THE PLAYGROUND
Developing a Circular Materials Lab at the Köln International School of Design
As a part of a joint thesis, we built a circular materials lab within the Köln International School of Design where students learn and experiment with circular and bio-materials. The main principles of this lab are that it is low-tech, circular and student driven, adaptable and knowledge sharing.
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We developed a system within our university which can be further adapted and tweaked to fit other contexts. We identified some key components to make this system work:
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The Kitchen: A co-working space with infrastructure needed to build, experiment and collaborate on circular materials.
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A Material Library: An archive, both physical and digital that creates an open source lab of all the ciruclar and bio-materials
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Workshops: A space for students to learn new skills and teach other what they've learnt
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Courtyard: The main touchpoint where waste is composted, collected with a small garden and community space
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Community: A community to share ideas and collaborate with one another to take forward the movement of circular and bio materials.
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Project/
The Playground
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Role /
Research and planning, Prototyping and Design Implementation
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Partners /
Matthew de Kretser
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University /
TH Köln
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Year /
2021
