Bathing with radar in the Coram Sustainable Design Award 2004

On October 21st the ceremony of the 2004 Coram Sustainable Design Award was held. The jury selected two winners from the 4 nominations. Entry ?dECOn shower? of Steve Mann (Canada) and Anurag Sehgal (Italy) won the first (? 10,000) prize. Entry  ?Sahara? of Peter Brewin from the UK was a well deserved second (with ? 5,000). Swann Bourotte from France and Wojciec Rutkowski from Poland received an honourable mention. Theme of the contest was ?the ECO shower?, or how to save water in the shower and at the same time increasing comfort.

With their design Mann and Sehgal combine imaging technology with showering. Micro radar sensors build an image of the bathing person, and this directs the shower jets. As a result all water falls on the body and there is no waste. When the bathing person moves, the jets follow.

The design made by Brewin is typically geared to UK circumstances, where showers have a separate pumping / heating device. His idea is to redirect water that arrives at the shower head at a temperature lower than desired, back to the heating device. This way, the first cold water is not spilled but heated to be used a moment later. 
 
 

  
Christopher Aimone (representing Steve Mann) and Anurag Sehgal

  
Peter Brewin
 


The other nominees received a honourable mention. They were:

 

Swann Bourotte from France with a new kind of shower,

and Wojciec Rutkowski from Poland with a design that aims at making the bathing person aware of the quantity of water he may use.