Plastic Fantastic!?

Schedule

zoom meetings: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/94894413033

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Day 1 – SUNDAY MAY 23 (online)

Topic: Introduction | Plastic Fantastic!?

Introduction: the course, the instructors, the TA, the syllabus. (slides)

Discussion Topics:

  • What is trash? Where does it go? How does it affect our environment
  • Going Green (How to reduce your garbage)

Screening: Bag It

Homework:

  • Read the syllabus, get familiarized with the website. Check out the guidelines here.
  • Contribute to the discussion about the film using this document.
  • Take a photo of every object you have in your dorm that is made of plastic or have plastic material. Upload the photos to this folder.

Day 2 – MONDAY MAY 24 (online)

Topic: A Plastic Era

What’s Sustainability? Recycling or Reusing? (slides)

Plastic types, what we can recycle?
Precious Plastic Project

Talk: Antonios Vouloudis, Sustainability NYUAD

Discussion Topics:

  • What’s sustainability?
  • Prepare to discuss on the film you watched.

Homework:

  1. Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastic (Made to be wasted: PET and topologies of disposability: p. 49-67)
  2. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story (Battle of the Bag: p. 140-170)
  3. In the journal write a short reflection about the discussion in class and the talk from our guest speaker. You can consider the next points:
    • What did you learn?
    • What is your position or point of view?
    • How do you feel about it?
    • Now what? What are you going to do about it and how?

Day 3 – TUESDAY MAY 25 (online)

Topic: Before Plastics…

Plastic history (slides)

Talk: Adele Foucart Founder of PP Shanghai

Discussion Topics:

  • Plastic’s predecessors
  • A life without plastic?

Homework:

  1. Sustainable Materials (Introduction: p. 8–17, Plastics: p. 20–23, Molding Recycled Plastic: p. 120–125, Plastics Recycling: p. 208–211)
  2.  Plastic: A Toxic Love Story (Cast of Characters (p. 236–239))
  3. In the journal write a short reflection about the discussion in class and the talk from our guest speaker. You can consider the next points:
    • What did you learn?
    • What is your position or point of view?
    • How do you feel about it?
    • Now what? What are you going to do about it and how?

Day 4 – WEDNESDAY MAY 26 (Lab)

Topic: Oil and Plastic Production

Bioplastics (slides)

Workshop: Bioplastic 

Discussion Topics:

  • Improving on Nature
  • Sustainable materials

Homework:

  1. Sustainable Materials(Bio-based Plastics: p. 24–29)
  2. Write a lab report with your group for each recipe you followed and post it in the journal with the names of the team members.
  3. In the journal, write a short answer to one of the readings you have read so far. Talk about the most impressive thing that you have learned from them.

Day 5 – THURSDAY MAY 27 (offline)

Topic: Plastic Pollution in Abu Dhabi

Activity: Plastic Collection

  • Protect yourself from the sun! and make sure you hydrate and stay cool.
  • Collect the plastic you will use for your sculpture, but also clean up the beach if you can. 
  • Leave hazardous items alone. Do not touch items like needles, syringes and medical waste. Items like oil drums, batteries and canisters are not safe to touch or pick up. 

Discussion Topics:

  • Man-made disasters
  • Alternatives to Plastic?

Homework:

  1. Write in the journal about your experience. What were you expecting to find? What trash you found and what did you find the most. Post photos of the trash objects that particularly called your attention and write why.
  2. The Upcycle (Forword, Introduction: p. 3–22, Closing Some Loops: p. 43-44)
  3. Are Our Clothes A Plastic Catastrophe? (article)
  4. Watch: The Ugly Truth of Fast Fashion (30 min)

Day 6 – SUNDAY MAY 30 (online)

Topic: Plastic Fashion

Talk: Heather Kaye – Loop Swimwear: https://loopswim.com

Case Study Presentation
Ali: A short history of the petroleum industry
Ari: Fast fashion brands: H&M and Zara

Discussion Topics:

  • Sustainable Fashion
  • Future technologies

Homework:

  1. Fashion and the circular Economy
  2. Write in your journal:
    Did you know many of our clothes are made of plastic?
    What do you think of the “efforts” that brands like H&M and Zara are making to solve the problems of fast fashion?
    After all that you have learned about plastic in fashion, what actions do you think we can take, as individuals, to contribute to the creation of a new business model based on the principles of a circular economy?

Day 7: MONDAY MAY 31 (online)

Topic: Environmental Pollution: Waste Management

(slides)

Case Study Presentation
Hilina Bayew Fashion design by Anouk Wiprecht
Kevin Plastic predecessors: Tortoiseshell, Ivory, Amber

Discussion Topics:

  • Waste management tools and technologies
  • Made to be wasted

Documentary: The True Cost (50min)

Homework:

  1. Work on your sculpture.

Day 8: TUESDAY JUNE 1 (online)

Topic: Design for Social Impact

Design Principles. Modes of Engagement. Inspiration.

Talk: Xenia Sidorenko (USEDEM)

Discussion Topics:

  • Recycling of clothes
  • Social Responsibility

Case Study Presentation
Pangna Sun: Tomorrow. Grassroots Solutions to Human Extinction

Presentations: Art Sculptures

Homework:

  1. Sculpture:
    Individually, post in your journal images of your sculpture, make sure these are posted in a large size. Post the name of your work and an art statement, this is like if your sculpture was exhibited in a gallery or museum, so it should be a short paragraph. Describe the project and concept idea, and begin your conclusions by restating the goals of your project. Some questions that might be helpful for you to answer are:
  • How does your work raise awareness about the plastic trash?
  • What difficulties did you encounter creating this project?       
  • What do you take away from your failures and accomplishments?
  • What would you like to change about your final results?

Day 9 – WEDNESDAY JUNE 2 (online)

Topic: Plastic Beauty

(slides)

We will connect here at 9AM:
https://dctabudhabi-ae.zoom.us/j/94140058579

Case Study Presentation
Ward: Death by Design
Hassan Before plastics: Drinks from bottles and straws
Kevin Plastic predecessors: Tortoiseshell, Ivory, Amber

Watch: The Illusionists – The Globalization of Beauty

Discussion Topics:

  • What is beauty?
  • Ethics: Anti-Aging, Career Advancement?

Homework:

  1. Food And The Circular Economy
  2. The Upcycle(McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry: How We Help Organizations Optimize: p. 76–79, Upcycling Products of Service: p. 163–165, About the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute: p. 198–199, What’s Next: p.211–217)

Day 10 – THURSDAY JUNE 3 (lab)

Topic: Re-cycling / Up-cycling

(slides)

Case Study Presentation
Fanisi: Less but better (Dieter Rams Ten Rules on Good Design)
Maxim Blinov the sea chair project

Talk: Diti Kotecha, thela.eco

Workshop: plastic bags recycling (tutorial)

Discussion Topics:

  • NYUAD’s waste management

Homework:

  1. Hannover Principles
  2. Update your lab report for the recipes you followed with photos of the materials you created. Update the time of curation and write a final conclusion considering the results.
  3. Document in your journal your lab activity: make sure you post images of your final coin purse and write a short paragraph with a reflection about the activity. Include here the difficulties you encountered and your learning experience making the material. (you can write a group post, make sure you include the names of the team members)

Day 11 – SUNDAY JUNE 6 (lab)

Topic: Global perspective: Politics & Policies

The global foot print of plastic

Talk: Safi Roshdy –  ahlanwasahlan.org

Case Study Presentation
Mohammed Arham: The design of the Coca Cola bottle
Hassan: Before plastics: Drinks from bottles and straws

Talk: Esteban Nicolas Salvemini – Rapid Prototyping Tools

Workshop: Prototyping Tools (Laser Cutting, CNC, 3D Printing)

Discussion Topics:

  • Ethics
  • Cradle to Cradle/Upcycle

Homework:

  1. Sustainable Materials(Injection Molding Bioplastic: p. 104–109, Plastic Extrusion: p. 114–119)
  2. Form your final project group and submit as a group an idea for your final project, include photos or sketches as reference.
    Finally, define plan of action with the tasks you need to do in the next days to accomplish your goal.

Day 12 – MONDAY JUNE 7 (lab)

Topic: The Design of Everyday Things

Talk: Eman Al Madani – Senior Executive at Dubai Chamber of Commerce

Case Study Presentation
Hannah Greene: Plastic and the toy industry
Ward: Death by Design

Design Thinking / Service Design

Workshop: plastic recycling  (extrusion / injection / molding)

Discussion Topics:

  • Innovation and Problem Solving
  • Human Centered Design

Homework:

  1. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story(chapter 1,2, Epilog – A Bridge (p.233–235)),
  2.  The principles of Cradle to Cradle, see also (this figure)
  3. Plastic: A toxic Love Story Interview

Day 13 – TUESDAY JUNE 8 (lab)

Topic: Plastic Furniture

Talk: Serco – Chinthanka Arachila

Case Study Presentation
Roba Olana The Panton & The Monobloc Chair
Hamad Bin Fahad: Oil production in the 19th century

The Repair Manifesto

Project work

Discussion Topics:

  • What is good design?
  • Improving life

Homework:

finish and upload the Artistic Statement.

Day 14 – WEDNESDAY JUNE 9 (lab)

Case Study Presentation

Project work

Talk: Eng. Rabaa Alawar from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment

Homework:

finish your final project, print the poster, and prepare your presentation.

Day 15 – THURSDAY JUNE 10 (lab)

Final presentations

Homework:

Project documentation post.