Creative re-purposing

This use likely occurs in part because there can be a shortage of street parking near campus.  As a result, people may (intentionally or inadvertently) park in such a way that they block residential driveways.  The green waste bin is large enough that putting a sign on it makes it visible to cars on the street.  It also sticks out past the curb enough to interfere with a driver's attempts to parallel park enough that they will, hopefully, realise they're in front of a driveway and relocate.  Finally, the bin is convenient because it is not valuable, so leaving it out on the sidewalk doesn't run much of a rick of theft, and because it is on wheels, which makes it easy to get out of the way when the residents want to get their car into our out of the garage via the driveway.

 

An object designed as a solution for this particular problem would ideally replicate the features of the green waste container which make it suitable for this use: large, not intrinsically valuable, and easy to move.  Since red curbs mean no parking, and orange cones are often associated with vehicle redirection, I'd design such an object to use of those two colours, along with reflective elements for night-time visibility.  Something that couldn't be easily blown or knocked over, so having a large and/or heavy base.  And on wheels for ease of movement.  It's hard to imagine a solution that would be something people would actually purpose.  It might make more sense to approach it from a different direction; part of the problem with this driveway is the small strip of unmarked curb next to it, which tempts people to park there.  If that did not exist, or were clearly labeled no parking, I suspect the problem would be largely eliminated.

 

 

2. Using a plastic filing box to support a wall mirror.

 

I live in a small studio apartment, so space of all kinds is at a premium, including wall space.  The most convenient place to put my tall mirror is in the small bit of space between my two closets.  However, not only is there a thermostat on the wall there, but it's also not flat, due to wooden door frames on each side.  As a result, there was no convenient way to attach the mirror to the wall.  However, it's too short to be very useful sitting on the floor, so I propped it up on a plastic filing container.  I don't need to get into the files very often, so having something on top of it isn't really an issue.  Furthermore, as a bonus of not having the mirror attached to the wall, I can move it if I want to get different angles or even use it in a different part of the apartment.  The size of the filing cabinet works well for adjusting the height of the mirror, and because it is full it is heavy enough not to topple easily.

 

I don't  think any novel design solutions are necessary in this case.  The mirror is already wall-mountable, which allows users to customise its height.  There are also mirrors which come with their own stands, and are usually adjustable, which gives the same flexibility as my ad-hoc support.