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The winning team posed the question: ‘What alternative strategies and tactics can designers employ at both domestic and infrastructural scales to reconsider fire diversion and site rehabilitation’? Their solution is Polytactics. Polytactics uses light-weight polymer materials that are activated by fire-events. The polymers are cast into light weight screens, road barricades, and construction fencing which when heated during a fire will transform into a protective porcelain membrane. The objects will then provide a diversion of fire components (embers, wind gusts, radiation) and augment the amount of time for evacuation as well as create way-finding devices in heavy smoke cover. After the fire, the material degrades into the soil where it can assist in rehabilitation by containing nutrients, wetting agents or even seeds. The Polytactics transdisciplinary team includes: Nigel Bertram, Senior Lecturer in Architecture in the School of Architecture and Design Director of the Urban Architecture Laboratory research unit, RMIT University; Jordi Beneyto-Ferre, Research Fellow, Applied Chemistry, RMIT University; Laura Harper, Research Assistant, Urban Liveability, RMIT University; David E Mainwaring, Professor, Applied Chemistry, RMIT University; Victoria Smith, Policy Officer, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment; and SueAnne Ware, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture and Deputy Head, School of Research and Innovation, RMIT University. Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings, one of the panellists, commended Polytactics on its innovation. ‘Bushfires are an unavoidable part of life in Victoria and this competition has demonstrated just how different professions can really collaborate to explore different ideas to solve big issues. Polytactics’s adoption of local fire resistant technology to provide a diversion could one day protect the lives of hundreds of Victorian people and businesses,’ he said. ‘This very exciting design idea could not have been developed without researchers from applied chemistry, architecture and landscape working together’, said Professor Mark Burry, Director of the RMIT Design Research Institute. ‘This collaboration brings specific understanding of materials, construction and land management and is highly innovative in its application to the pre-, during and post-fire environments.’ The jury for the 2009 Design Challenge, made up of prominent leaders and experts in the field, made a clear decision. They congratulated the winning team for its creative and intelligent design and they believe that the $25,000 research and development grant will allow Polytactics a way to move forward with their design. They also commended all finalists for their collaborative efforts in working towards creative solutions to extreme bushfire events. The winning entry was chosen by: Jenny Bonnin (City Director, Clinton Climate Change Initiative), Naomi Brown (CEO, Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council), Gavin Jennings, Minister for Innovation and Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Brandon Gien (Executive Director, Australian International Design Awards and General Manager, Corporate Services, Standards Australia), Justin Leonard (Research Scientist, CSIRO) and Tim Shannon (Tim Shannon PL). The finalist concepts included: • Communication and community shelter networks – a network of connected sensors that can communicate real-time information for use by emergency services and communities • Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle – a solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle that can provide 24 hour coverage of a disaster area, relaying information to emergency services and helping locate community members • burnMap – an interactive map that allows for the display of complex information for Parks Victoria, which can assist communities in relation to greater planning of controlled burning • Bushbunker – a standardised bushfire safety bunker that can be used when safe evacuation is not possible, or high risks are present or perceived • Fire Up – a social network that uses interactive technology to support communication among local communities and emergency services. The RMIT Design Research Institute has developed the Design Challenge as a way for the design sector to engage and develop partnerships within education, research, industry and the public; to foster new working relationships across disciplines; and an opportunity for robust thinking and solutions to issues within the community. The Design Challenge is an annual event. The 2009 Design Challenge is supported by Standards Australia, the Australian International Design Awards, the State of Design Festival and the Victorian Government. For more information visit www.rmit.edu.au/research/institutes/design/dc09 Members of the Polytactics team are available for interview.