EIT ideaschool design students get creative at the aquarium

A project involving Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, EIT ideaschool students and the National Aquarium of New Zealand will see a new tsunami display designed and developed for the Aquarium’s Education Centre.

Second- year Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design students from EIT’s ideaschool will create the new tsunami display.

The proposal for the partnership emerged after the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management team began looking for ideas to update its current tsunami display at the aquarium, which was installed in 2004 and in need of a revamp for students visiting the aquarium to engage with and learn from.

After discussing the original brief with the National Aquarium’s Education Team to revamp the Tsunami display, staff from ideaschool suggested that to expand their students’ thinking further they could also develop a new name and theme for the Aquarium’s Education Centre. The new centre includes the waste information display, modular teaching facilities and the revamped Tsunami display.

EIT ideaschool lecturer Anthony Chiappin says it is a fantastic opportunity for the students to work on a real-world project that will form part of their degree assessment.

“These students will be designing something that could potentially be approved and created and on display for all to see. This makes their learning so much more relevant to the outside world and the way in which they will work in creative industries,” says Mr Chiappin.

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Coordinator – Hazards Lisa Pearse says it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

“The students get to work on a real project, the aquarium gets a new display for their education centre and we get to spread the message about tsunami risk while getting a revamped tsunami display. I can’t wait to see what they come up with,” says Lisa Pearse.

National Aquarium of New Zealand Education Team Leader Carol Larson is delighted to be able to work with EIT design students.

“Education is such a key focus of what we do at the aquarium, so it’s such a good fit that on one hand we can help the design students by providing a ‘real life example’ to work on and enhance their learning, while the end result will improve the learning of potentially 6,000 students per year who use our programmes and Centre,” says Carol Larson.

The students visited the aquarium on Tuesday, 19 February for a briefing and to take in the surroundings. The first stage of their projects is due in April, with the final work to be completed by June.

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