Inter-School Trash Picking Competition
111Everywhere, Hong Kong
The initiative was undertaken to raise awareness of the vital work of street cleaners in maintaining urban cleanliness. High school students across Hong Kong were engaged in a series of design workshops, fostering an understanding of the challenges faced by these essential workers. Students explored innovative solutions to alleviate the physical and environmental burdens of street cleaning, culminating in the "Inter-School Trash Picking Competition" where they showcased their prototype designs.
Context:
The project emerged amidst a public outcry against proposed policies that would have significantly increased the difficulty in waste collection and hence workload of frontline street cleaners. Recognising the potential strain on these essential workers, the project shifted its focus to alleviating their physical and emotional burdens. This initiative evolved into a broader advocacy effort, supporting the rights of working-class individuals by advocating for improved working conditions and access to appropriate equipment.
Concept:
A series of four design workshops guided students in creating innovative and functional street cleaning tools. Utilizing discarded materials, objects, and equipment found within their own schools, students transformed these items into unique cleaning prototypes. Each school developed its own distinct approach, informed by student observations and the creative repurposing of salvaged materials. The culminating "Inter-School Trash Picking Competition" provided a dynamic platform for students to demonstrate the functionality and ingenuity of their designs.
Process:
Culminating in a series of playful demonstrations, each school showcased their innovative street cleaning tool designs. This "carnival" of activities not only served to test the functionality, agility, and usability of the prototypes but also fostered a deeper understanding of and empathy for the challenges faced by street cleaners.
Production:
At the end of each workshop series, each school will accumulate a few new street cleaning tool designs and of course empathy and knowledge towards street cleaners. These prototypes will be tested through a carnival of demonstrative games, to prove the functionality, agility and usability of the tools designed.
Stimulation:
Hundreds of potential upcycle design outcomes made from objects and materials salvaged from the schools are generated through the help of visual artificial intelligence Midjourney, enabling students to imagine and foresee potential future of their ideas into actual products for the street cleaners in the city.
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Client:
Nan Fung Group
Occasion:
In Time Of
Typology:
Product Design, Community Workshop
Status:
On Going
Location:
Kowloon True Light School
S.K.H. All Saints' Middle School
Society of Boys' Centres Hui Chung Sing Memorial School
S.K.H. St. Mary's Church Mok Hing Yiu College
Lingnan Dr. Chung Wing Kwong Memorial Secondary School
Kit Sam Lam Bing Yim Secondary School
Lok Sin Tong Yu Kan Hing Secondary School
Duration:
2024-2025
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Project Team:
Anthony Ko, Hayger Chan, Ivan Kwong, Philip Li, Ryan Sze
Fabrication:
Studio Anthony Ko
Construction:
Studio Anthony Ko
Photo Courtesy:
Anthony Ko
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