Visualisation Lab at the Giebichenstein Castle

05 / 2016

Climate change is a highly complex, widely discussed topic. To approach the issue, students took the use of cups for “Coffee to go” as an example; known to all, frequently used and most of the time without hesitation. The cup can be seen as representative of a society in which everything has to be fast, always accessible and – in this case – enjoyable.

The consumption of disposable cups contributes to climate change as they cannot be made from recycled materials while also being very difficult to recycle; this vast amount of waste could be avoided.

Interesting projects emerged from the discussions generated around the tables and numbers; projects that reflect the joy of experimentation with materials and the intensive study of the different visualization techniques.

Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle
Prototyping in complex design. Industrial design degree program
Summer Semester 2016

At the project “Zum Wetter …” ( “About the climate …”)
Design Strategies about the weather
From the natural phenomenon to the artefact.

Coffee Exports
How much does each sector in the production of coffee earn?

Comparing the export prices of raw and roasted coffee, we see a clear gap between producer countries (blue) and coffee roaster countries (yellow)
The group of participants discovered that the division between the southern hemisphere (Production/blue) and the northern hemisphere (Roasting/yellow) is colonial in origin.

A live performance shows clearly, where the profit per ton of exported coffee is “trapped”.

1 hour of Coffee to go
According to a study of DUH in Germany, 320,000 disposable cups are consumed per hour. What are the consequences?
The interactive visualization shows the “disappearance” of 5 trees, 160,000L of water and 1.25 tons of raw material for plastic manufacturing per hour. As a consequence at the opposite side of the installation 4.6 tons of waste are falling down.

Coffee, displaced by climate
The coffee plant only grows under specific conditions which are changing rapidly due to climate change. Where could the coffee plant find a new home? According to speculation about how the world will look like in 30 years, we should change our consumption habits.

Desertification in Africa
A matrix of the African continent was developed to describe the weather conditions and resulting conflicts. In this case the matrix was used to show the connection between agribusiness exploitation (height) and mad-made desertification (colour).

Workshop participants: Tom Bade, Lara Bousch, Heinrich Ehnert, Shu Ting Fang, Ida Flik, Amelie Ikas Wanhyun Ko, Alan Moreno, Clemens Schebiella, Verónica Schneider, Konrad Schoch, Marcus Schwalm, Moritz Wussow

Project supervision:
Prof. Guido Englich
Dipl. Des. Fynn Freyschmidt

Burg Giebichenstein Universidad de Arte y Diseño de Halle, 3.–6.05.2016