The Shackleton Project – Colaiste Dhulaigh Team – Ireland
Ambassador & Team Background:
Shannon Horrigan is studying outventure management at Cholaiste Dhulaigh in Dublin, Ireland. Working as an adventure sports instructor, she witnesses on a daily basis the damaging human impact on the natural world. She believed something needed to be done to address this desperate situation and decided she would like to take part in a project which would raise awareness about environmental issues both at home and across the globe. She started to think about the people she interacts with every day, especially the other people on her course who were involved with the outdoors. She began talking to different people and asking if they would be interested in taking part in the project. She found there was a lot of interest and gathered a team of 4 other participants who all share the same views and concerns about the future of the planet.
On January 24th 2018 the team met with Kevin and Fiona from ReCreate, who went through the project outline, deadlines and requirements. At this point a brief timeline was laid out to the team, deciding when to meet to brainstorm ideas and discuss the project. Wednesday was the designated team day, where participants met weekly to deliberate the concept, process and progress. As all members of the team are in the same class, the Team Name “Team Colaiste Dhulaigh” was formed. Concept behind the design piece: The direction the team wanted to take the design concept came from a common trend that each participant had been experiencing through their shared passion for outdoor sports such as hiking, kayaking and rock climbing. While exploring the outdoors, the team have all agreed that there has been a large increase in contamination and pollution around different environments such as waterways, mountains and urban settings. The frustrations experienced by all participants while outdoors, gave a clear direction as to what they wanted to address throughout the design contest.
The teams design piece has addressed 4 categories of concern: Team Colaiste Dhulaigh/Shackleton Project Description
How recycling & reuse can be used to tackle the issue of homelessness.
How the overproduction & consumption of plastic is now affecting our wildlife.
The lack of effort by the human race to find new & innovative ways to reuse and recycle plastic.
The damaging human impact on the natural world.
The group decided that they’d like to create an interactive piece and they would each like to tackle and raise a number of issues as individuals, while at the same time working together to create one cohesive piece. The original inspiration came from the notion of “Leave No Trace” and how long the it take for materials to decompose. This sparked the idea of creating a clock to signify just how long it takes for certain materials to fully decompose.
From an aesthetic point of view, the team started to consider the impact of 12 individual pieces from a visual perspective. The team felt that the piece may be too cluttered and confusing for the viewer of the piece. With this in mind, the decision was made to work on 4 individual pieces that each team member would take full responsibility for. The team began to considered how the piece could be interactive, deciding that it might be interesting to add an element of movement to the piece. This then led to the decision to make a table with a spinning top, naming it Ceithre Cinn. This is the Ιrish language for a group of 4.
The Story behind Ceithre Cinn:
The team wanted the base of the table to be the cohesive unit that brings all the other parts together. With all members of the team living in Dublin, they wanted something that connected both the urban environment in which they live, with the beauty of the rural countryside which they have become so accustomed to through their outdoor adventures. The team then thought of what connects these two, and came to the conclusion of contacting Iarnród Eireann, Irelands national rail network.
Having being granted access to look at what might be available at the rail yard, the team found an old Cable Reel, along with lots more unwanted wood which was the perfect material base for the table top to rest on, and also to build the table top from.
