- High and low tides greatly limit the time oyster farmers can work at sea. Imagine oyster farmers going out before dawn and returning before noon.
- On rickety boats, oyster farmer have to step onto farmed fish rows and haul up dozens of kilos of oysters. This is a very dangerous thing to do.
Could this be changed in a more cost-effective way? Is it possible to greatly reduce the limitation of time and bring more convenience to oyster breeding by making a connected system that can be walked?
Through this design, oyster farmers can have free access to every farming area, and reduce the restrictions imposed by the tides on farmers going out to sea. The unit farming system also makes the farming area more organized. The connecting area between the units also provides a resting space for fishermen. The whole connection system connects all the processes of oyster cultivation together, making oyster cultivation more convenient.
Question Driven Design
Research & Development
- What is it? What does it do?
A:It’s a system that combine with oyster raising system and entertainment system.
- What are the questions this work is asking? What new knowledge are you creating?
A:
- How are you going to test your assumptions?
A:Make models in bigger scale with the correct material for testing.Try to make 1 to 1 nodes of the structure to test if it is stable enough
- How to maintain your device?
A:Try to use the metallic materials as little as possible
- What do you think are the strongest and the weakest points in your project now?
A:Strongest point:It is very stabilization.
Weakest point:The strength of the connected node.
- What construction technique are you using?
User, community
- Who uses it? Can you draw a particular user? Can you describe to me that user, how they look, your assumption on their backgrounds, abilities, preferences, and what drives them?
A:Every one can use it.
Use
- What are the benefits users can get from the device?
- What problems does your design cause?
- How do you operate and maintain this installation?
- How do people get on board?
- How much weight can you carry?
- How to maximum efficiency and convenience for the user
- Are there simpler ways to achieve the objective?
- Are there other possible use for clean seawater filtered by oysters?
- How long will it be in the water?
Health & Safety
- Is it stable? Safe? ship survivability？
- Is the device safe and environmental friendly to the ocean
Materials, process, scale
- What is the scale and materials? Where and how is it built? Where do the materials come from? Where do the materials go after it’s used/broken?
- What materials would you use? Where do you source it? Once used, where does it go?
- is it recyclable？
- How long does the project take to be complete: build, bring on site and board?
- How to mass produce the device?
Energy, Waste
- Where does the installation get its energy from?
- Is it sustainable and how?
Ecology
- Is your installation amicable to all marine lives?
- How does it work? Especially the biology of it?
- Which other species will naturally be attracted to the oyster reef there, such as crabs, fish, mussels, algae and other species?
Geography
- Where do you think this installation would be? Choose a very specific site in Hong Kong waters. Why there? Tell me the characteristics of the place: water depth, tide, current, wave, closest port, fauna and flora, people and industries nearby.
- Will it be influenced by the weather condition?
- Does your device perform differently when in different geographic environments(for instance, near shore, in shallow water, and in distant seawater)?
Money
- Is it cost-effective?
- Is it possible to be mass-produced?
- What is the product / outcome of this installation? Who benefits from it? What is the business model of this?