FLOORSforFLOODS – a product to help protect homes from floods
Jess Spiller
This deployable flood barrier disguises itself as ordinary garden patio tiles and can be quickly activated to protect homes from floodwaters, offering an unobtrusive and accessible solution for at-risk UK properties.
Design Problem
My problem statement was: How to create an effective and accessible innovation that will protect UK homes in the event of flooding.
Floods are becoming a bigger concern in the UK due to climate change. It’s important to prepare homes, particularly those in at-risk areas. The concept I’ve proposed is a ‘deployable flood barrier’ – a product that aims to prevent floodwaters from reaching UK resident’s homes and damaging properties. It has the overall appearance and function of normal garden patio tiles in its dormant form, however, when needed, can be deployed to block floodwaters by lifting the top layer and creating a barrier around the house. It is intended to blend into the property when not in use (be unintrusive) and be a quick, easily accessible solution to stopping water reaching common flood vulnerabilities such as doorframes and windows.
Description of the Project
I carried out a lot of research on the topic such as the cause of increasing floods in the UK, related statistics, current home flooding solutions (and their benefits/ weaknesses) and the possible stakeholders/ users e.g., UK homeowners and landlords.
I used a range of design generation tools coming up with ideas – from constructive discontent to associative thinking. This concept was selected for being the most technically feasible of my original ideas, as well as matching the criteria of the design brief best. I used a selection matrix to make this decision.
Process
About me
I studied Design as I enjoy thinking creatively. My aspiration for after graduation is to work in a field I enjoy (Design or IT).