:: Specific Design Brief

LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY
: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

LU 3: CARDBOARD STRUCTURES

PRODUCT DESIGN UK

GENERIC DESIGN CONTEXT
It has been recommended for many years that reducing, reusing and recycling provide many opportunities for environmental improvements in our own and other countries and in product manufacture. Design and make a product that uses at least one of these three criteria.

SPECIFIC DESIGN BRIEF
Cardboard has many fine structural properties and is finding uses as a building material. It is often made with recycled fibres. Use the structural properties of cardboard to design load-bearing furniture such as a bookcase or a chair.

CLIENT DETAILS
Flat-packed furniture and related products are now the foundation of a major industry, led by companies like IKEA and MFI. A large number of the products are based on the use of MDF (medium density fibreboard) and, although there are sustainable versions of this material, they are not always used. MDF is also a comparatively heavy material. Used effectively, cardboard could provide a lighter product for these markets, saving energy in transportation, being easier to get home and reducing the environmental impact associated with raw materials.

Your first point of contact will be Loughborough University. Initially contact Eddie Norman (email [email protected] or by phone: 01509-222659).

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES
• Reducing the quantity of materials entering landfill sites can significantly reduce the environmental impact of people in the UK.
• The manufacture of an appropriately designed unit would provide worthwhile employment.
• Local manufacture of the product would provide employment in the UK and reduce transportation costs – both economic and environmental – associated with the product.
• Using recycled materials, reduces the extraction of raw materials and hence supports biodiversity.

FURTHER INFORMATION
BACKGROUND

If you decide to work on this design brief, don't forget to consider the issues of sustainability in the different phases of your designing and making.
Click here to access Sustain-a-balls