Inspired by the Whole Earth Catalog, Living Lightly’s objective is to empower people through tools in future home living.
* sole project by Anne Zhou
Project process journal that records random thoughts, failed models, and best field trips.
Living Lightly is a modular appliance system that extracts the sharing function of rotation and heating in a wide range of products in our kitchen, bathroom, and living room.
(context)
Every year, an estimated 2 million tons of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) items are discarded in the UK (hse.gov.uk). Our homes are cluttered with appliances, while manufacturers keep pushing consumers to buy new items by producing disposable goods.
(discovery)
Many home appliances have shared functions and could be used in shared space. We tend to think about what we need to get done as a service, and rarely consider the material, energy, and labor that are being generated, used, and circulated in the process. The issue is embodied in the retrofitted design of our home appliances. Many appliances share the same mechanical principles. Energy transfers in dynamic engineering or thermodynamic systems, in the media of air, water, etc. They either heat up coils or compress liquids to cool down, blow out air or suck in air, spin or rotate blades at different speeds.
(design)
Living Lightly is a modular appliance system that extracts the sharing function of rotation and heating in a wide range of products in our kitchen, bathroom, and living room. The motor modules and heating coil modules are connected with attachments to blend, whisk, brush, knead, fan, heat, grill, toast, etc. The system combines shared elements in both physical products and user behaviors. Instead of purchasing individual products with singular functions, users have the freedom to purchase modules based on their needs to achieve efficiency, productivity, and liberation.
