Text: Jens Persson
For the annual 'Hot Team' project, where BFA2's and BFA3's take
over the project studio in a chaos of creativity, a question was
posed to the joining students: What if both humans and nonhumans
were acknowledged in the urban space?
Historically, design has mainly influenced the back end of a
product's journey. Today, designers increasingly have to navigate
multiple stakeholders and users as they create multi-layered
experience journeys, often times with a digital or collaborative
element. The increasing complexity of the job description means
that designers are having a growing impact on how our societies are
being shaped, and with that influence comes responsibility.
Monica Lindh Karlsson, senior lecturer
in industrial design at UID, led the project.
"Design has the power to bring together diverse viewpoints into
a dialogue that can support different voices in society. Through
collaborative processes, designers have the opportunity to open up
a political space for dealing with complex issues. One such example
is the critical unpacking of concepts like 'human' and 'non-human',
says Monica Lindh Karlsson, senior lecturer in industrial design at
Umeå Institute of Design.
This year's Hot Team design mission allowed students to explore
the urban space through these alternative perspectives, with the
end goal of creating an experience where humans and-non humans can
co-exist as equals. As shown by the resulting design concepts, the
design brief sparked a wide range of visions from the six
participating teams.
Initially, students gathered inspiration from seminars, on-site
observations, interviews and research. The first conceptual embryos
were then tried and tested in a maze-like landscape of asymmetrical
cubicles in the UID project studio where each team housed their own
improvised design office. Through numerous design sprints, where
students built and tested a range of prototypes, the final concepts
began to emerge.
Giving a face to human oversconsumption
Linn Thomessen (BFA3) believes that the framework for the Hot
Team course - promoting diverse perspectives and the merging of
design methods - led to a creative process characterized by
compromise.
"This design process was not clear and predictable. Challenging
perspectives had to be resolved within the team through
understanding and dialogue. Personally, I have learned to
reflect and better understand group working dynamics, allowing me
to develop new methods for designing together. It was inspiring to
have group members from different backgrounds. I think it
contributes to another level of design quality, to be able to see
and design through the lens of different perspectives and
value systems", says Linn Thommesen.
Linn Thommesen (to
the right) together with her team in the 'UID Project
Studio'. Photo: Jens Persson
Her design team's concept was created in the wake of the recent
global summit on climate change. Proposing an interactive
installation in the center of the city, in connection to the city's
main shopping street at Rådhustorget, they wanted to shine a light
on the growing ecological footprint caused by unfettered
consumption patterns.
"This is a global issue. We live in a linear system where
objects are produced, used and discarded, generating massive
amounts of waste. Sweden is one of the biggest consuming countries
in the world on an individual level and even though people are
aware of this problem far from all are adapting to a more circular
lifestyle".
The installation, portrayed as a living being, hopes to invite
reflection on the collective consumption habits of the citizens of
Umeå. The "bubbles" expand in correlation to the overall monthly
consumption of the city's residents, deflating again at the start
of each month. To further interactivity and spontaneous discussions
on sustainability the installation has been designed to function as
a meeting space where people can gather and socialize.
She who roars - Citizens' reconnecting to their river
Another student design team turned their focus towards the verry
birth of Umeå, aspiring to reconnect its citizens with the Uma
river that runs through the city. Once a central part of the city's
life blood, the river is today often neglected, serving no apparent
purpose to many of its residents. A tunnel underneath the water
surface, connecting two key districts in Umeå, is meant to rekindle
the citizens' relationship with the river.
"Uma, which is the river's real name, means 'roaring body of
water'. Historically, the river has also been a she, so one could
argue that the name Uma means 'she who roars'. During this project
we realized that throughout history Uma has been an important urban
space and we saw this project as an opportunity to suggest how we
might restore its status and meaning for the citizens of Umeå",
says Mika Sinclair, part of the student design team behind the Uma
tunnel project.
The team's proposal is based around a tunnel going under Uma,
connecting central Umeå with the district of Teg. The opening of
the tunnel transforms into a heated seating area on both sides of
the river where people can explore marine life underneath the river
surface. The seated area is in the shape of a curved staircase,
named 'Laxtrappan' (Salmon Staircase).
"During the tunnel construction an extensive cleaning of the
river will be conducted restoring its habitability for vegetation
and animals. Trash and debris found during the cleaning will be
sealed into a gallery along the sides of the tunnel showcasing the
dangers of human-made environmental degradation", says Mika
Sinclair.
"We hope that showing the dissonance between the restored river
and the human-made thrash in the tunnel will transform the daily
commute experience into a space for reflection and appreciation for
Umeå's oldest citizen."
Student Design Concepts
- Cocoon -
The group: Wendi
Duan, Linn Yue Thomessen, Nikita Zatonskiy, My Enetjärn, Mårten
Malmnäs, Mohammad Hajjo, Sara Björk
The project: An interactive installation to
display the societal act of over consumption, shining a light on
the growing ecological footprint caused by unfettered patterns of
non-circular lifestyles.
- UMA -
The
group: Linnéa Tjernström, Lisa Karlsson,
Malin Svärd, Mattias Nordin, Mika Sinclair,
Mirja Zschau Kinnunen, William Lantz Winberg
The project: An underwater tunnel re-connecting
the citizens of Umeå with the Uma river by transforming the
commuter experience into a space for reflection and appreciation
for Umeå's oldest citizen.
- AWAY -
The group: Nora
Öhlund, Stina Nilsson, Niels Vogel, Jennifer Hurtig, Miranda
Lishajko, Patrik
Härnvall, Adam Landström
The project: Exploring public transportation as
a medium to create an intersection between the urbanized areas of
Umeå and Holmsund and the non-human areas of nature and wildlife
surrounding them.
- KVITTER -
The
group: Axel Josefsson, Carl Lignell, Ellinor
Werner, Irma Svenningson, Isak Åhman Larsson,
Josephine Samuelsson Wahl, Hanna Tiller Hörting
The project: Through the lens of
species-equality, project Kvitter encourages humans in urban spaces
to appreciate birds on an individual level in order to empathize
with them long-term on a species-wide level.
- Gångbanan Gammlia -
The
group: David Dahlberg, Simon Ljungblahd, Iver Alexey
Zaitzow Mikaelsen, Karin Myhrberg, Emilia Bengtsson, Kristina
Bergquist, Oscar Larsson
The project: An elevated wooden walkway
allowing the citizens and visitors of Umeå to experience the nature
surrounding Gammlia during all seasons.
- SNEATER -
The group: Johan
Höijertz, Isabelle Olsson, Willem Borsboom, Isaac Stenegärd, Lisa
Holmgren, Nina Långström, Nils Heider
The project: An autonomous snow-clearing system
for the Umeå University Campus. The SNEATER uses AI to communicate
with its fellow workers as well as interact with its
surroundings.
