A 'Design for Extreme Environments Project' (DEEP) venture
This project was featured on Discovery Channel Canada's Daily Planet series. You can watch the clip here!
http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/clip552289#clip552289
The University of Cincinnati produced this short video (3:35) about the project in its early stage. You can watch that video here: http://youtu.be/XGsPVYmlFbU
About DEEP:Current data collection for climate change is predominately gathered in extreme environments, such as Aquarius Reef Habitat, Antarctic Research Station, and glacial environments including the Matanuska Glacier Research Camp. The conditions of these environments strain research efforts as outdated human support practices are employed in supporting advanced scientific discovery. The researchers’ environmental exposure limits the amount and quality of data gathered.
The project: united design, geology, and engineering experts in supporting human performance under inhospitable conditions in the service of science. The Design team was charged with the task of creating innovative solutions to improve the habitat experience during data collection excursions. The habitat experience as we simply defined it was the structure and the sleeping bag.
For the structure, our aim wasn't to reduce weight or design an innovative form, but rather to generate a level, sleep/work platform for the Geology team. As we immersed ourselves in the project at the University of Cincinnati, we found we had more questions than our content experts were prepared to answer. We assembled a toolkit to iterate on site and test our ideas on location. We set out to trial pneumatic, rigid, and suspended structures and used the lower altitudes in the beginning of the trip to define which systems we would trial at the highest elevation.
For the sleeping bags, our focus was on two scenarios. The first scenario: it's monsoon season and the user is confined to their tent to record data and write in their field book. The first bag was designed with zippered sleeves for the user to extend their arms through and remain in their bag while writing, working, or drinking some water. The second scenario: the user is out collecting samples and it has gotten late, the hot sun has melted snow up on the mountain top which is causing the streams to flood and the trail back to camp will be blocked until morning. The second bag was designed to be very lightweight and compact to store in a day pack for situations just like these.
Project Team:
Geology: Dr. Lewis Owen (Chair of Dept. of Geology, Professor), Dr. Craig Dietsch (Professor), Kate Hedrick (PhD Candidate) Engineering: Dr. Jainagesh Sekhar, Patrick Myers (Master's Candidate), Santeri Potticary (Undergraduate student)
Design: Brian Davies (Founder of DEEP, Professor), Me (Master's candidate), Alex Corbin (Undergraduate student)
http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/clip552289#clip552289
The University of Cincinnati produced this short video (3:35) about the project in its early stage. You can watch that video here: http://youtu.be/XGsPVYmlFbU
About DEEP:Current data collection for climate change is predominately gathered in extreme environments, such as Aquarius Reef Habitat, Antarctic Research Station, and glacial environments including the Matanuska Glacier Research Camp. The conditions of these environments strain research efforts as outdated human support practices are employed in supporting advanced scientific discovery. The researchers’ environmental exposure limits the amount and quality of data gathered.
The project: united design, geology, and engineering experts in supporting human performance under inhospitable conditions in the service of science. The Design team was charged with the task of creating innovative solutions to improve the habitat experience during data collection excursions. The habitat experience as we simply defined it was the structure and the sleeping bag.
For the structure, our aim wasn't to reduce weight or design an innovative form, but rather to generate a level, sleep/work platform for the Geology team. As we immersed ourselves in the project at the University of Cincinnati, we found we had more questions than our content experts were prepared to answer. We assembled a toolkit to iterate on site and test our ideas on location. We set out to trial pneumatic, rigid, and suspended structures and used the lower altitudes in the beginning of the trip to define which systems we would trial at the highest elevation.
For the sleeping bags, our focus was on two scenarios. The first scenario: it's monsoon season and the user is confined to their tent to record data and write in their field book. The first bag was designed with zippered sleeves for the user to extend their arms through and remain in their bag while writing, working, or drinking some water. The second scenario: the user is out collecting samples and it has gotten late, the hot sun has melted snow up on the mountain top which is causing the streams to flood and the trail back to camp will be blocked until morning. The second bag was designed to be very lightweight and compact to store in a day pack for situations just like these.
Project Team:
Geology: Dr. Lewis Owen (Chair of Dept. of Geology, Professor), Dr. Craig Dietsch (Professor), Kate Hedrick (PhD Candidate) Engineering: Dr. Jainagesh Sekhar, Patrick Myers (Master's Candidate), Santeri Potticary (Undergraduate student)
Design: Brian Davies (Founder of DEEP, Professor), Me (Master's candidate), Alex Corbin (Undergraduate student)