The Design Institute of Australia’s (DIA) Queensland branch’s socially responsible design practice group design:action! sawed, hammered, sewed and stapled their way through the Premier’s Design Awards in a one hour pressure test.
The team won the challenge with a ‘handmade trade’ box to facilitate social sustainability and community connectivity with young people through adaptive reuse.
The challenge, centred around the theme ‘green house’, was to use the same recycled materials as other teams to create a finished product that assisted in creating homes that are smarter, stronger, greener and healthier.
The DIA’s design:action! team consisted of Scott Bagnell (Cottee Parker Architects), Georgia Bedford (HASSELL), Grace Bitner (Conrad Gargett), Tamagin Blake-Smith (Riddel Architecture), Darren Giddy (archi tectural student QUT) and Ben Grassick (Conrad Gargett).
The winning concept consisted of a timber box with open sides made from a timber crate and a recycled plastic cloth satchel that could be hung from the front fence of a home. It was designed to encourage kids to create toys by using everyday objects and share and swap them with other kids by placing them in the ‘handmade trade’ box.
DIA design:action! focuses on the practice and pro motion of socially responsible design and showcases the effect design can have in creating significant posi tive change in local and global communities. It is cur rently involved in the Down Syndrome Association of Queensland office refurbishment, SPACE Community Endeavours Community Hall Refurbishment at Kenmore and Living Independent Living Housing Project.
Twenty-five designers from six different disciplines are currently working on the project, with a completed design of the first prototype due by April next year.
