Wellington eyes Otago student’s ‘Wobly’ bollard

Safely separating cyclists and motorists along busy city streets is a growing challenge, but Otago Polytechnic Product Design third year graduate Zachariah Harrison has come up with a flexible solution.

Zachariah was selected as a finalist in the Street Innovations Challenge, run by the Wellington City Council in association with the Global Designing Cities Initiative (supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies).

Entrants were tasked with coming up with innovative designs for cycleway separation along Wellington's streets, making them friendlier to pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport.

Zachariah branded his design as the ‘Wobly bollard’.  Based on the familiar bollards seen alongside cycleways across the country, his design is aimed at making the separators more useful, more playful, and safer for both cyclists and motorists.

“The main difference is they have a whole range of these brightly coloured and bold geometric modules that can be on the top of the bollard,” says Zachariah.

These modules can have a variety of uses, from signalling the location of places like ferry terminals or bus stations, through to event promotion, and assisting balance for cyclists at lights.

Senior Product Design lecturer Tim Armstrong believes one of Zachariah’s strengths is his focus on human-centred design.

“I think Zachariah's done really to consider all of the stakeholders and scenarios, not just looking at cyclists.”

“He’s looking at car drivers, he’s looking at benefits to the Council. You could attach a data collection module to count vehicles without needing someone standing there with a clipboard.”

It was the perfect design project for Zachariah, as a keen cyclist himself.

He recently had an accident while riding his bike, after running into a cycleway separator and breaking his collarbone.

Zachariah has considered safety in the Wobly’s design, with a plastic pin in the bottom that would break away easily if there was a collision, minimising the risk of an injury or damage to vehicles or bikes.

For Machiko Nimi, Head of the Product Design programme, Zachariah’s recognition is all the more impressive given it’s not just a student competition.

“We’re proud when students get student awards,” she says.

“But the fact that Zachariah was probably competing against post-graduate students as well as people in the industry, it’s a huge deal for a third year student.”

Zachariah flies to Wellington on Friday 6 December to join other finalists at a special prizegiving ceremony at the Mayor’s office at Wellington City Council.

Along with cash prizes for the top 3 proposals, the winning design will be developed further as a prototype, giving designers the chance to work with local manufacturers and see their ideas brought to life on Wellington streets.

(* UPDATE: Zachariah Harrison received one of two Special mentions for his design at the prizegiving ceremony.
However First prize went to another Otago Polytechnic finalist - Archie Batchelor, Bachelor of Architecture 3rd year student.
Congratulations to both our students on their recognition.  We'll be following up with Archie shortly.)