Design Victoria - Design for Sustainability: Manufacture and Material Selection

Series overview

Following the seminar Design: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution? held as part of the Sustainable Living Festival, Design Victoria presents the Design for Sustainability Series.

The three workshops will present design strategies to assist in the reduction of environmental stressors during each phase of the design cycle. The cycles in these sessions include; manufacture and material selection, use phase and the end-of-life of a product.

2010 Workshop Dates

Design for Sustainability: Manufacture and Material Selection
Tuesday 23 March, 8.30 am – 12.30 pm

Design for Sustainability: Use Phase
Tuesday 20 April, 8.30 am – 12.30 pm

Design for Sustainability: End-of-Life
Tuesday 18 May, 8.30 am – 12.30 pm

Workshop overview – Design for Sustainability: Manufacture and Material Selection

Fact: A car of 1.6 tonnes has a rucksack of 70 tonnes (Giljum, Hinterberger et al. 2009, p.22).*

When designing, we all have the opportunity to design sustainable products that will reduce the impact on the environment. Manufacture and Material Selection will present strategies aimed at reducing the ecological impact on the manufacturing and material selection phase of a product’s development.

The workshop will introduce accessible open source tools to support the material selection process such as Material Intensity Per Unit of Service (MIPS) and Ecological Rucksacks (how much “stuff” it takes to make a product). Following these examples will be a hands-on project that looks to apply these skills.

Attendees will be invited to join in the round table discussion focusing on the complexity of material substitution in relation to design industries.

What you will learn

What materials are most appropriate for a sustainable product
How to measure the sustainability value of a material
Find and use open source measuring tools
Assign quantifiable metrics to the impacts of material selection to inform concept generation

Facilitator

Simon Lockrey – Research Fellow, Centre for Design, RMIT University

Who should attend?

This workshop will benefit designers interested in integrating sustainable strategies and processes and benefiting from being part of the solution for a sustainable society.

Workshop details

Tuesday 23 March 2010
8.30 am to 12.30 pm
Registration: 8.15 am

East Melbourne Library and Community Centre
122 George Street, East Melbourne 3002
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The workshop includes refreshments and networking opportunities.

Free bookings

RSVP by Friday 19 March 2010
Bookings are essential for catering. Please book early as places are limited.

To RSVP please click ‘Register for Event’ below and register your details.

Please direct further enquiries to David McLachlan on +61 3 9925 4195 or events@designvic.com