Digital fabrication and sustainable design: case studies for the Precious Plastic Project

Abstract

The significant emission of greenhouse gases and the generation of solid waste in the environment, which make up the context of the planet's climate emergency, have led to consequences that are now recognized as irreversible for future generations of the planet's inhabitants. In this sense, the use of recycled materials for product design artifacts, together with the popularization of digital manufacturing technological processes, has proved to be a promising alternative in the quest to reduce these impacts. In this way, this article presents an experiment in the use of recycled plastic as part of a postgraduate course in Architecture and Design at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in partnership with the Precious Plastic program, supported by the institution's Digital Fabrication laboratory. The document presents a case study of two pieces of work developed during the course and their different strategies and concepts for creating a piece of furniture made from the raw material in question.