28 Aug 2019
Postgraduate students reach final of international design competition
Ruoshi Zhuang and Shuangtai Hou, two postgraduate Design students will represent the UK in jumpthegap, an international design competition by Roca, a bathroom design company.
The students are finalists in the We Are Water Foundation Special Prize category where they have been tasked with creating a sustainable bathroom solution.
They have designed the Bath-Theater, an intelligent car-mounted public bathroom for use by homeless people. The vehicle will travel through cities, automatically stopping at pre-set locations. Heat will be generated by batteries which will warm the water – which is replenished using a rainwater collection system.
Shuangtai and Ruoshi also wanted to incorporate a social aspect to their design. Inspired by Greek theatre architecture, when parked, the vehicle sits in a slight arc shape. This creates a semi-enclosed space that can be utilised by charities and social workers to provide relief to homeless people. The bathroom facilities can be used simultaneously as the carriage still provides privacy for users.
Screens will be placed at pre-set locations that will provide the arrival time of the vehicle, the duration it will be there for and what charities will be present.
The pair were chosen from 5,000 participants from 137 countries.
Ruoshi commented: “Our postgraduate courses have really helped us develop our design ability.
“It’s the best feeling to be finalists alongside other student and professional designers.”
The finals will be held in Barcelona in October.
