Project 03
Fresh Start
A mobile laundry service proposal for Carrollton, Georgia, designed to improve access to clean clothing through a dignity-centered service and vehicle system.
Context
Designing a service around a basic need that shapes daily life.
Fresh Start explored how mobile laundry access could support unhoused and underserved residents in Carrollton, Georgia. The project focused on clean clothing as a practical need connected to comfort, hygiene, employment, dignity, and social participation.
The challenge was to design more than a vehicle interior. The service needed to consider users, volunteers, storage, scheduling, weather, circulation, and the emotional experience of receiving help in a public setting.
Research
Mapping the people, places, and logistics behind laundry access.
Research focused on community needs, service gaps, volunteer operations, laundry workflow, and the practical realities of bringing a mobile service into different locations.
Data collection and synthesis helped define what the service needed to support: clear intake, efficient washing and drying, storage for supplies, areas for waiting, and a layout that could function with limited space.
Service Design
Coordinating users, volunteers, laundry flow, and physical space.
The service was structured around a clear flow from arrival to laundry drop-off, washing, drying, folding, waiting, and return. The layout needed to help volunteers work efficiently while making the experience feel respectful and easy to understand.
As team lead, I helped organize the proposal direction, connect research to design decisions, and keep the vehicle layout aligned with the larger service system.
Development
Turning a bus into a compact, functional laundry environment.
The vehicle design balanced washers, dryers, folding space, water systems, storage, volunteer movement, and user-facing amenities within the limited footprint of a bus.
CAD and layout development were used to test how the service could physically operate, where bottlenecks might happen, and how the design could support both efficiency and care.
Final Direction
A mobile service designed around access, dignity, and workflow.
The final proposal presents a mobile laundry service that combines vehicle design, service planning, volunteer workflow, and user experience into one system.
The project is continuing beyond the studio, with the partner organization pursuing funding opportunities to help move the service toward implementation.
Fresh Start demonstrates civic design, spatial planning, systems thinking, research synthesis, team coordination, and CAD-based service visualization.