Reading a Place's Factors Before You Design
A school in the mountains receives a modern gas stove, but within a few weeks nobody uses it and families keep cooking with firewood. Was the stove poorly made? Not necessarily: maybe nobody read the place before designing it. We are going to learn how to do that, and at the end of the page we will come back to this case.
The Four Factors
A factor is a condition of the place and the people that influences how a technical solution should be. They fall into four types:
To classify, ask yourself: what is the factor about? If it is about money, it is economic; if it is about climate or resources in the environment, natural; if it is about customs or traditions, cultural; if it is about people and how they are organized, social.
When designing a stove for a rural community in the mountains, these factors come up. Classify them as social, economic, cultural or natural: the custom of cooking with…
When designing a stove for a rural community in the mountains, these factors come up. Classify them as social, economic, cultural or natural: the custom of cooking with firewood; the price of LP gas and of the tank; the cold mountain climate; grandmothers teach their granddaughters how to cook; the distance to the nearest town; firewood is gathered for free near the houses.
From Factors to Criteria
A factor describes what the place is like. A design criterion is a requirement that the solution must meet because of that factor.
| Factor | Design criterion |
|---|---|
| Natural: frequent rain | It must have a roof or dry under cover |
| Economic: families with little money | Low cost and cheap materials |
| Cultural: cooking is done on a comal | It must have a flat surface for the comal |
| Social: several families use it | Easy to use and to repair together |
The goal is always to improve quality of life: so that people live with more health, comfort, time, and safety.
A neighborhood with frequent rain wants to set up a community clothesline area. State two natural factors and two social or cultural factors that constrain the design…
A neighborhood with frequent rain wants to set up a community clothesline area. State two natural factors and two social or cultural factors that constrain the design and explain how your proposal responds to each of them.
Is the Change Worth It? Investment Payback
When a change costs money up front but saves money every month, you can calculate how long it takes to "pay for itself." This is called investment payback.
Why it works: if you save the same amount every month, you need to accumulate savings until they equal what you paid. It is splitting the cost into equal parts of savings.
A community kitchen spends $\$350.00$ per month on firewood. A saving stove costs $\$2,300.00$ and cuts that expense by $\$230.00…
A community kitchen spends $\$350.00$ per month on firewood. A saving stove costs $\$2,300.00$ and cuts that expense by $\$230.00$ per month. Calculate in how many months the investment is recovered and explain which other factors, besides the economic one, the kitchen should consider before switching stoves.
Comparing Alternatives with a Criteria Table
When there are two options, organize the information in a table with the four factors. That way you can see the advantages and disadvantages of each one before deciding.
A good design decision has three parts: what you choose, which factors weigh the most, and what you give up.
There is one more point: every product has consequences beyond its function. Some show up in the price, and others are paid for by society or nature, like a polluted river. When evaluating a solution, ask yourself who pays for what does not appear in the price.
A textile cooperative in Chiapas must decide between dyeing with natural dyes (local tradition, more expensive, less uniform colors, no toxic spills) or with synthetic…
A textile cooperative in Chiapas must decide between dyeing with natural dyes (local tradition, more expensive, less uniform colors, no toxic spills) or with synthetic dyes (cheaper, uniform, with polluting spills). Its main market is tourism and values artisanal work. Build a criteria table with the four types of factors (social, economic, cultural and natural) and justify the design decision you would make.
Summary
Let's go back to the gas stove in the mountains: nobody used it because the design ignored factors of the place (the custom of cooking with firewood, the price of gas, the distance to get cylinders). Reading the place before designing would have avoided the mistake.