Calientamigos allows impoverished families living without hot running water to heat and pressurize water for bathing, cooking and cleaning. The system is comprised of three modular components: a portable electric water heater; a foot pump that pressurizes the warm water; and a multi-purpose faucet head. It heats water more quickly, at a lower cost than existing methods, is more affordable than existing market options and more accessible than installing a gravity-fed water system. Design Team: Tianyi Sun, Della Tosin, Kevin Chang; Partner Org: TECHO Colombia, Socialab, Compartamos Con Colombia

Mariana Amatullo founded the college-wide initiative Designmatters at Art Center College of Design, based in Pasadena, California in 2001 with a task force of faculty, chairs, staff and students. In her capacity as the lead of the Department, she develops strategic educational partnerships and a portfolio of research collaborations, communication campaigns, exhibitions and publications that enhance Art Center’s commitment to be at the forefront of international art and design education and contribute solutions to humanitarian issues of critical urgency.

Through research, advocacy, and action, Designmatters at Art Center College of Design advances art and design as a force for innovation and social change. Designmatters is a unique educational department and college-wide program at Art Center and has been setting a global standard for art and design education at the intersection of social innovation since its founding in 2001. Designmatters empowers students to apply their academic practices to design-based explorations of real-world issues. It invites collaboration with other knowledge domains and disciplines such as international development, management and business, engineering, science, and anthropology—to name a few. Programs and projects emphasize current social and humanitarian challenges in the studio and out in the field—granting faculty and students extraordinary opportunities to design in a variety of contexts and across practices where their creativity, insights and contributions can be powerful tools for furthering social innovation outcomes. Furthermore, a set of principles and values within the Designmatters organizational structure fosters a culture of cross-cutting collaboration with a broad spectrum of partner organizations and a diverse communities of users that are always key in driving the insights and outcomes of the projects undertaken.