The Microbial Home Probe project consists of a domestic ecosystem that challenges conventional design solutions to energy, cleaning, food preservation, lighting and human waste. “Designers have an obligation to understand the urgency of the situation, and translate humanity’s needs into solutions. Energy-saving light bulbs will only take us so far. We need to push ourselves to rethink domestic appliances entirely, to rethink how homes consume energy, and how entire communities can pool resources” says Clive van Heerden, Senior Director of Design-led Innovation at Philips Design.
The bio-digester kitchen island is the central hub in the Microbial Home system. It consists of a meth¬ane digester which converts bathroom waste solids and vegetable trimmings into methane gas that is used to power a series of functions in the home.
The larder concept is a system designed to keep ‘living food’ fresh, by using natural processes (as opposed to dead food in the refrigerator). The larder consists of an evaporative cooler and vegetable storage system built into a dining table.
The Biological Age
While the electro-mechanical age may have caused the problem, it could also help us find the solution. Technological development has enabled us to mimic nature’s processes. Now all that is lacking is a collective change in consciousness to take us into a Biological Age, one where materials can repair themselves and where by-products are no longer waste but fuel for other systems. We are going to live through this epoch change whether we choose to or not. Failure to adjust our thinking, and with it our behaviors, will force the earth to exercise its self-correcting mechanisms over us. Necessity, as the old adage goes, is the mother of invention. Only one question remains: what part do we want to play?
The larder concept is a system designed to keep ‘living food’ fresh, by using natural processes (as opposed to dead food in the refrigerator). The larder consists of an evaporative cooler and vegetable storage system built into a dining table.
The Biological Age
While the electro-mechanical age may have caused the problem, it could also help us find the solution. Technological development has enabled us to mimic nature’s processes. Now all that is lacking is a collective change in consciousness to take us into a Biological Age, one where materials can repair themselves and where by-products are no longer waste but fuel for other systems. We are going to live through this epoch change whether we choose to or not. Failure to adjust our thinking, and with it our behaviors, will force the earth to exercise its self-correcting mechanisms over us. Necessity, as the old adage goes, is the mother of invention. Only one question remains: what part do we want to play?
