Passive, energy-free
wine cooling system.

Verre was developed in response to the design brief: create a sustainable cooling solution. The result is a passive, modular chiller that uses no electricity, relying instead on PCM-based cooling attachments tuned to each wine type. Its simple, intuitive assembly and low-impact materials deliver an elevated guest experience while dramatically reducing environmental footprint.

Verre

2025

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14 WEEKS

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USER RESEARCH

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

PROTOTYPING & FORM EXPLORATION

RENDERING & VISUALIZATION

YEAR

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DURATION

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SKILLS

YEAR

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DURATION

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80% of hotel guests expect in-room cooling amenities, yet most mini-fridges can’t even fit a standard wine bottle.

What should be effortless, elegant hospitality

becomes a messy workaround with ice buckets and towels.

80% of hotel guests expect in-room cooling amenities, yet most mini-fridges can’t even fit a standard wine bottle.

What should be effortless, elegant hospitality

becomes a messy workaround with ice buckets and towels.

Verre offers a passive way to cool wine instantly through modular, PCM-powered spiral attachments.

THE GOAL


To enable remote workers to thrive outdoors by creating seamless experiences that balance productivity, comfort, and immersion in nature

Expert Insights



PAIN POINTS






"After back-to-back meetings, I just want to unwind with something cold. I never bother calling the front desk for ice unless I’m desperate. It feels like a hassle.”


— Lie Seok Peng, Frequent Business Traveler

Setup or use is too complicated

Ice buckets are messy and melt too fast

Fridges are too small for wine bottles

Benchmark Product

Miecux Cup Cooler Teardown

This knolling diagram reveals the material and manufacturing complexity of the an electric cup cooler. When disassembled, it exposes multiple electronic parts, mixed plastics, motors, and heat-sink components, each contributing to a high environmental footprint and difficult to recover at end of life.
Benchmark Product

Miecux Cup Cooler Teardown

This knolling diagram reveals the material and manufacturing complexity of the an electric cup cooler. When disassembled, it exposes multiple electronic parts, mixed plastics, motors, and heat-sink components, each contributing to a high environmental footprint and difficult to recover at end of life.

Life Cycle Analysis

The LCA reveals that the benchmark cup cooler carries a high footprint due to its electronic components and constant electricity use. The process tree shows numerous complex manufacturing steps, while the impact matrix and Sankey diagram highlight electricity and electronics as major hotspots. Its final impact scores illustrate a product that is energy-intensive, material-heavy, and difficult to recover at end of life.

One Year of Use = One Week of a Hotel Room Fully Powered.


If 200 hotel guests used the electric chiller daily for a year,

that’s enough electricity to run a full guest room — lights, AC, outlets — for an entire week.

Verre eliminates that impact completely.

Inspired by Proven Thermal Engineering

To validate the cooling concept behind Verre, I looked at existing appliances such as LG’s PuriCare purifier that uses the same core principle as Verre: liquid is cooled instantly as it moves through a stainless-steel spiral tube inside a chilled chamber.
The spiral creates a long flow path with high surface contact, enabling fast heat exchange without compressors or active refrigeration, the foundation of Verre’s passive cooling system.
Inspired by Proven Thermal Engineering

To validate the cooling concept behind Verre, I looked at existing appliances such as LG’s PuriCare purifier that uses the same core principle as Verre: liquid is cooled instantly as it moves through a stainless-steel spiral tube inside a chilled chamber.
The spiral creates a long flow path with high surface contact, enabling fast heat exchange without compressors or active refrigeration, the foundation of Verre’s passive cooling system.

Calculating Spiral Length for Each Wine Type

By measuring the heat that must be removed to cool each wine varietal, I calculated the ideal spiral length for each attachment to deliver the correct temperature through passive cooling.

Calculating Spiral Length for Each Wine Type

By measuring the heat that must be removed to cool each wine varietal, I calculated the ideal spiral length for each attachment to deliver the correct temperature through passive cooling.

Guests retrieve the pre-cooled attachment from the fridge to match their wine’s temperature needs.

Impact Comparison — Benchmark vs. Verre

The chart shows that Verre has significantly lower Okala impact and CO₂e emissions than the benchmark. By removing electronics and eliminating energy use, Verre cuts the product’s total environmental footprint by more than half, making it a clearly more sustainable solution.

Impact Comparison — Benchmark vs. Verre

The chart shows that Verre has significantly lower Okala impact and CO₂e emissions than the benchmark. By removing electronics and eliminating energy use, Verre cuts the product’s total environmental footprint by more than half, making it a clearly more sustainable solution.

Concept and Form Development

Concept and Form Development

Prototyping Process

Prototyping Process

Images referenced in this portfolio are utilized under educational fair use for non-commercial student work, with ownership retained by the respective rights holders.
For permission to use or share any content from this site, please contact: achendrawan@inside.artcenter.edu

Images referenced in this portfolio are utilized under educational fair use for non-commercial student work, with ownership retained by the respective rights holders.
For permission to use or share any content from this site, please contact: achendrawan@inside.artcenter.edu