Dott 07

Dott 07’s Eco Design Challenge asked Year 8 students across North East England two questions: ‘How big is your school’s ecological footprint?’ and ‘What design steps would make it smaller?’ Dott monitored their progress over the year, check out the Eco Design Challenge blog to see what happened.

How did the Eco Design Challenge work?
The project, which was designed to tie in with the UK National Curriculum, encouraged Year 8 students across the North East of England to channel their creativity into redesigning parts of their schools, with the objective of reducing their ecological and carbon footprints. The process involved over fifteen thousand students and teachers from the region designing sustainable alternatives to some of the systems currently operating in their schools.

Students were asked to identify where problems were in their school, by doing an ecological and carbon footprint of their school over a 24 hour period. To establish the footprint of their school the students had to collect information such as journey to and from school, energy in the classroom, energy use in the school, school meals, water use and waste disposal. Dott gave the students a carbon ECO calculator Excel spreadsheet, as well as an animated Flash version of it, which allowed them to process their data and get a graphic illustration of their progress, like a school report. The resources were available free to anyone who accessed the Dott 07 website.

The students went on to use this data as a basis for a design brief that they developed and submitted to Dott 07 in hope of making it through to the next round. The challenge process introduced students to how designers need to think and operate to create a sustainable future, and also introduces the concept of sustainable design. We learned that many Year 8 students are already well informed about environmental issues. What Dott added was an opportunity to try out design techniques as a way to make a positive, practical difference.

Twenty schools were shortlisted and went on to work with professional designers to help develop their design briefs. Ideas ranged from small products, to huge buildings or environments, and even futuristic systems and services. The results were showcased at the Dott 07 Festival and the winners were announced at the Creative Community Awards in October 2007.

Listen again to Nick Devitt, senior producer of the Eco Design Challenge, and Rachel Deller, Designers into Schools co-ordinator, presenting at the Dott Debate: Sustainability, Schools and Schooling.