Parsons students Muriel Dias, Product Design, and Priscila Besen, Urban Design, proposed the winning design in the Earth Week 2013 Design Competition, which sought new and creative ideas to improve the Parsons Green Supply Center (2 W 13^th Street, 4^th Floor). The team proposed reusing existing materials to store and sort items collected in other Parsons buildings, installing a monitor that would show materials available at other collection points, and applying more attention-grabbing features. Ultimately, the competition hoped to bring more attention to the initiative and the reuse of materials by students and solicit ideas for improving the functionality of the space.  Both Dias and Besen will receive a $100 Utrecht gift card as the 1st place prize and their designs will be considered for integration.

Here is their proposal:

The Green Supply Center is a great source for students The current Green Supply Center to trade things they don’t need and take materials to reuse for free. But the space being used today doesn’t show all this richness. There are not many materials being traded, the place looks messy, and it doesn’t get the students attention. This place should make used objects look as valuable as new ones.

The main goal of the proposal is to improve the use of this facility. From our observations we noticed that not so many people know about the center and only a few really bring their materials or get supplies from there.

So, the concept of this proposal is to make the place look as good as a shop. The corner of the Center reminds a corner of one of Manhattan streets, so why not make a corner display to show the very useful supplies available inside? And it highlights that all of this is for free, so it is better to go there than getting materials from a regular shop.

Also, the proposal for the Green Supply Center is to make it more integrated through all Parsons buildings and more usable for the students needs. The idea is to expand the center by installing recipients to store materials in all Parsons studios and workshops. A TV would be placed at the entrance to show the materials available in these other locations. The design creates specific places for different types of supplies, making it look more organized.

As a center for the reuse of materials, the Green Supply Center should give the example. So, we incorporate existing furniture to our design modifying them just by painting and changing locations.

The glass corner, the synthetic grass floor cover and the clear signage call the attention of people passing by. As a store, people get attracted to this facility and can be more engaged with the reuse of materials.