Speculative Design Approach to a future rain hood
Rain is limiting our outer space; we want to reclaim the outside by making it comfortable and enjoyable again. We worked with material explorations, user input, and existing technologies and products as inspiration for our final product. E-lement: the futuristic social foldable smart rain hood was developed for connecting and motivating closely related people to go out in the rain. We contribute to the well-being and the human- to-human and human-to-nature relationship, next to a comfortable enriched experience in the rain. This study contributes to insights into the use of material exploration and studio methodology.
We had the honour that E-lement has been selected to be showcased at the De Kantefabriek museum in Limburg
In this speculative design project, we adopted the studio approach, going through four phases of iterations. Throughout the process, we developed numerous lo-fi prototypes using accessible materials and machines, including knitting, tensegrity structure, embroidery, sewing, 3D printing, vacuum forming, and origami. My primary responsibilities focused on material exploration, production technique exploration, drawings, and prototyping. Additionally, I actively participated in user studies, qualitative data analysis, and business-related aspects of the project.
