Luke Talbot

My Powerbank, BA Product and Industrial Design, Unilever #Unstereotype Winner, 2023

‘My Powerbank’ is my final-year personal project. It’s a power bank designed for people experiencing homelessness in London that can be charged for free by attaching it to the frame of any stationary Santander bicycle. It works using a dynamo that connects to the chain of the bike, which, if peddled backwards, engages the chain and generates power which is stored in the power bank’s batteries.

My journey began with extensive research for my final-year dissertation on anti-homeless architecture. Being a lifelong Londoner, I’ve witnessed first-hand how the city uses design to deter people experiencing homelessness. It made me reflect on how my own study of industrial design was implicit in the discomfort and marginalisation of others. As I delved deeper, I realised I wanted to create something genuinely helpful – not another piece of ‘critical’ design, but an intervention that would have a tangibly positive impact on the lives of homeless individuals.

‘My Powerbank’ was inspired by Michael Rakowitz’s design piece ‘Parasite’, a series of temporary inflatable shelters for people without housing that utilises New York City’s hot air vents to heat and inflate an igloo-style structure. This idea captivated me – the notion of using something the city gives away for free to benefit those the city is designed against. +

From conversations with people experiencing homelessness, I found out that mobile phones serve as precious lifelines. However, being able to charge phones proved a common issue. This lack of consistent power severely hampers their ability to utilise essential digital services, including banking, social aid and benefit schemes.

To address this pressing issue, reduce the digital divide and empower the homeless population, I designed ‘My Powerbank’. This power bank has a unique advantage – it can be charged for free. Its innovation lies in the integration of dynamo technology, allowing it to be attached to any stationary Santander bicycle. Users can effortlessly charge their phones (or other devices) by pedalling backwards, engaging the chain-driven dynamo, and generating power stored in the power bank’s batteries.

With this project I wanted to dismantle existing public stereotypes of the homeless not owning phones and to emphasise how vital a phone is to somebody homeless in our highly digital world. I believe my device could serve as a small but hopefully meaningful step towards alleviating the hardships faced by homeless individuals. It’s my genuine hope that this innovation will contribute to improving somebody’s life.

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