Gea

Project

269024

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS : concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

Gea

Full concept/idea title

Description

Gea is a new household element that introduces the concept of technology as a bridge, enabling the symbiosis between man and nature, which continuously benefit each other. Using innovative bacterial biodegradation technology, householders dispose plastic waste without polluting the environment, but on the contrary by nourishing it. Through advanced technological development, man and nature benefit each other.

Where is your concept/idea being developed or intended to be implemented in the EU?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

Nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, everything is transformed. This is the motto of the Gea project, a solution that uses a emerging technology to create a symbiotic relationship between man, nature and technology. Gea is a domestic element in which fluorescent plastic-eating bacteria digest waste, which is placed in the openings. As it moves downwards, the plastic is shredded and, when it reaches the bottom, it is digested by bacteria in a liquid solution. During the digestion, bacteria become fluorescent and the solution rises upwards by capillary action to fill the ‘veins’ in Gea's walls. In addition to being a sustainable disposal solution, Gea's digestion produces H2O to nourish and grow plants, and biomass, which will be collected and used ti produce energy for the apartment building, throughout a collecting system. Gea is made of transparent 3D-printed bio-plastic. Transparency is essential to make all the processes that take place inside visible.  The team imagined Gea as a product owned by Amsa, a Milan's environmental services company. In the concept, Amsa propose a service in which Gea can also be controlled and managed through a tablet that allows the user to observe Gea's activity during digestion and its contribution to the building. Infact, at the entrance to each apartment block there are several biomass collection totems. People insert their own biomass-filled drawers and take an empty one to replace it in their Gea. When the totem is saturated with biomass, AMSA goes to the apartment block to collect it and place a new empty totem. The biomass is transformed into energy for the whole building.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of sustainability and how these would be met

The goal of the project is to reduce the pollution produced by the disposal of plastic materials in the environment. The idea behind Gea comes from the discovery of a developing technology based on plastic-eating bacteria, called ‘Flavobacterium’.These bacteria are able to transform plastic into CO2, H2O and biomass, by digesting carbon and plastic. The current level of performance is equivalent to an 11% reduction in the initial polymer weight after 5 months of operation and this process is expected to improve exponentially. So, how does the product work?  Plastic waste is thrown inside Gea, where the transformation process begins. This waste is chopped and its size becomes in the order of the micro, then it goes down to the base, where it meets bacteria in a saline solution. The bacteria start to digest the plastic waste until it becomes H2O, CO2 and biomass.  H2O and CO2 can be used to grow a plant inside Gea, in fact the user can plant plants inside the base of the product, while the biomass is collected inside three drawers located on the base. This biomass can be collected by an energy company and used to produce clean energy for the house and the whole building. The shapes and the aesthetic of Gea are strongly inspired by the ‘language of nature’. The product is produced in transparent sustainable bio-plastic with a 3D printer, so the user can see through Gea to check what is going on inside the product.  Thanks to this process, a symbiotic relationship between man and nature can arise, where these two take care of each other. We hope that this project could be able to reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste, so, in the future, this problem can be solved by re-establishing a balance between man and nature.  Also the other main goal is to re-educate men to the connection with nature, getting to know the symbiotic and beneficial relationship between nature, man and technology.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met

Gea’s aesthetic is based on the concept of symbiosis between man, nature and technology. Transforming these concepts into objects that surround us, both functionally and aesthetically, is fundamental to re-educate man to live together with nature again. Gea is in fact a product that fits into urban and domestic contexts, in which it is hoped the growth of green spaces. The aesthetic research of Gea is a fundamental part of the concept itself, which is guided by the concepts of rural revival and rewilding of the city. The transparent bio-plastic shows what happens inside, highlighting transparency and contact with nature. The fluorescence of the bacteria instead gives visual feedback of the action of the bacteria, which would otherwise be invisible to the human eye. At a functional level, the symbiosis is represented by the fact that the users feed bacteria, and by shredding plastic, these bring benefit to the environment and people. On an aesthetic level, Gea takes on a natural appearance and is a living object inside the house.  

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion and how these would be been met

Gea fits into a domestic environment that we call ‘Casa Formica’ (Ants’ House). In this apartment block, people have a collective life based on sharing spaces, where nature is fundamental in everyday life. The inhabitants of this special block are a small community. Each apartment participates in making the community self-sufficient, thanks to the symbiosis of man and nature, and also in developing a sense of belonging and natural coexistence. These are the three key elements of the new rural houses: man returns to nature thanks to the power of technology. The concept of inclusion, here reflects the sense of community. Each house contributes in making the community self-sufficient, thanks to the symbiosis between technology and nature.Everyone contributes to the sustainable development of the entire small community living in their block of flats, understanding the importance of bringing nature back into our daily lives, for our well-being. It is a gesture that has meaning only if it is done from the perspective of belonging to a ‘whole’. The awareness of unity can be the starting point for reinventing our way of being in this world and relating to it. We are all leaves of the same tree, we are all cells of the same organism, Mother Earth.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept/ idea

Gea wants to create a synergy between design and biotechnological research. By merging science, arts and engineering, it is possible to create a sustainable product, which can solve a concrete environmental problem. Plastic-eating bacteria technology is likely to be the solution to polymeric waste pollution and its dismissal. What if this technology is accessible to everyone? This project takes advantage of this innovative biotechnology in order to take care of an urgent climatic issue and also it directly involves the user into this process of recycling and ‘rebirth’ of substances.  The owner of ‘Gea’ is able to take action for the safeguard of the planet everyday, by simply making a small gesture.  This project means mutual collaboration and symbiosis between people and nature, in order to have a better future and a better life. Thanks to this product, people are encouraged to collaborate with each other: the individual must play his part in order to obtain a ‘universal’ common benefit. 

Please detail the plans you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea, with a particular attention to the initiatives to be taken before May 2022

The ‘Gea’ project is based on a technology on which many laboratories are currently researching. We believe it is of fundamental importance to support bio-technological innovation through design, giving a voice, as well as a dress, to what happens in research laboratories. The goal of the Gea team is to create a synergy with a laboratory that is bringing advances on bacterial digestion and propose a synergy for the go-to-market. This will require long research and prototyping efforts until 2022 to have an optimal product. Considering a year for prototyping, then there will be the marketing phase. The goal of Gea is to become a public good: it was originally conceived as a domestic product, but it could become also a urban furniture for increasingly rural, technological, and human-centred cities.

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Rising Stars Awards more than once in the same category.