Kyle
Graves
Trash Can
The trashcan project was an acquisition by the off campus community of Syracuse, NY to design and implement a new trashcan design along the main road that connects the off campus housing to Syracuse University. The goal was to clean up the streets and create a sense of pride in our community.
Our group consisting of Lauren Haggerty, Naomi Flores and Myself researched about the aspects of trashcans that were in use around the city of Syracuse. The trashcan would have to withstand the harshness of the elements of the Syracuse weather as well as the abuse that comes with being on the streets. We did user testing to find out how people interact with existing trashcans from observation and interviews with university students, faculty, trash collectors, the homeless community and full time residents of the neighborhood.
Our goal was to make a trashcan that not only serves its purpose as a receptacle for garbage, but that would instill a sense of pride in the neighborhood and the community as a whole. We incorporated a geodesic architecture to build a strong external skeleton that could stand up to the physical demands of the area. We wanted the cans to be able to be decorated in a way that makes the community feel like they are making a difference by cleaning up their portion of the neighborhood. Our models displayed a HDPE shell that could be colored to accentuate the areas that it could be installed in.
Our design was chosen to be produced and installed on campus for a 2 year trial to see how the trashcans would be responded to and how the cans would cope with the elements. The fabrication of a full scale steel trashcan in conjunction with the help of my Digital Fabrication class and our Plasma CNC table allowed for the fill scale steel frame to be constructed. Our design was fabricated over the summer and installed the following fall semester.