Graduates take out
top design awards
Monash University industrial design graduates have scooped the pool in local and international design competitions this year.
Joanna Szczepanska won the Index: AIGA Aspen Design College Challenge for her modular, adaptable garden called Veggie Patch - designed to enable people living in high-density urban areas to grow their own vegetables and reduce their ecofootprint using a minimal amount of water.
The flat-pack garden's plywood framework provides the base for 'cultivation pockets' - rubber matting made from car tyres with pockets that hold soil and grow vegetables.
The pockets can be adjusted in depth and circumference giving home gardeners the ability to grow a range of produce including larger fruit trees and vegetables all in the same plot.
The use of adjustable drip irrigation is what makes the Veggie Patch water efficient. A metre-long Veggie Patch with 15 cultivation pockets will use about only one-fifth of the water used for commercially-grown produce.
Joanna will present her award-winning watersaving design to political leaders at the World Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December this year.
Meanwhile, emerging Victorian designer Robert Dumaresq won gold in this year's Australian Design Award - James Dyson Award.
He won the top prize for his Switch commuter bike, a high-performance bike specifically designed for easy handling on crowded public transport that can be folded to the footprint of just one wheel.
The design doesn't rely on any structural locking mechanism to fold as the weight of the rider keeps the frame open and rigid. A spring-loaded ball bearing stops the rear section of the frame from unfolding prematurely when manoeuvring and handling.
Fellow Bachelor of Industrial Design alumnus Daniel Molloy was highly-commended for his Boomer mobility aid designed in response to Australia's ageing baby-boomer population. It includes a stair-safe mechanism and ergonomic seating in a modern, lightweight frame.
Two other Monash graduates made the finals in the awards. Alex Cheong designed the Mo:Ben, a portable food container that can heat up food, and Tom Gaunt designed the Ripcurl Headstrong, a hood that surfers can wear to protect themselves from injury and the elements.