Joe Doucet’s ‘Wind Turbine Wall’ is Both Art & Utility

Can the power of art help power our homes? While most wind power plants today are located on expansive hills and coastlines or even found floating on water bodies, the idea of installing wind turbines in our homes, in our backyards no less, would seem to conflict with our sense of both home décor and practicality. Well, not anymore.

Conceived to be as aesthetically pleasing as it is functional, New York-based designer Joe Doucet’s “Wind Turbine Wall” is made up of an array of rotary blades that spin individually, driving a mini generator that creates electricity. The electricity is utilized in the home or business, can be stored in a wall-mounted battery, or can even be fed back into the national grid to provide revenue for the owner.

A designer, entrepreneur, inventor and creative director, Joe Doucet was described as a “living blueprint for the 21st century designer” by Forbes magazine in 2014.

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One of the most sought-after creative talents working in America today, he graduated from the Art Centre College of Design to export his vision into product, furniture, environment, and technology to find solutions for daily and societal challenges through design.

His work deftly hybridizes function and visual appeal while conveying layers of meaning and message. Doucet believes that design and, more importantly, a designer’s thought process can play a larger role in innovation and problem solving, as well as aesthetics.

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Doucet’s work has been exhibited globally, including the London Design Museum and the Biennale International Design in Saint-Etienne. He has received numerous international awards, including a World Technology Award for Design Innovation and multiple Good Design Awards. He was also named the only ever AvantGuardian for Design by Surface Magazine. In 2017, Doucet was named the 2017 Winner of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award as Product Designer—the highest honor in his field.

Wind energy has played a key role in helping national grids around the world reduce dependence on fossil fuels to generate energy, but wind turbines for the home have encountered very slow uptake due, in part, to their intrusive physicality. “There are a lot of reasons why wind farms are in the ocean,” Doucet explained to Fast Company magazine last month. “These are massive towers; you’re not going to see them littered around the cityscape.” Attempting to resolve this issue, he designed his “kinetic wall” to be installed in any situation, at any place, from highways to our homes.