Hackathon
On Tuesday 15th February, LU Arts & LSU Enterprise combined for Loughborough University’s very first creative Hackathon at LSU. The exciting creation of the event began over Teams, where we brainstormed ways of engaging multi-disciplinary backgrounds. We ended up with an idea to challenge not only Creative Arts and Design students, but students from all different disciplines with our first Creative Hackathon event.
What is a Hackathon?
Hackathons originated from coding, where teams of coders lock themselves in space for multiple days, to challenge themselves and compete with other teams, to see who can come up with the best products starting from scratch.
What did our Creative Hackathon have in common with this?
Teamwork, Competition and Pizza!
We picked the key elements of a good Hackathon, and came up with a twist, focusing on interdisciplinary teamwork and shortening the time students were given to come up with an idea. We kept certain essential elements including having pizza for fuel and the competitive nature. We carefully divided students from different schools into balanced teams. This paid off, as we noticed creative sparks flying around the room during the brainstorming session, which also influenced the way teams presented.
10 teams of students pitched their ideas to the panel of judges and were marked on their Creativity, Business Value and Presentations. Whilst everyone performed exceptionally, especially under such time constraints, we awarded the top three teams on their performance.
Winners
1st Place - FRESH SOCKS
Challenge: Imagine the future of art
Solution: FLAIR
Flair is an app which recognizes backgrounds based on location, colour and texture and replaces it with an associated work of art pulled from an online collection. Users can easily remove backgrounds and select subjects due to readily available technology and share their 'works of art' with others. The art comes with 'gallery style' descriptions which allows users to learn more about art history.
2nd Place - FANTASTIC 3
Challenge: Design a space for collaboration
Solution: Human energy pods in James France
Pedal powered bays with exercise bikes and treadmills to allow for quick charging of drained resources in an open space within James France. Sustainability is considered with reusable materials from arts courses & textiles, filling soft furnishings and beanbags in an open breakout space. White boards and gallery walls are installed all the way round allowing for quick ideas and collaboration, plus cork boards for ideas on display which university staff can see and take on board. Thinking quarter with podium also included.
3rd Place - TERMINAL 2
Challenge: Design a space for collaboration
Solution: Rain Collection hub on campus
Rain collection powers a whole collaborative campus unit within a greenhouse style space. A stunning open roof funnelling in water like the Jewel in Singapore airport is a main architectural feature. 6 rooms surrounding it allows for collaboration and conferences are kept in mind with white boards and projectors. Berry bushes surrounding the building allow for foraging, considering the benefit of well-being and Fruit Routes success. Blenders installed in rooms will encourage fruit consumption.
Overall, the event was a great success, and we look forward to collaborating together and bringing more innovative & cross-disciplinary events to the campus in the future!
What is LSU Enterprise?
LSU Enterprise are a passionate team focused on providing opportunities to develop students of Loughborough University as they launch business ideas and build skills for what they want to create for themselves.
lsu.co.uk/enterprise
linktr.ee/lsuenterprise
Who are LU Arts?
LU Arts is Loughborough University’s student-focused arts programme, covering a wide range of art forms. We provide activities such as pottery, painting and creative writing to music, dance and drama plus regular events, live performances, workshops, artist talks, discussions, exhibitions and more.