Treenurt pilot project at QUT Kelvin Grove
The TREENURT is a water and nutrient storage module which significantly reduces the failure rate of young trees and vulnerable plants, whilst radically minimising maintenance costs, such as watering frequency and volume as well as the resources needed for these activities.
The base material for the Treenurt is a sustainable, completely biodegradable and combustible material with a 100% regenerative resource proportion. The polymer matrix consists of lignin, the second most common, naturally occurring biopolymer after cellulose. Lignin can be decomposed by rotting in exactly the same way as grown wood and can even be disposed of by burning, without producing any additional CO2!
TOP-Energy Software was used in a collaborative approach by DSGNK, HW Technologies, GFaiTech and LGIS to run calculations on the proposed Geothermal energy plant for the iconic Western Queensland town of Winton. It is the first time in Australia that this form of energy production will be used to that scale by powering all of Winton´s key council buildings including the potential to power the entire town in the long run.
Our simulation and optimization of the proposed plant calculated a payback period of less than seven years and about $15 million savings in energy consumption. The new plant will provide enormous benefits to the local community with the savings becoming available to be used on much needed community projects.
“LGIS have successfully used TOP-Energy® Software application eta to model the whole of Winton Shire Councils electrically powered assets. We analysed interval data to determine peak load and base load requirements of an embedded geothermal power plant. LGIS then further optimised which assets would be economically viable to connect to a private network. Use of TOP-Energy® software has given LGIS and by extension, its local government clients, a high degree of confidence to proceed with procurement.“
Maitland Maltby – Manager-Energy at LGIS
After talking about doing some form of artistic collaboration between the two of us for years, JAHDARA + DSGNK finally managed to work across oceans and finalized 4 different designs in early 2016. After the designs were done, we sourced a fair trade T-shirt manufacturer who works with street kids in South East Asia. They supplied 100% organic cotton shirts as well as the high quality screen print finish. Each design is a limited edition of 25 T´s and can only be purchased directly through DSGNK.
During a meeting with Thomson Adsett Architects they more or less accidentally reveled them looking for a feature wall “WORLD MAP” to be able to pin their projects up. Not only were they after a 100% sustainable product, our conversation progressed somewhere along the lines of: What if your map could do more than that? What if you could use your own background design and get a magnetic pin wall and whiteboard at the same time? Some weeks later we had it sorted out and found ourselves in Melbourne and Brisbane doing the installation. The possibilities are endless when you are creative and the result in this case is not only functional, but also a real eye catcher.
Put your best clothes, kicks and bling on display either at home or commercially. This portable clothes rack and storage unit was inspired by the need to store clothes and shoes without the bulkiness of wardrobes.
The SKATE RACK can be simply converted from a full clothes rack to a low-line storage unit by dismantling the three dowels with ease. Instead of plain castors the designer has opted for long-board trucks and wheels in bright colours to match the sliding covers for this version.
The SKATE RACK – Combining style, versatility and practical aesthetics in one.
Another idea under the “ Turning trash into treasure” banner evolved from playing around with drinking straws. Which was originally supposed to be a feature wall idea turned into a series of ceiling and floor lamps . The design is very labor intensive, but the structure and material creates wonderful light effects.
Trying to find smart ideas of reusing trash and reducing waste we established a “Turning trash into treasure” initiative within the company. For the first project we turned our very own old music cassette tapes into illuminated cubes of different sizes. The tapes itself sit on a plywood frame which is fitted with low energy, very efficient and long-lasting LED strips.
As part of a “turning trash into treasure” initiative, DSGNK created a series of circular floor rugs of different dimensions, handmade from left over wool.