COLLABORATION BREAKDOWN 171+ CONTRIBUTORS
Cumulus seeks to define the relationship between water and community in the context of the Sonoran desert. Interdisciplinary collaboration with ASU’s undergraduate industrial design students allowed the installation to become not only a spatial experience but also a series of micro-interactions at an up-front, personal scale. To further explore the community’s perception of Arizona’s limited resource, we also initiated a participatory collaboration with Tonalea K-8 to design an installation directly reflecting the voice of Scottsdale’s youth. Working with Tonalea resulted in a playful, interactive installation inspired by the students’ excitement
SITE ANALYSIS
and anticipation of water in the desert. 4420 N SCOTTSDALE RD, SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85251
Scottsdale Public Art’s annual confluence of water + art + light, Canal Convergence, provides South Scottsdale with an authentic and immersive experience in and around Scottsdale’s canal. The ten day festival features interactive artwork, workshops and performances at the Scottsdale Waterfront. International and local artists showcase largescale, cutting-edge installations celebrating technology through light. Canal Convergence also offers the public free educational activities, a series of artist talks, poetry readings, and live music.
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CLOUD EVOLUTION
FROM 1ST TO 7TH G E N E R AT I O N
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BUILDING A CONCEPT D E S I G N , M O D E L , R E P E AT
As the studio progressed through our explorations on the topics of community and water, the overarching question of ‘What is water to a community in the context of the desert?’ continued to emerge. Through our work with Tonalea, we found the common denominator between the 120 students was the recurring theme of the desert monsoon. The
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students described the celebration and anticipation of water that comes with monsoons characteristic of the valley. Despite the students’ desire to play in the downpour, they often described how their parents would not allow them to remain outside during the storm. From these conversations, the concept of the cloud viewed through the context of windows came to
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fruition.
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our project came to be known as Cumulus. Just as a cloud exists as an accumulation of water molecules, communities exist because of the members themselves. With students from all over the world, our studio found strength in our
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BENCH EVOLUTION
F R O M 1 S T T O 5 T H G E N E R AT I O N
diversity throughout the design process as we explored first person accounts of a vast array of cultures and communities from members of our team. Although we all came from different backgrounds, the team unanimously found diversity to be a strength in each of our homelands. We continued to reiterate the idea that unity among
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diversity is what strengthens our community.
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CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS
CANAL CONVERGENCE I N S TA L L AT I O N + P E R F O R M A N C E
In order to directly exhibit the voice of the Tonalea students, quotes describing the importance of water and community where selected from the student’s worksheets to be displayed on the trapezoidal skin of the cloud structure. Many of the quotes spoke to the students’ diverse and unified communities while others emphasized the importance of water in the context of the desert. In addition to direct quotes, the students’ work inspiring the bench patterns was showcased using the HP Reveal smartphone application. Canal Convergence visitors were able to use their smartphones to “reveal” images of the Tonalea student’s crowns and card stock structures by detecting the various patterns through the application.
Our team installed Cumulus on-site at the Scottsdale Waterfront between November 5-7, and the installation opened to the public November 9th. Canal Convergence experienced 208,000 visitors during the ten days of the festival. Our team spent time on-site interacting with the installation’s participants and sharing the story of Cumulus.
INT 521: Fall 2018 Advanced Interior Architecture Studio I
Student: A. Ahlman, S. Afrin, D. Alarfaj, S. Clay, R. Frail, J. Hyuk Hong, K. Moncada, N. Tendulkar, Z. Zhao Instructor: Milagros Zingoni