Renault Nomad : Loic Muller

Renault Nomad is a mobile recycling workshop designed to give the opportunity to young people located in developing countries to transform plastic waste into economic resource. The workshop has 3 recycling machines that allow students from isolated schools to  learn plastic recycling and to be sensible towards the impact of plastic pollution on there environment.

Renault was chosen because Loic thinks the project fit really well to the philosophy of the brand. He thinks this project could have a place in the EZ concept line which was made with a minimalist philosophy, focused on the functionality. 

The idea was to create a vehicle able to guiding an expedition during 2 years around the African continent. The challenge on this project was to don’t forget that the object is primarily a workshop. It need to be simple and user friendly, as a tool. 

The research was done by picking really basics and intuitive objects as inspiration. Then Loic started to imagine the object around functionality, thinking about the most minimalist shapes to valid all the technical requirements. 

Another big inspiration come from Precious Plastic which is a platform that share recycling machines in open source. It was essential to be realistic as much as possible. Some components that you can find on precious plastic website to rebuild recycling machines needed directly on the vehicle. To show those component transparency is used on some parts on the exterior, to allow students to better understand how does recycling machines works.

The Renault Nomad is driven by an ambassador which is chosen by Renault and precious Plastic to bring the workshop to the schools. The idea was to create something friendly and intuitive for the ambassador and students. The exterior is minimalist, with the simple shapes. All machines are ergonomic and user friendly to allow everyone to understand how to use the workshop.

Scenario

Students are collecting plastic around there school during a few weeks before the arrival of the workshop. The driver of the workshop is a recycling ambassador that is considered as a teacher for student. When he arrives at the school, he teaches the students to sort out collected plastic before recycling it. After a good introduction, it is time to learn how to recycle waste. During 1 month, students will use the three recycling machines that are on board of the workshop to transform collected plastic waste into useful object. 

Even if it’s not a real project, it was really important to think about the concept in a more global way than just create a learning workshop. The main objective was to develop a sense in students. The idea was to use the workshop to produce recycling machines for the school, so it can have a totally autonomous plastic recycling activity in its own way.

Nomad is a playful recycling companion usable by anyone everywhere. Three words are needed to resume the project : Reduce / Recycle / revalue.

About Designer

Loic Muller is a French automotive designer working for Peugeot. He is passionate by nature, and tries to have a minimalistic approach in his design process. He believe in an honest design, that gives respect to our environment.