A standing cabinet pairs transparent glass with six empty computer towers serving as drawers. The body of the same microwave is integrated on a shelf hanging from one of the cubicles, while a computer keyboard has been inserted into its side. There are two piles of mobile phones under the surface of the table and an aerating grid from a microwave casing under that. Yet within moments, familiar elements begin to emerge. A recurrent element is the use of gold sourced from the recycling of circuit boards to plate details of the objects.Īt first glance the objects appear austere and slickly coated. The range of office furniture is constructed using recycled iron and aluminium paired together with dead-stock and recycled electronic components. The objects created for Ore Streams act as a Trojan horse to initiate an exploration of ‘above ground mining’ and of the complex role that design plays in transforming natural resources into desirable products. But beyond systemic improvements, design can be used to induce a subconscious attitudinal shift for the better. Ore Streams sets out to identify ways in which design can be deployed to correct the flaws in the current waste-stream system. We are entering a new phase, where above-ground scavenging will out-perform and out-value digging below the surface for raw materials. As this shift progresses, the mining industry will be altered fundamentally. New logistic structures, technologies and cross-country transnational alliances are being forged to allow for the renewal of metals at the lowest expense. Efforts to recycle this complex hardware remain new, uncharted and contentious. On the surface of the planet, rivers of ore in the form of these discarded materials stream freely as if in a continuous, borderless continent. Instead, they will be above the surface as ingots stored in private buildings or otherwise circulated within products such as building materials, appliances, furniture, and an ever-growing market of consumer electronic products. Human greed for metals has grown to such an extent that by 2080, the biggest metal reserves will no longer be underground. Even at this very moment, new cavities are being hollowed out, while existing excavated sites are abandoned or re-filled with new earth-a superficial recompense. In fact, forging metal changed the course of history: bronze empowered humans to weaponize, while gold facilitated local and then global trade. The earth’s surface has been mined for millennia in a quest for resources to fulfil the demands of production.

Sims 4 university can throw away trash