Finalist – Kevin Ding
Kevin Ding from the University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning was a finalist at the 2018 NZIA Resene Student Design Awards for his project, 'How do you fly 200,000 pounds of trash off Everest?'.
Project description
After Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mt Everest he was instrumental in building a small airport at the heart of the Himalayas. His ‘giving back’ was, however, a double-edged sword. With increasing numbers of mountaineers come increasing amounts of trash. In this project rubbish is transformed into resource. Through research and prototyping, plastic waste is transformed into plastic brick – a building module for a new airport, within which, as a neat loop, the shredding machine becomes a visible feature.
Citation
In this sophisticated and witty project, a facility that abets a problem – an airport bringing tourists and their trash to a remote Nepalese village – is recast as a means of providing a solution. The on-site recycling of plastic waste into building bricks of traditional shape is at once an expression of localism and an in-your-face critique of the effects of globalism.
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