HANDS ON FOR CHANGE
Design Concept
IT'S HAPPENING! Climate change is happening today all around us. A proactive "hands on" approach is needed for everyone to learn, adapt, engage and exchange. The design creates a set of "hands" that contain the users along with a number of services, exhibits and exchange spaces designed around the general theme of climate change. Part of the design adapts and contains the existing bus shelter to provide the users with energy for charging or heating. The other part moves beyond providing services to offering the users with the knowledge to adapt through learning and exchange. The design uses refurbished local and common materials to portray its adaptability. The sitting areas are located within naturally shaded areas in summer. The solar panels' location was selected to maximize their solar exposure to generate enough energy to power new and existing shelter while providing energy for charging portable devices. In addition, the solar energy produced in winter would be used to heat the sitting shelter's metal benches for comfort. The structure is designed to respect the existing trees on the site and to optimize the different functions through dynamic movement in space.
The exhibits are designed to educate the users about climate change within four main sub-themes: Food, Material, Energy and Waste. The sub-themes, selected based on the sustainability research and initiatives happening today at Concordia, are intended to create an exchange platform between Concordia's researchers and the community; a platform where knowledge and research on sustainability and climate change can be shared. The gallery, community space, market and sitting spaces are more personal media for this exchange. In these spaces, planned events and workshops can also take place. These spaces allow more students to participate by presenting their artwork in gallery or by selling or buying items (such as the greenhouse fresh produce, upcycled items or even used books). The users are presented with the opportunity to learn and engage with others within open spaces as well as to experience a miniature museological journey within the exhibits. In addition, Concordia University would open up to the city and present its ideals of true community-based learning beyond lecture rooms.
Community Consultation
A preliminary research was conducted on climate change initiatives in Concordia and in the Côte-des-Neiges -- Notre- Dame-de-Grâce borough. The community was consulted through unstructured interviews with a number of Concordia students, staff, faculty members, as well as local citizens. One clear outcome from the interviews was the need to apply Concordia's climate change research and initiatives to meet the borough's and city's sustainability goals. In addition, an interest in creating better engagement between researchers and locals was expressed. In Concordia, it was found that climate change is tackled in research across different disciplines. Sustainability is a topic of research in centers including the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, the Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies, the CN Centre for Studies in Sustainable Supply Chain Management, and the David O'brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise. This research is accompanied by numerous student-led sustainability initiatives. Organizations like Sustainable Concordia, the Concordia Food Coalition, and the Concordia Greenhouse coordinate projects in the fields of urban agriculture, composting, sustainable transportation, renewable energy and collaborative business models. The following subthemes emerged from the preliminary research and community consultation: food, waste, material, energy. Concordia students and faculty members from different disciplinary backgrounds expressed the interest in exposing their research on sustainability. Similarly, local citizens are interested in getting involved in Concordia's activities, research and events. In regards to comfort, most of the participants interviewed requested some heating to be added bus shelter. Students also expressed the need for more entertainment around the bus shelter in summer.
(Competitor's text)
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