Designing for the Circular Economy
Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge
Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has announced the winners of their third Product Design Challenge. This challenge recognizes designs created and materials used for the circular economy, wherein products and materials maintain their value over time and can be perpetually upcycled. This approach to timelessness speaks to a future of finite resources and a growing global population.
Participants in the C2C Product Design Challenge had free access to the Autodesk portfolio of 3D design software, as well as a self-paced online course providing strategies, tools, and examples of the Cradle to Cradle design principles leading to Cradle to Cradle Certified products.
Overall, the judges were impressed with the high quality of submissions. The winner of the “Best use of Autodesk Fusion 360” award went to Clare Davis from Virginia Tech. Paul Sohi commented “OLI’s use of direct modelling to rapidly produce a manufacturable product really exploits the best functionality of Fusion. The intelligent component design and creation of elements that make up the OLI are great examples of how Fusion360 can make modelling super easy. The viewable model on a 360 also shows that the creator has given consideration to assembly and manufacturing, all things that are important not only to design, but also CAD logic, something that Fusion360 makes so accessible.”
“Today’s designers are challenged with a unique opportunity to create products that meet the needs of a growing world population with ever more limited access to material resources,” according to Lynelle Cameron, senior director of sustainability and corporate philanthropy for Autodesk. “Beyond traditional CAD/CAM tools, designers are looking for cloud-based connected design platforms that facilitate radical collaboration and sophisticated analysis and simulation. Congratulations to Claire Davis, winner of the Best Use of Autodesk 360, for an inspiring demonstration of sustainable design in action.”
The 2 winners below used Fusion 360 in their winning designs!
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Best Use of Autodesk Fusion 360 Clare Davis, a student at Virginia Tech designed a food composter, OLI. With an average of 474 pounds of food waste generated each year by every household, a large percent of our landfill waste could be composted and returned to the Earth. |
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Quang Pham, a student at Virginia Tech, designed a modular shoe, MODS, in response to the millions of pairs of shoes that end up in landfills each year, where they can take 30-40 years to decompose. |
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Cradle to Cradle’s mission is to turn the making of things into a positive force for people, the economy, and the planet, which is administered through a product program for assessing and continually improving products based upon five sustainability characteristics: material health, material reuse, renewable energy, water stewardship, and social fairness. Their competition is run in collaboration with Autodesk and the Alcoa Foundation, whose focus areas include finding solutions to improve the environment through sustainable design.
Learn more about the winners of the Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge here.
