- Five students and graduates from UAL won Nesta’s Hot Stuff competition to creatively redesign heat pumps for sustainable heating.
- The winning designs featured a multifunctional garden shed heat pump, a flower-inspired unit, and an educational card game.
- The showcase event aims to connect students’ innovative ideas with industry leaders interested in sustainable heating solutions.
Five UAL students rethink heat pumps in Nesta’s Hot Stuff competition
Heat pumps are here to stay. They’re sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective. But do we ever consider how they look?
Five students and recent graduates from the University of the Arts London (UAL) have won a competition to reimagine the design of heat pumps. Nesta and UAL’s Climate Emergency Network organised the ‘Hot Stuff’ competition. It inspired creative thinking around green home heating. After all, why not commit to sustainability with some personality?
The winning entries came from a range of creative disciplines
Victor Hwang, one of the winners, compared the carbon savings from heat pumps to the amount of CO2 absorbed by a football pitch-sized forest. Another winner, Tenley Tomlinson, designed a “heat pump garden shed” that integrates gardening and sustainable energy. Architecture student Tireni Adeniji created a flower-inspired heat pump called the “Petal Pump” to make the technology more appealing.
Other winners included Ozge Sahin and Nanthini Sampathkumar, who developed a card game to teach people about carbon footprints and heat pumps. Binoy Thomas proposed turning heat pumps into garden features by adding hydroponic systems and solar panels.
Nesta’s deputy director for sustainable future, Katy King, celebrated the winners:
“With heat pumps set to become a commonplace part of our lives, there is a real need to think creatively about this technology. As more and more people get set up with green home heating, heat pump businesses will be in need of a variety of approaches to engage customers, including new branding, messaging and designs.
The judging panel was impressed with the creativity and ingenuity on display in the entries to this competition. In addition to sparking new creative approaches in the heat pump market, we hope that these innovative designs will help people to see heat pumps in a new light and to understand the role that they can play in decarbonising the UK.”
