Design for Scale

Change:water Labs waterless toilet - a 2017 Design for Scale project.
Change:water Labs waterless toilet - a 2017 Design for Scale project.

Late stages of product design for users in low-income settings.

Through relationships with businesses in countries such as India, Tanzania, and Nicaragua, students work in interdisciplinary teams to develop previously established technologies toward manufacturing-ready product designs. Partial funding may be available for some student travel and out-of-country fieldwork related to this class.

Lessons are hands-on and case-based. This is an advanced design course, and we expect students to use CAD and various rapid prototyping and mass-manufacturing technologies, resulting in substantially iterated product designs and, if appropriate, a small production batch. We encourage students from all majors to enroll.

About the Instructors

The course is taught by instructors from D-Lab with deep field experience and industry experts from product development consulting and consumer product design, including Mathieu Aguesse and Macauley Kenney.

The faculty member of record for the course is Maria Yang (Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Associate Dean, School of Engineering).

Course Information

Semester Offered
Fall (Offered since 2013)
Lecture Location
N51-310 (lecture) N51-350 (lab)
Lecture Times
TR11:30-1 (lecture), R1-2.30 (lab)
Units (credit hours)
3-2-7
Class Size
20 Students
Grading
A/B/C/D/F
Course #
EC.729 / 2.729 / EC.797 (G) / 2.789 (G)