarden University, School of Design and Crafts (HDK) at Göteburg University, the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation (SVID) and the Swedish School of Textiles at the University College of BorÃ¥s. The STATIC! project was funded by Energimyndigheten (the Swedish Energy Agency or STEM) with additional support from Region Västra Götaland through the ENERGY+DESIGN Network.
Values
What were the outcomes of the project? How were these disseminated to outside stakeholders? What models of value are implied by this project? What was the Impact of the work?
Element has been presented at conferences and disseminated via published papers and the Internet. Models of value implied by these output include raising awareness within academic design communities of issues surrounding domestic energy usage, aesthetics and the value of prototyping as a research output
Links and Resources
http://www.tii.se/static/element.htm
http://www.iade.pt/drs2006/wonderground/proceedings/fullpapers/DRS2006_0109.pdf
