Key details
Date
- 21 January 2022
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 2 minutes
The Royal College of Art is delighted to announce the 20 finalists of the Terra Carta Design Lab – a competition to develop solutions to the climate crisis conceived by the RCA’s Royal Visitor HRH The Prince of Wales and our Chancellor, Sir Jony Ive.
First announced in July 2021, HRH The Prince of Wales and Sir Jony Ive launched the Terra Carta Design Lab – which forms an integral part of His Royal Highness’s wider Sustainable Markets Initiative – in partnership with the RCA. The initiative has since invited some of the world’s most talented design students to design high-impact, low-cost solutions for Nature, People and Planet.
“The Design Lab is a visionary and imaginative way of helping address the increasingly urgent climate crisis – the greatest design challenge we face.”
Chancellor of the Royal College of Art
20 teams of RCA students and recent alumni, representing all four Schools of the College, have now been shortlisted from 125 submissions. The shortlisted teams now have the opportunity to develop their projects further before submitting them to the Terra Carta Design Lab Grand Jury this Spring for final judging.
The four winning projects will be announced in April 2022, selected by HRH The Prince of Wales, Sir Jony Ive, Dr Paul Thompson, Professor Sir David King, and representatives of the Terra Carta Design Lab partners Octopus Energy, The Climate Pledge, Bank of America and Islamic Development Bank. The winning teams will then have the opportunity to be mentored by Sir Jony Ive and to be introduced to the industry leads of HRH’s Sustainable Markets Initiative to help further develop their ideas and make them a reality, as well as receiving financial support.
“This shortlist shows the potent alchemy of bringing together the arts and sciences to tackle urgent global challenges.”
Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art
The shortlisted projects were selected for their innovation, technical feasibility, potential for impact and alignment to one of the 10 Terra Carta themes: Energy in Industry and Buildings; Natural Capital, including Agriculture, Land Use, Forestry and Oceans; Mobility and Road Transport; Fashion and Textiles; Health Systems; Technology; Waste; Plastic, Chemicals and Petrochemicals; Aviation; Shipping.
From innovative ways to reduce methane and carbon emissions to nature-inspired energy-efficient materials and systems, and from services that promote a truly circular economy to artwork that inspires corporate sustainability – the projects address the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.
Sir Jony Ive, Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, praised the creativity of the RCA community in its response to the climate crisis: 'The Design Lab is a visionary and imaginative way of helping address the increasingly urgent climate crisis – the greatest design challenge we face. This work demonstrates the ingenuity and creative brilliance of RCA students, and I am so very excited to see these concepts develop.'
Dr Paul Thompson, Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, commented on the multidisciplinary nature of the projects and their potential for forging real world change: 'This shortlist shows the potent alchemy of bringing together the arts and sciences to tackle urgent global challenges. The variety and viability of these 20 projects is testament to the talent, innovation and dedication of our students and alumni to solve real world problems affecting communities around the world. That students or alumni from all four of our schools are represented in the shortlist goes to show how ingrained creativity, technical ability and a sense of purpose are across the whole RCA community.'
The Terra Carta Design Lab Shortlist for 2022 is below – select a title to learn more about the project and the team members bringing it to life: