Flat-packed, easy assemble, Prefab TOILET SHELTER
PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD, WATERSHED
Cambodia
Nearly 70% of rural Cambodians still practice open defecation, which can lead to serious illnesses and hinder child development. WaterSHED conducted market research (http://ow.ly/JyL04) and found that the lack of access to desirable latrine shelters is the biggest remaining barrier to achieve total sanitation. The conventional brick shelter costs $600 - $800 and requires about 10 days labor. For those who cannot afford hired labor, construction often takes months to complete. Currently, the long and difficult construction process not only delays latrine adoption for those who have committed to building a toilet but, consequently, deters neighbors from purchasing one. WaterSHED’s improved shelter design will address these problems and break down this major obstacle to toilet adoption.
Our design is the first durable household toilet structure for rural markets to be prefabricated, lightweight, flat-packed and easy to assemble. The shelter can be installed without electricity or special tools or equipment; mass production will ensure quality control and allow for rapid scale-up; flat-packing will minimize transport and storage costs. Our shelter slashes prices in half and decimates installation time from 10 days to 1 day.
The shelter underwent test marketing from mid 2016 to early 2017 and was launched on the Cambodian market in April 2017 (more here).
As the Product Design Lead for this project, I managed the product development cycle:
- Led ethnographic research into the needs, motivations, and constraints of target customers as well as of rural business partners, through immersion and observation, surveys, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and co-creation workshops
- Translated insights from human-centered design research into product and business strategies
- Designed, built, and field-tested multiple prototype iterations, from low to high fidelity, with customers and business partners
- Integrated design for manufacturing (DFM) and conducted failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)
- Hired and managed consultants and fabrication contractors
- Established manufacturing partnership in Thailand
Our shelter was recognized as a Finalist in the 2015 American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Innovation Showcase and the 2016 Sankalp Southeast Asia Awards.