Competition Entry - 2nd. place winner - Jerusalem Seminar of Architecture.
Project description:
LOTUS sustainable mobile market stand
Our approach to sustainable design is about keeping things simple. No tricky mechanisms, no elaborate energy conversion methods, no groundbreaking technologies and no extreme changes in the users habits. We wish to create a simple design, using well known technologies - Existing connectors by Creative Construction©, Aluminum extrusions and hiking equipment fabric technologies. These would allow easy production, operating and maintenance for fabricators and users everywhere.
The project was constructed according to the ‘3R’ principals for sustainable design: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Reduce
Our first design goal was to make a stand that uses the absolute minimal amount of material, thus making it light, easy to transport, economical and using as less resources as possible. In order to do so, we’ve tried to create a form using as little compressed members and using tensed members instead, which are much more efficient. By using Tensegrity, we were able to create a large span using minimum resources.
Reuse
By making our stand easily foldable and extremely lightweight on one hand and rigid on the other, we encourage its reuse. The stand’s life span gets particularly long as all parts are replaceable upon failure, it is washable, has very simple failsafe mechanisms, and high tolerance for corrosion. Its durability prevents it from being replaced with another.
Recycle
The stand it mainly made of Aluminum, being 100% recyclable, and its recycling process is relatively environmentally safe. Since it is very widely spread, recycled Aluminum can be found almost everywhere, thus eliminating the need for transporting raw material.
Material selection:
Every material has its advantages and disadvantages. In order to select the best material to use, we’ve compiled a table of pros and cons for a large number of materials (the final selection is described on the circular graph on poster no. 1) the material selected was Aluminum, for its relative durability, low volume to weight ratio and low maintenance abilities.
The LOTUS stand should weight approximately 11.6 Kg (26 pounds), about the same as three laptop computers and a soda can. Its folded length is 158 cm (5’2 feet), about half the length of a VW Beetle.
