Emergency filtration. Anywhere. Always.
Client: Global Grand Challenges 2017
Disciplines: Engineering, Industrial Design, Material Research, Business Research, Branding, Teamwork
Year: 2017
2nd
winner
FINALIST
GGCS 2017 International Business Competition in Washington DC
w/ $15,000 Prize
Royal Academy of Engineering National Engineering Competition 2017
Morgan Innovation & Technology Prize 2018
For up to 60 days, the banks of Lake Gulshan burst under the weight of the monsoon waters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, flooding the existing water-pipe structure. The flood-water enters cracks in the pipes, polluting the drinking water with arsenic, bacteria and other microbes that traditional filters struggle to remove.
MOREWATER was a 6-person group project that set out to create a mid/long-term, modular, family-capacity water-filter that can be customised, assembled and dispatched rapidly for any environment, pollutants, or special cases, as-well as be adapted with new emerging technology; all for incredibly low-cost.
I was brought onto the team to conceptualise potential new technologies, business and market research, provide material specifications, and provide a style of branding that is universal to all languages and stages of economic development.
Being ready for anything.
The most important factor with the project was it's adaptiveness to different environments, and the speed in which could be depolyed.
To make sure that the product could quickly be assembled and customised, we chose different locations based on their diverse and unique water issues, and specified a bespoke setup for each, only using the modules we had developed.
Aside from Dhaka, Bangladesh, we also researched and specified the modules needed for the pollutants in Haiti's water, and the ever-topical water crisis of Flint, Michigan.
Research, research, research.
With the sheer amount of detail needed to create a product that was commerically viable, adaptable, easily accessible, requiring minimal education to operate, repair and replaceable, and intuitive; we worked with NGO's, polymer engineers, emergency health experts, charity and business consultants, entrepeneurs, and so many others to make sure this project had the best opportunity possible to succeed when presenting to some of the top industry names in Washington DC, against the top universities from the USA and China.
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(Psst, if you'd like to download the MOREWATER report, featuring a collation of the best bits of our research, amongst other tidbits, click here!)
Smells like team spirit.
This was a 6-man project, and with the amount of research, detail, and general content required, it was certainly needed. It was a pleasure working alongside:
Sean Irving | Product Engineer (first from right)
The talent behind so much of the project, Sean did everything from research, to techincal drawings, to the report, to asset creation, to so many of the renders, to frankly so many other things that you'd need a binder to actually list them.
Jess Mountfield | Animator (second from right)
You might think Animation is a bit of an odd fit for an engineering project, but Jess was not only the key researcher for the project, but her flair for the artistic and talent for communicating incredible looking work through illustration was one of the top reasons the project shined! (she also created the animation at the top of the page!)
Sam Watkins | Product Designer (third from left)
Sam worked with myself across a broad set of elements needed in the project. Both of us having a mix of skills ranging from the more technical and hands-on, to the more conceptual and artistic, helped out massively when the workload became intense.
George Huish | Product Engineer (second from left)
Being the only other engineer on the team, George worked alongside Sean and ourselves on the more technical aspects of the project that fell outside of the scope of the rest of us.
Andrew Petty | Industrial Designer (first from left)
Closer to the artistic end of the product-design spectrum, Andy used these skills to help out with a lot of the branding elements of the project, and keep the product having a high-polish.
and Myself! (looking way too pleased with himself, third from right)
I, much like Sam, used the breadth that the Product Design discipline instills to flit between many different tasks from material-research, brand/colour, conceptualisation, asset-creation, model-making, etc.
I was also responsible for the actual concept that we ended up taking forward.
And last, but by no means least,
a huge thank you for the support from
Emyr Perigrine
An incredible polymer engineer, who gave us a brilliant and detailed abundance of technical information and advice on polymers that would be able to withstand the difficult and varied environments our products would be placed in.
Ben Mountfield
Humanitarian Consultant to various NGO's, including the UN, UNICEF, Oxfam, The Red Cross and ourselves!
Ina Bluemel
Emergency Health Expert working for WHO and formerly of The Red Cross who gave guidance and expertise.
Richard Glithro
Who proved invaluable on the 3D-printed prototype front.
James Brown
Expert for Oxfam's Water and Sanitation Team, successful Dragon's Den Competitor for Midomo Water Purifier, who gave invaluable advice throughout.
Our Lecturers, Dr Diogo Montalvão and Dr Nigel Garland
For all the work to promote the competition, and their invaluable advice and support.
