Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Reflection
Reflection
After finishing this assignment I have gained more knowledge and interest in what it takes to design a disaster aid product. The experience wasn’t easy especially for the target group I was designing for. Bangladesh is a very poor country and designing something cheap and affective for that community comes as a challenge. The float pack in my opinion was a great solution to the individuals living in the monsoon affected regions of Bangladesh. Those regions are affected greatly every year experiencing large amounts of flooding and great loss to vegetation. With these areas been isolated from land and surrounded by great amounts of water there is no easy access to reach these people and the only alternative will be by boat. If these food packages can be distributed to those affected regions civilians have great convenience in picking up their aid. The afterlife will also be affective as there is a more convenient way of transporting valuables along flood affected regions.
Another issue to think about in this design would be to think of a system and how it would be run by the aid workers. For example how many bags will they distribute? Will they distribute new bags or will they take them back? A number of issues still need a bit of thought in order for this project to work properly in terms of distribution and system.
The model prototype was quite a challenge to produce, this being the first time I have ever worked with a fabric to create an appearance model. Figuring out the size and dimensions of the overall product was also a challenge as I had to calculate the volume of air needed to provide a 15 kg rice sack buoyancy in water. Those 2 aspects of the model were the most challenging.
In overall I think this assignment had turned out well if provided with a little extra time I would progress with finding an ideal system of distribution. This assignment has taught me a lot in terms of materials cost and efficiency. It has also taught me about the many devastation disasters that had occurred in the past 20 years and the dramatic affects it had on the people, learning on how to decrease that devastation toll through design is a great matter to consider.
After finishing this assignment I have gained more knowledge and interest in what it takes to design a disaster aid product. The experience wasn’t easy especially for the target group I was designing for. Bangladesh is a very poor country and designing something cheap and affective for that community comes as a challenge. The float pack in my opinion was a great solution to the individuals living in the monsoon affected regions of Bangladesh. Those regions are affected greatly every year experiencing large amounts of flooding and great loss to vegetation. With these areas been isolated from land and surrounded by great amounts of water there is no easy access to reach these people and the only alternative will be by boat. If these food packages can be distributed to those affected regions civilians have great convenience in picking up their aid. The afterlife will also be affective as there is a more convenient way of transporting valuables along flood affected regions.
Another issue to think about in this design would be to think of a system and how it would be run by the aid workers. For example how many bags will they distribute? Will they distribute new bags or will they take them back? A number of issues still need a bit of thought in order for this project to work properly in terms of distribution and system.
The model prototype was quite a challenge to produce, this being the first time I have ever worked with a fabric to create an appearance model. Figuring out the size and dimensions of the overall product was also a challenge as I had to calculate the volume of air needed to provide a 15 kg rice sack buoyancy in water. Those 2 aspects of the model were the most challenging.
In overall I think this assignment had turned out well if provided with a little extra time I would progress with finding an ideal system of distribution. This assignment has taught me a lot in terms of materials cost and efficiency. It has also taught me about the many devastation disasters that had occurred in the past 20 years and the dramatic affects it had on the people, learning on how to decrease that devastation toll through design is a great matter to consider.
Rational
Gleb Labazine 3293245
Designing for disaster.
Float Pack:
The basis of my concept is focusing on the cyclone regions of Bangladesh, typically areas that are strongly affected by the monsoon season. The region affected experiences heavy floods and cyclones during that season due to its land being way below sea level. A lot of crops and vegetations are lost during this season of disaster. People affected in these areas are usually isolated and surrounded by water where the only way to reach them is by boat.
The Float Pack is a food aid distribution package and it provides to those in affected areas a more effective and reliable way of receiving their emergency food aid. The Float pack will carry a 10kg sack of rice along water to serve per individual. It has inflatable qualities along sides to keep it afloat and is made from a waterproof material that similar to a dry bag (PVC coated nylon). It has back pack straps, adjusters and clipping so it can then be used as a back pack to transmit the contents of the bag (it being rice) across land to a nearby village, a safe haven or a place of refuge.
The Float Pack is distributed off boats into waters where the rice sacks are put into the Float Pack then inflated with a Co2 gas gun. With the application of pressurized air within the inflatable properties the bag conveys more buoyancy when it is thrown out into the water, therefore less change of it sinking once it hits the water surface. The inflatable component of the bag was designed by the measurements of volume contained by conventional air and the amount of it needed in cubic meters to keep a 10 kg bag afloat. If the bag is blown manually through the manual valve it would be just as effective as pressurizes air in terms of keeping the weight afloat.
Once an individual has The Float Pack in their sight they would drag it in to shore and fit it on as a backpack. Once they have reached the safe refuge they can take out the contents and keep this bag for future comings. This would include packing their valuables in a secure waterproof bag and a means of transporting them safely along water from one place to another over a period of time. The material this it is constructed from is a food safe material, it would keep the contents safe from leakage and contamination. Instructions are also included on the bag which are only represented in a graphical form for aid workers and receivers to understand the practicality of this bag on how it should be used and prepared.
Due to my research I have discovered that there really isn’t a conventional method of distributing food along water to those in need in flood affected areas. What my research has showed me were people lining up in heavy flooded conditions, standing waist high in line waiting for their rice sack. It has also showed that there is great difficulty bringing back the sack of food onto dry land without dropping the sack into contaminated water. That is where this idea took off, providing a more efficient system of distributing food can create a more affective, healthy and an unproblematic method of receiving food especially in that affected region.
Gleb Labazine 3293245
Designing for disaster.
Float Pack:
The basis of my concept is focusing on the cyclone regions of Bangladesh, typically areas that are strongly affected by the monsoon season. The region affected experiences heavy floods and cyclones during that season due to its land being way below sea level. A lot of crops and vegetations are lost during this season of disaster. People affected in these areas are usually isolated and surrounded by water where the only way to reach them is by boat.
The Float Pack is a food aid distribution package and it provides to those in affected areas a more effective and reliable way of receiving their emergency food aid. The Float pack will carry a 10kg sack of rice along water to serve per individual. It has inflatable qualities along sides to keep it afloat and is made from a waterproof material that similar to a dry bag (PVC coated nylon). It has back pack straps, adjusters and clipping so it can then be used as a back pack to transmit the contents of the bag (it being rice) across land to a nearby village, a safe haven or a place of refuge.
The Float Pack is distributed off boats into waters where the rice sacks are put into the Float Pack then inflated with a Co2 gas gun. With the application of pressurized air within the inflatable properties the bag conveys more buoyancy when it is thrown out into the water, therefore less change of it sinking once it hits the water surface. The inflatable component of the bag was designed by the measurements of volume contained by conventional air and the amount of it needed in cubic meters to keep a 10 kg bag afloat. If the bag is blown manually through the manual valve it would be just as effective as pressurizes air in terms of keeping the weight afloat.
Once an individual has The Float Pack in their sight they would drag it in to shore and fit it on as a backpack. Once they have reached the safe refuge they can take out the contents and keep this bag for future comings. This would include packing their valuables in a secure waterproof bag and a means of transporting them safely along water from one place to another over a period of time. The material this it is constructed from is a food safe material, it would keep the contents safe from leakage and contamination. Instructions are also included on the bag which are only represented in a graphical form for aid workers and receivers to understand the practicality of this bag on how it should be used and prepared.
Due to my research I have discovered that there really isn’t a conventional method of distributing food along water to those in need in flood affected areas. What my research has showed me were people lining up in heavy flooded conditions, standing waist high in line waiting for their rice sack. It has also showed that there is great difficulty bringing back the sack of food onto dry land without dropping the sack into contaminated water. That is where this idea took off, providing a more efficient system of distributing food can create a more affective, healthy and an unproblematic method of receiving food especially in that affected region.
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