Tong Lo

A sports bra is one of the most important pieces of exercise equipment for women.

In the UK, 1 in 5 women reported the sports bra as one of the top influential factors of discouragement for sports participation. The complex and diverse geometries of the breasts pose a challenge to create effective sports bras using standardised mass production methods. As a result, an ill-fitted sports bra can lead to insufficient breast support and cause discomfort, which in turn, affects the long-term health of women.

A connection is drawn between a spider’s prey catching behaviour and the sports bra’s function, which is to dissipate forces generated by the rapid movement of the breasts while exercising.

This opens the opportunity to investigate the creation of a sports bra that offers precise support management, taking inspiration from spider’s web weaving behaviours following the steps of:

1. Examining environmental factors and prey size (understanding breast displacement and the body),
2. Creating optimal structure (generation of effective sports bra design)
3. Adaptability of the model (parametric design that is adaptive and inclusive of extreme users and use cases).

A standard simplified model of a spider orb web contains static, adaptable geometric characteristics. Spiders have the ability to adjust properties of the web based on prey sizes. The adaptability of the orb web means that these construction units can be adjusted to suit a variety of energy absorption applications.

1. Providing that radial threads have greater ability to absorb energy, the placement of radial silk is considered with the intention to reinforce anatomical support. Following the natural arrangement of ligaments and pectoral muscles, the positioning of radial threads is intended to enhance support in the upward and inward direction.
2. The main function of the secondary frame in a spider orb web is to dissipate tension. In a sports bra, the greatest tension is experienced in the position of the strap and the side band due to fabric stretch. As such, the strap features secondary frames intended to distribute excess tension.
3. Spiral threads increase the surface area to enhance prey capture from different directions. As breast displacement occurs in a multi-planer manner, spiral threads are placed in a way that encapsulates the natural contour of the breasts, with the intention to minimise displacement in all directions. In addition, spiral silk and radial silks are interconnected, which allows spiral silk to reinforce the support provided by radial silk.

Despite coving only 3% of the landmass around the globe, known peatlands store at least double the carbon as standing forests in their near natural state.

Peatland, also widely known as bogs, fens and swamp forests, are the largest natural terrestrial carbon storage ecosystem. From a climate perspective, peat soil plays an essential but often overlooked role in mitigating the effects of climate change and stabilising the carbon cycle.

However, peatlands emit large amounts of greenhouse gases when faced with alarming threats of degradation and overexploitation. Across the globe, large surfaces of peatland have undergone conversion and drainage due to economic activities, making them susceptible to fire hazards.

So that peatlands become a solution rather than a contributor to climate change, restoration is urgent and vital.

Caring for the environment should be a profitable business.

Currently, the carbon market is dominated by woodland and forestry carbon-offset schemes. As peatlands store significantly more carbon than a typical forest, it is thus relevant to look into how the growing carbon market could finance the future of peatland transition and restoration programmes.

Every year, students moving in and out of their accommodation generates up to 200 tonnes of waste.

London is home to over 400,000 students. The number of students studying in London is expected to increase, with international students becoming the main group in the rental accommodation market. Simultaneously, Covid-19 has made travelling harder to plan for, leading to more students renting for shorter terms and resorting to sub-letting options.

Large amounts of usable goods are disposed as waste when students move in and out of rented accommodation. This highlights a key market need for alternative ways of dealing with these products.

AKI aims to alleviate the hassle and distress of moving for students, so they can lead independent lives that live up to their expectations.

Although 16-24 year olds are more likely to prioritise sustainability actions, their conscientiousness for the environmental could go out of the window when it comes to moving, due to the stress of planning and fear of losing deposits.

When objects changed from being first hand to second hand, it is common for people to think that they depreciate in value, especially for household items. This is one of the reasons why students are less motivated to buy or sell. We designed unique digital experiences within the app as a way to add emotional value to second hand objects and encourage second hand trading.