PROVO — Dan Benedict won't need much room if he ever builds a full-size version of a sink-shower combination he designed for a class.
The plastic and polished aluminium model Benedict demonstrated Monday with other Brigham Young University industrial design students was designed around a single pole that furnished the water for both sink and shower.
One faucet, one drain and a circular shower curtain completed the simple idea.
While the assignment was to attack residential living problems from a product, rather than a architectural approach, most of the ideas hit students where they live — in small apartments and student dormitories.
To an unsophisticated eye, it appeared most of the designs would work well for newlyweds in cramped spaces or single students in tiny rental units.
For example, the sink on Benedict's contraption was designed to fold up and move out of the way of the shower.
"Every bolt was custom machined," he said. "I knew it would be different. That's why I did it."
Fulton Homes of Phoenix sponsored the projects in instructor David Hoeft's class and received new ideas the homebuilder may work into future homes.
It was the second time that BYU design students came up with fresh ideas for the homebuilding industry and the first time it had a homebuilder as a sponsor, said Tom Erickson, director of BYU's technology school.
The products were designed to conserve energy, offer efficiency and save space.
"That is just a phenomenal idea," Erickson said about student April Hopkins' refrigerator, designed to fit in a corner.
"Corners are the most wasted space in the kitchen," Hopkins said.
Her refrigerator was round inside with adjustable circular shelves that rotated at the push of a button — an inspiration that came from vending machines, she said.
The freezer was made up of drawers that used blasts of air to keep the cold in when they were opened.
Another refrigerator, designed by student Soon Hyong Kwon, included a microwave and video telephone.
He says his telephone design prevented "running around the kitchen" while trying to reach the phone.