Designing for Sustainable Development

Three teams of Imperial Horizons students presented work at the 2018 finals of the Engineering for People Design Challenge.

The competition is organized by Engineers Without Borders (EWB) UK and this year over 4,000 students from 28 universities took part. Three of the 36 teams that qualified for the finals had been studying Imperial Horizons second-year module Design for Sustainable Development.

Each year EWB UK asks students to generate designs for a community in the developing world.  This year students were tasked to put forward designs for the Kibera settlement in Nairobi, Kenya.  As Horizons students, the members of our teams are from departments across the College and their multi-disciplinary perspectives stimulated some exciting ideas and creative thinking.

Charlotte Butterworth, Arnaud Legrand and Jeannine Coelho submitted a proposal for a ‘Permeable Paths Solution’ to the problems of flooding and water supply. Through the use of permeable concrete in the construction of new roads, they proposed that water could be drained from the roads into reservoirs and then used by the community. Judges commended the innovative nature of their design, as well as the detail in their report.

Akila Ramamoorthy Sekar, Jingyi Xie, Ngai Lam Chung and Noëlle Smits van Waesberghe presented a portable loo. This was a new, portable, flushless, composting toilet and it also impressed. Their plans for the implementation were particularly highly praised by the judges.

Finally, Fahad Islam, Kevin Tionanda, Jessica Tjandra, Harry Peck and Catherine Lincoln presented a design that used compressed plastic waste to create bricks. Their proposal had two key benefits – it enabled the production of bricks and the recycling of plastic waste.  Judges praised the creativity evident in their design too.

Commenting on the competition and her overall experience studying on her Horizons module, Charlotte Butterworth said:

I really enjoyed the course as something different from my degree and was delighted to make it through to the final round and be able to see all the other entrants’ innovative ideas.

All the students presented excellently on the day and it was a fitting way for students to finish their year.  As their tutor, I am already looking forward to next year!