Designed to make rescuing human lives efficient, the Fold And Rescue lifeboat flips closed while in storage, thanks to its origami-inspired form.
The inspiration for the Fold And Rescue came from the paper boat itself, showing how inspiration can travel in both directions. Unlike an inflatable lifeboat that poses the danger of deflating or not inflating correctly, the Fold And Rescue is made from a naturally buoyant material, and just needs to be opened to be used. In its folded form, it occupies a third of its original space and can be stacked together. When needed, just open the boat out and you’ve got two seats that can comfortably fit 4-6 people.
Designer: Industrial Design College of LAFA
The Fold And Rescue was designed to address the problem of insufficient number of lifeboats in the ship’s stockpile. It comes with a self-locking mechanism built into the benches, so the boat never accidentally closes shut when open. Each boat is made from a naturally buoyant material, and comes with a flat base that keeps the boat from tipping over by accident. The Fold And Rescue is also equipped with an oar on each side, making navigating to safety easier.
The Fold And Rescue is a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2022.
Meet Oasis, an Aeronaval Rescue Drone capable of helping rescue people drowning in waters by not just locating them, but also pulling them to the nearest vessel to safety. Designed in the aftermath of the accidents caused by the Boeing 737 Max, the Oasis aims at being able to help search-and-rescue teams to reach farther and cover much more ground in lesser time. The autonomous drones are instantly deployed in an emergency situation. They fly in grid-patterns to efficiently scan waters for any signs of humans. When found, the drone descends to the water’s surface, relying on two buoyancy devices to float on top of the water. The human then latches onto the drone, as it essentially does the job of a tugboat, pulling the human either to shore, or to the nearest rescue vessel.
I’ve long been a proponent of drones doing high-risk activities humans aren’t capable of doing, and the Oasis is a brilliant example of such a situation. Each drone comes with three air propellers and one water propeller to help it move around. The fact that it flies in the air helps it overcome turbulent waters with ease during search missions. The drone’s on-board optical and thermal cameras work effectively in both day and night to help spot signs of life during recon. Survivors can grasp onto the huge pontoons as the drone pulls them to safety. If the weather or tide don’t permit a rescue, on-board rescue-kits containing food, water, and medicine increase one’s chances for survival as the drone immediately pings location and a livestream of the survivor to rescue teams.
The journey is more important than the end or the start – and the core intention behind any adventure one embarks on, is determinant in how well it pans out. Architects Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel wanted to explore Norway, away from the shackles of mechanical daily life, and then something remarkable hit them. Simmonds got the idea of buying a commercial lifeboat – revamp the rig for their adventure to travel 5,000 km to the Norwegian Arctic, exploring the fjords of Norway – a journey from Sussex coast to the Arctic Circle!
“It was our desire to explore Norway and its thousands of islands from the water and we wanted to combine that with our interest in design and the opportunity to convert a utilitarian space,” Simmonds said. The duo dug hard and finally bought a 100-person survival lifeboat on board the CalMac ferry MV Clansman at an auction – and it was in good condition to get going. Only the hard work began then – they had to tailor the vessel, aptly named as “Stødig” (sound and steadfast in Norwegian) – for the long journey. It took them a year to implement all the changes – right from redesigning the interiors like the sitting area, kitchen, toilet and cockpit to redoing the outdoor space including replacing the original tarpaulin with a fiberglass cockpit. “As we were doing a long voyage, we wanted to make sure we were able to get to the bottom of problems quickly,” Simmonds explained.
Finally, they realized the dream of their life – starting their journey which was initially just planned to be an extended hiking trip to Norway. Both were satisfied with the adventurous rebuilding process and then the fun began. They brought a third surprise passenger – Simmonds’s Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever Shackleton and the journey began traversing along the south coast of the UK, then towards the Dutch coast and finally arriving into Bergen. Their ultimate adventure – exploring 3,000 km of fjords, islands, and exploring the remote landscapes of Norway!
When winter arrived, the trio settled in Tromsø – Simmonds has joined a local architect’s firm while Schnabel continued to work from the boat. During the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, David’s had to fly home to the UK and at that time Norway shut its ports to foreign nationals. Now the duo is waiting to get back and going for another adventure to the Northern Norwegian coast for this year and then later they have plans to sell Stødig to someone who will take the stellar lifeboat on adventure unknown in the future!
The whole journey of the lifeboat and the adventurous men who made this possible is going be released as a documentary film on October 18, 2020, exploring the niche idea of slow adventure to the mesmerizing Norwegian coast. You don’t want to miss that one, do you?
Designer: Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel (architects) with their dog Shakleton aboard the Stødig.
Like pandemics, there are many other natural phenomenons that are out of human control. The frequency of these disasters has now increased due to climate change. I have only ever lived on coasts, no matter which country I was in, and being climate-conscious I know that if we don’t get aggressive with our efforts to slow it down the coastal cities will be the first to collapse under massive floods and tsunamis. Scary image isn’t it? Well, we can do two things about it – live more sustainably and design products like Afloat for our Plan B.
Since a couch is something that most homes have, designer Max Bitsan had a pumpkin-turns-into-carriage moment and gave us an angular couch that is also a lifeboat for rainy days…literally. Afloat has been envisioned to fit within the modern interior aesthetics while also being capable of helping you escape situations like floods, tsunamis, storms, dam breaks and more. Turn it upside down and you have a makeshift shelter if you are not trying to stay ‘afloat’ (too soon?). The couch’s mainframe is built like a boat and otherwise is home to bright, fluffy cushions that reassure you of the bright sunny times. Afloat also comes in an armchair size.
On a lighter note, if you live by a lake then you can take your couch out on the water and enjoy the normal times – we now know that the mundane things we enjoyed outside are truly a treasure we took for granted. A lesson learned in advance – don’t take your couch for granted, it can save lives either by you just sitting on it or by you rowing it like a boat.
Get it? Anti-tanic? Because it would help prevent the Titanic incident from happening?
The Instant Relief (isn’t a vaporub) is a pretty ingenious lifeboat idea that allows multiple people to stay safe as well as together in the event of a shipwreck. With its criss-cross waffle-shaped design, it mimics multiple safety tubes, allowing a large number of escapees to save themselves from drowning. Genius!
Instant Relief is a winning entry for the Lite-On Awards 2015. Entries for this year’s LiteOn awards are open till the 16th of June, 2016. Head down to the LiteOn website for further details. Quick, before you run out of time!
HEXA, named for its 6-sided shape, is a revolutionary life-saving device for use at sea. Because the nature of ship accidents varies greatly, both crew and passengers will tend to panic even with extensive training. For these moments, HEXA requires only that it be dropped in the water where it will automatically activate upon contact. 6 inflatable sections will self-inflate allowing individuals to climb on board or jump to safety. Additionally, an RFID signal will also be triggered for easy geolocation by rescue teams. Inside the center of the pod, users will also find survival supplies like food, flares and lifejackets.
The Extendable is a lifeboat that is kinda flat packed and can be stored at convenient spots on a big boat. The idea is to have an inflatable boat handy and yet remain unobtrusive on the deck. Clever design that can get into production, provided the necessary tweaks are incorporated!
