Colloquia

Summary

The excessive deposition of nitrogen is harmful to nature. It lowers the available minerals necessary for the diets of microbiology, vegetation and animals and causes fast-growing plants out-compete others, resulting in fragile monocultures. Organizations can address wicked societal problems, like the nitrogen crisis, by working on innovative, impactful solutions. Critical Design, per Spacey (2023), involves non-obvious concepts challenging the status quo. While known for entertainment, caution, and reflection, it faces criticism for lacking in impact. The cultural and creative sector, a major producer of critical design, may hold ideas for addressing societal issues but there is a gap in knowledge on how to develop those ideas into impact.

To study this process, a research-trough-design case study is performed by designing alongside Fillip Studios and Omlab, experienced practitioners of impact-oriented design. They have been working on MAACQ Oase, 3D-printed sculptures using circular biobased material called ‘Itbettermatter’, that degrades, gradually repairing soil damage from nitrogen acidification.

The case study results in Birdbead, an parametric algorithm for making nestboxes that offer a sanctuary for species threatened by nitrogen acidification. By using parametric modelling, Birdbead is adaptable to different bird species. Birdbead serves as a platform for testing MAACQ Oase sculptures in nature. It was presented at Dutch Design Week '23 in a full-size prototype.

The design, production, and exhibition process of Birdbead demonstrate how SMEs in the cultural and creative sector balance disruptive creativity with impact-oriented development. By comparing the design process of MAACQ Oase to innovation management strategies it is found that impact can be achieved through repeated exposition of impact-oriented design, and that innovation models lack a crucial self-reflective step for designers in the artistic sector.