ALIEN - Progen
What mass product should we produce to take full advantage of our new gas-assisted injection machines?
On April 28th, 2004, a tragedy befell the citizens of Bogotá that is considered one of the worst disasters in the city’s recent history. An asphalt recycling machine that was part of the city’s construction work on an extensive new transportation system fell on top of a school bus, causing the death of 21 children and two adults and injuring 24 others.
The cause of this accident was attributed, among other things, to the violation of regulations concerning industrial security, road signalling in construction areas, and the lack of appropriate tools to alert and move machinery, pedestrians, and vehicles on public roads with complicated traffic patterns.
The ALIEN emerged in 2000 to alert, safeguard, and demarcate roads as a project whose objective was precisely to protect and warn pedestrians, vehicles and drivers travelling on outdated, rustic and complex Latin American highways.
This tragic accident confirmed these dangers and convinced city planners to understand the importance of the ALIEN design developed by CD&I Associates. Today, this invention has become an international patent and was declared the “Design of the Decade” by El Tiempo, Colombia’s most influential newspaper.
ALIEN is available in many countries, where for more than 20 years, it has been used to transform and improve quality of life
It also won plaudits at the Madrid and Shanghai Architectural Exhibitions, won the “Lapiz de Acero” Award and was a finalist in the Innovators of America Award. It is now considered an icon of the Latin American design and material culture.
How does it work? Needed to generate traffic indicators to be placed in a consecutive way to advise workers, pedestrians and drivers of possible obstacles and accidents that may occur, it uses a light system that is easy to move, with the ability to efficiently carry road signalling tapes that integrate signalling systems, cable lines, ropes, and chains.
ALIEN comprises three essential pieces that enable it to mutate into more than ten different demarcation systems: by becoming a cone, a barricade, or a signal, depending on the circumstances.
Its modular nature represented a new typology on the market that eased transportation and storage costs and significantly reduced costs and workforce expenses.
The ALIEN base was designed to be filled quickly with water or sand to offer more stability to the device; road signalling tapes were achieved rapidly and securely, exposing it to the maximum visual area. Thanks to the connection mechanisms contained at the end of each module, it allows the structure to be configured in different ways, temporary and modular, or permanent and fixed, just by removing one of its security tabs.
