aquiPROJECT: wyman 2013

a design to raise awareness of the waters which run beneath our feet.

Existing Condition: A human imprint on the land.

Proposed Intervention: Individual artistic human imprints cast in glass, begin to raise a collective voice for water resource conservation, becoming a call for the return of freshwater to our aquifer.

A non-flowing spring is a tragic human imprint on the land, and an exposed snapshot of what is happening beneath the surface in the Floridan Aquifer.

Environmentally degraded site: The defunct White Sulfur Spring, White Springs, Florida, 10/2011

Rivers Lakes Streams Springs Economy Recreation Water Quality & Availability Wildlife Habitat Tourism Geologic Stability

mississippi mississippi

white springs

Floridan Aquifer System suwannee river

White Springs, Florida

suwannee river

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The Floridan UNCONFINED @ uppermost layer

florida

• Rural North Florida • Population 777 • Folk Culture • Hub for Nature-Based Tourism attracting 120K+ annually r

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The Floridan CONFINED underlies: Other Rocks Surficial Coastal Lowlands Biscayne

A site-based opportunity to shed light on the far-reaching effects of aquifer decline.

Temporal Extension

Globalization separates consumers from producers Politics

Complexity & Uncertainty

Economics

A Complex Web of Systems

Environment

Practice

What we do shapes what we understand

Relationality

Technology works for us, yet separates us from natural processes, excluding bodily energy and response.

Blurs the connection between our daily behaviors and environmental issues, creating an epistemic distance

The Site: historically rich, yet environmentally degraded. It is envisioned as an opportunity to raise region-wide awareness through the

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, an expanding sculpture created in art/ecoliteracy workshops, and sited at White Springs.

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Site Synthesis

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Environmentally Degraded White Sulfur Spring Historic DeLegal Service Station: Opportunity to site an art studio for community & tourists to participate in the expanding aquiPROJECT Underutilized Visitor Center is envisioned as a Restaurant with Outdoor dining overlooking the River

A Spring House surrounds the defunct spring

View of Spring House from Suwannee River

White Springs, FL

6-Acre Site

Landscape Architecture & Community-Based Art for Ecoliteracy through Attachment to Place and the Act of Creating Stephen Foster Cultural Center

An Art Path

& Expanding Community-Made Sculpture

Spring Bowl

Planned Retail District

Temporary Markets

CIRCULATION Primary Path (ADA) River Ramp (ADA) Stairs

The Landing

Secondary Trail River Ramp

Public Garden

Peripheral

Invitation to Participate

Expanding Sculpture

SEATING & VIEWING The expanding

is sited along an art path connecting existing paths to open spaces and the river, compelling users through

wooded slopes to and from the river, and creating connections to the Stephen Foster Cultural Center and planned retail district.

Ideation Technique: Model, Sketches & Art Narrative as a method of conceptual exploration to achieve an interpretive experience

An artistic formation representing a geological spring vent lies below the surface, encircled by a stepped path. The lowest two steps are pressed with artifacts of the prehistoric and Paleolithic path is unmarked, yet reflects the present age of industry and

eras respectively. The third step and main technology. Each level speaks to the changing

landscape in relation to our human imprint over time. On

the upper level, it is void of any

impressions, but metaphorically marked by the

footsteps of those who take this

path. At this level, the aquiPROJECT begins,

and participants will tell the story

over time, as glass castings are added, each

one representative of the individual

who made it. This human imprint becomes

a growing and unified voice of awareness,

calling for the conservation of our natural

water resources. A steel sculpture emerges from

the spring vent, mimicking the power and

fluctuations of the water which runs beneath our

feet, forced by pressure to the surface,

through the spring vent, and into the river. The

two units intertwine

and intersect at irregular moments, each moving

through time on

separate paths. Where the steel sculpture ceases,

the expanding

aquiPROJECT continues to meander, retreating

into wooded

slopes and celebrated in open spaces on it’s

journey. As

the sculpture reappears near the spring house

and reaches

across the river, the two units are reconciled-opposing powers. Still fluctuating, undulating,

no longer and changing, but

Meandering Over Waterways

at last, in synchronic harmony.

Retreating into Wooded Slopes

Celebrating the Growing Awareness in Open Spaces

Reaching Around the Spring House in a Protective Embrace

Details & Materials Framing System for Inidvidually-Created Glass Castings

Aluminum Modular Framework Recycled Glass Castings

Example of Glass Castings Images Source: Washington Glass School; Erwin Trimmers

Connections

Adaptable Modular System Vertically Undulating Modules

Horizontally Undulating Modules

SCALE: 1" = 1'-0"

An infinite number of configurations are possible to allow the system to be customized to the site.

Interpretive Experience: Human Imprint Over Time ENGRAVED INSCRIPTION Water is not a renewable resource.

There is neither more nor less water around now than there has ever been or ever will be.

Every molecule of every droplet of water in existence today has always been there recording our acts upon the globe.

Impressed Steps Detail

Robert France

The upper path is void of impressions, metaphorically marked by footsteps. Here, the begins, and participants will tell the story over time, as glass castings are added, each one representative of the individual who made it.

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Public Gardens: A celebrated entry into town

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Restaurant with Outdoor Dining:

The Commons A Masterplan

The aquiPROJECT reaches under a covered balcony and hovers over dining spaces.

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AN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE We invite the citizens of White Springs, and the visitors who come our way to join with others across North Florida who have been involved in the making of this project.

Each individual art piece which is created and added to the expanding sculpture represents an individual. Its expansion literally represents the voice of its creators which will become louder, clearer, and more unified.

To participate, please go to the Art Studio in the White Springs Community Museum. No experience is necessary. A $10 donation is suggested which covers the cost of the materials and the continuance of the project. Please allow 2 hours at the art studio to view a short film, complete a survey, and create your art. Then make plans to return. Participants will be informed of scheduled reunion events where your work will become part of the collective voice calling for the return of fresh water to our aquifer.

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The Landing:

The aquiPROJECT follows stairs overlooking the river and is intersected by a series of switchbacks, inviting river travellers to the town, and the community back to its river.

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Temporary Markets Lawn and Entrance to Spring Bowl: The aquiPROJECT is visible from US-41.

All are invited to follow the project at aquiPROJECT.com

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The site becomes an inviting commons for tourists and locals alike. All are invited to participate in the through signage at each sculpture.

Spring Bowl:

The aquiPROJECT reaches around the Spring House in a protective embrace.

Spatial Experience

The Public Garden

Sculpture & aquiPROJECT Clusters of Redbud & Dogwood Trees

The Landing brings users through the wooded slopes to experience the aquiPROJECT and the river.

The Spring Bowl a celebrated open space around

the historic spring house where the aquiPROJECT wraps around the spring in a protective embrace.

A Workshop Framework for Ecoliteracy & Regional Dissemination Plans

Springs High Schools & Population Concentration

Workshop Dissemination

18 counties in closest proximity to the Suwannee River (most affected region), as well as counties drawing upon this water supply (most affecting region).

Future Consideration

Saltwater intrusion, springs and aquifer decline require ecoliteracy.

Future Consideration

Saltwater intrusion and aquifer decline require ecoliteracy.

98 potential High Schools with a goal of 2 workshops per school in art and other electives programs.

Up to 45 Art Studios serve as hubs to process the art, and as hosts to quarterly workshops for multigenerational groups.

Up to 50 Festivals across the region serve to include multigenerational groups in an abbreviated but meaningful workshop experience.

(10 participants per session, or dividing larger groups)

(6-10 participants per session)

(6-10 participants per session)

Using a participatory model of embodied learning in 1/2-day art/ecoliteracy workshops creates the potential for long-term commitment to conserving natural water resources. The dissemination plan reaches out to 18 counties in the affected and affecting region of North Florida, with each individual contributing to the expanding

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The Art Learning Module

as means of embedding understanding by democratizing the interpretation of art

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Found and brought items are used to create textures in the clay.

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Sculpting tools are used to create a positive mold which respresents the individual.

45 minutes

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The clay positive is placed in a plastic box, serving as 'mortar boards'.

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Plaster is mixed and poured into the plastic box covering the clay positive.

10 minutes

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The plaster mold is removed from the frame box.

The clay is pulled away to reveal the one-time-use plaster negative mold which will be used to make glass castings.

after 30 minutes

Overwhelmingly, participants were interested in following the project through an online blog (aquiPROJECT.com), attending scheduled reunion events at White Springs, and visiting White Springs on their own to see their work cast in glass in an expanding sculpture.

Site-Based Application for Attachment to Place

In this iteration, more than 1,088 individuals learn about, and raise a growing and collective voice toward water resource conservation through the making of art, and potentially develop a sense of connectedness to the public place where it is exhibited.