Fall 2020 Special Topics in Architecture (Digital Systems) 5/6 (Waddell & Angola)

WATER (CRISIS) FOUNTAIN WATER (CRISIS) FOUNTAIN is an installation that brings awareness to the water issues that face Indigenous communities in Canada by intercepting everyday activities such as filling a water bottle or taking a drink, and creating an interactive platform to give people a voice and disseminate information.

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel | Assignment No. 3

ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Laura Anzola & Matthew Waddell | December 01, 2020

CONCEPT THE WATER CRISIS. In Canada 1 in 5 First Nations communities live without access to drinking water. In Ontario 2 in 5 First Nations communities are under a boil water advisory. Several of them for decades.1 Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is also one of the most water-rich. The Great Lakes hold approximately 20% of the earth’s fresh surface water. “Access to sufficient, affordable, and safe drinking water [...] is easy for most Canadians.

But this is not true for many First Nations indigenous persons.”2 This is a public health and a human rights crisis - in violation of the United Nation’s human rights to water and sanitation. Its causes include underfunded infrastructure, unenforced standards, extractive industries, privatization of water sources, lack of source protection, and the reserve system, which is a tool of colonial genocide that has been ongoing in Canada for centuries.

WATER (CRISIS) FOUNTAIN is an installation that sheds light on the water issues that face Indigenous communities by intercepting everyday activities such as filling a water bottle or taking a drink, and creating an interactive platform to give people a voice, disseminate information, and contribute to change.

Including the Neskataga and Shoal Lake 40 First Nations where advisories have been in place for the past 20 years 2 “Make It Safe: Canada’s Obligation to End the First Nations Water Crisis,” Human Rights Watch.

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Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT We acknowledge the land, where this project is proposed, is on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.

PROJECT ACKNOWLEDGMENT Although out of the scope of this academic proposal, we acknowledge that in order to create an installation that is successful we would have to design it in collaboration with First Nation’s communities and designers, as well as through the expertise of water crisis organizations such as Water First. This project seeks to create a platform for these communities to voice their concerns and bring awareness to a current and critical issue, but understand this is only possible by becoming an ally through this close collaboration and engagement. The goal for the project is not to use the crisis as a means to create a project, or to step in as a ‘hero’, it is fully to become an ally in the fight for justice and change. We also acknowledge that charity and projects like this are temporary solutions, but sometimes temporary solutions are still valuable tools, which is why we are promoting organizations that contribute to long-term interventions.

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The concept uses a universally known symbol, the water fountain, in which people expect to immediately receive clean water, and uses it to break this routine, demand attention, and create a platform for people facing the water crisis. In its passive state, users interact via. motion sensors and shifting water graphics. When users get closer to the fountain the water becomes visibly dirty - challenging the perception of what the fountain is. The active interaction comes when users activate the fountain to fill a bottle or take a drink, triggering descriptive animations, and videos of First Nation community members discussing the water crisis.

CONCEPT DIAGRAM

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Passive stages of interaction base on proximity

A Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

Visual The project displays graphics shifting from water to information to people. The water responds to people’s movements. An element of discovery is introduced in the sequence.

Active stages of interaction disseminating information & awareness

B

Auditory The fountain becomes a platform to educate & voice concerns about the water crisis. It is amplified by an auditory element. Repeat value is introduced with an updated library of conversations.

C

Tactile The primary interaction of filling a bottle or taking a drink is intercepted. Similar to the simple interaction of turning on a light where users expect the light to turn on.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION ANIMATION

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION VISUALIZATION

Cycling & walking trail along Queens Quay West in Toronto - location chosen to intercept high volumes of pedestrian traffic along the lake shore & from the CN Tower with a functional amenity; and to connect with the notion of water along Lake Ontario (one of the largest fresh water reserves in the world - see Location & Implementation Strategy) Design of structure abstracted from basic office water dispenser into monolithic element to suit context - similar to contemporary street armature Flexible LED display wrapped around weather proofed assembly on steel structure, housing water dispensing system, motion sensors, computer equipment, & speakers Installation repeated along path

Interface The project uses a familiar action of filling a water bottle or taking a drink as the active interface for the project. The buttons would trigger a timer, delaying the water and starting graphic displays including the water animation turning discoloured, and playing videos of First Nation community members & experts discussing the water crisis.

The passive interface would be the water animation reacting to movement via. motion sensors. Thus the concept of creating a platform for voices to be heard, is only complete by intercepting the action of the user.

Installation centered in sidewalk for 360o interaction

Torontonians expecting to get clean water out of the fountain while generally unaware of water issues that face many First Nation communities.

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

LOCATION & IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY The installations are located along the Queens Quay West public cycling & walking path that borders Lake Ontario.

The location was chosen to bring awareness & acknowledgment to the traditional territory but also relate to the water crisis. Lake Ontario is part of a series of lakes that make up 20% of the earths fresh water.

CN TOWER

The path was chosen for maximum public engagement. The cycling & walking trail creates a need for public fountains & water bottle filling stations. It is also within walking distance of the CN Tower, a large tourist attraction. All of these factors combine to maximize public engagement, reflect the concept of the water crisis, & create a platform for First Nation community voices.

The path is also the physical border between water and city which intensifies the meaning behind the installation, and reflects on the spiritual connection to water, versus the modern city’s use of water as a commodity.

Queens Quay W

Lake Ontario

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS INSTALLATION SCHEMATIC

Three elements: interactive interface (sensors & buttons), audio (speakers), visual (LED screens)

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N.T.S. Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

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1. Interface: there are two interfaces for the installation. In the passive state the animations respond to passers-by via. motion sensors (which trigger various timers, animations, and translations within touchdesigner). In the active state (the tactile user interface state), the installation responds to either the touch of the user using the fountain, or the sensor for filling a water bottle (different triggers are activated in toughdesigner and play animations and videos) 2. Cables within the installation connect the triggers (sensors and buttons) to the computer, which processes the data, and activates the LED screen and speakers.

3. The structure is a built-up weather proofing assembly (steel frame, batt insulation, A/V barrier, steel exterior with flexible LED screen), C/W hatch for access to computer 4. Main computer, signals from sensors to screen/speakers 5. Power source (battery, solar power on top of installation, or connection to municipal supply) 6. Speakers 7. Motion sensors 8. Flexible weather proof LED screen exterior 9. Water dispensing system (or connection to municipal water supply) 10. Pedestrian Path 11. Cycle Path 12. Lake Ontario

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS SAMPLE TOUCHDESIGNER SYSTEM

Input from motion sensors & two water dispensers (fountain + water bottle filling)

Inputs sorted into individual triggers (timers, switches, etc.)

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

Audio associated with some of the animations

Screen content (water animations, video inputs, etc.)

Transformations & geometry

Output result to screen & speakers

CONNECTIONS

LECTURE CONTENT, COURSE READINGS, & PRECEDENTS Class Content

Precedent

This project shares similarities and references the lectures and readings relating to transforming mirrors and interaction design: The project also took inspiration from Dr. Paul Pangaro’s lecture “Interaction Design for Product, Business Process, and Conversation”.1 To a lesser extent than the precedents in the lecture, this project considers human interaction as fundamental to design. Part of the process that led to considering the water front path and a water fountain as the interactive installation, was the idea of the journey map - looking at everyday Torontonians and trying to design an interactive installation that intercepted their everyday lives.

Not only does in physically intercept their lives, but it also intercepts the concept of what a water fountain is. People automatically expect clean, fresh drinking water to be readily available, without realizing this isn’t the case for many people in the world.

The concept seeks to intercept and break these norms.

KRZYSZTOF WODICZKO | Homeless Projection: Place des Arts, 2014 “Krzysztof Wodiczko’s public projections give life to monuments and public buildings through expressive physical movement, combining the images and voices of marginalized citizens: the homeless, immigrants, survivors of domestic violence and war veterans. Homeless Projection: Place des Arts is a new site-specific largescale projection in which the bodies and voices of the homeless who frequent the downtown core will populate the multi-tiered surface of Théâtre Maisonneuve.”2

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Dr. Paul Pangaro, “Interaction Design.”

“Krzysztof Wodiczko.” MAC Montréal.

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

CONNECTIONS WATER FIRST

An example of an organization committed to the water crisis in a more long term capacity is Water First: Mission “Our mission is to help address local water challenges in Indigenous communities through education, training and meaningful collaboration.”

“Everyone has a right to safe, clean water.

The water crisis in Indigenous communities in Canada is unacceptable.

Skills training is critical to building sustainable solutions to water challenges in First Nations communities.

Collaborative programs with First Nations communities should integrate Indigenous values, knowledge, customs and traditions at every opportunity.”

First Nations Advisory Council “As a primarily non-Indigenous organization, our First Nations Advisory Council (FNAC) members provide valuable feedback on our programs and delivery in communities.”

‘What we do’ Drinking Water - Water First Internship Program Environmental Water - Waterquality studies & restoration projects Indigenous Schools - Education resources1

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Water First, https://waterfirst.ngo/.

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

CONNECTIONS CANADA & BEYOND

The following maps current long term drinking water advisories (LT-DWAs) on public on-reserve water systems supported by the Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). There are approximately 500 non-public drinking water systems on reserve that are not supported by the government.

This map shows that the water crisis isn’t limited to Ontario. It also shows the potential for a nation wide installation and awareness effort.

Outside of Canada issues around water are also prevalent. Creating a platform and utilizing a well known device such as a water fountain, could be applied to other countries to bring awareness to their specific water issues.

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“Ending Long-term Drinking Water Advisories,” Government of Canada.

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

CONNECTIONS

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Gerster, Jane, and Krista Hessey, “Why Some First Nations Still Don’t Have Clean Drinking Water - despite Trudeau’s Promise.”

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Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARE.NA CHANNEL

“Ending Long-term Drinking Water Advisories.” Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern

Affairs Canada. February 17, 2020. https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1506514143353/153 3317130660.

https://www.are.na/josh-tebokkel/reactive-architecture-design

“Krzysztof Wodiczko.” MAC Montréal. https://macm.org/en/exhibitions/krzysztof-wodiczko-homeless-projection-place-des-arts-

2014/#:~:text=Homeless Projection: Place des Arts is a new site-specific,in close

collaboration with St. Gerster, Jane, and Krista Hessey. “Why Some First Nations Still Don’t Have Clean Drinking

Water - despite Trudeau’s Promise.” Global News. October 03, 2019. https://globalnews. ca/news/5887716/first-nations-boil-water-advisories/.

“Reserves.” Indigenousfoundations. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/reserves/.

“Safe Water for First Nations.” The Council of Canadians. https://canadians.org/fn-water.

“Water First to Reflect Commitment to First Nations Water Issues.” Anishinabek News. September

6, 2016. http://anishinabeknews.ca/2016/09/06/water-first-to-reflect-commitment-to- first-nations-water-issues/.

“Make It Safe: Canada’s Obligation to End the First Nations Water Crisis.” Human Rights Watch.

June 7, 2016. https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/07/make-it-safe/canadas-obligation- end-first-nations-water-crisis.

Bui, Vi. “The Council of Canadians Submission to the Canada Water Agency Consultation.”

The Council of Canadians. August 2020.

https://canadians.org/analysis/council-canadians-submission-canada-water-agency- consultation.

Freeman, Alan. “Canada Has 20 Percent of the Planet’s Freshwater. But Some Worry There’s

Not Enough to Go Around.” The Washington Post. October 14, 2016. https://www. washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/14/canada-has-20-percent-of-the-p lanets-freshwater-but-some-worry-theres-not-enough-to-go-around/.

Water First. https://waterfirst.ngo/.

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS Anudeep Mummareddy & Josh TeBokkel ARCH 680.07 Digital Systems and Responsive Environmental Design Assignment 03 | Interactive Installation

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CONCEPT

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SUMMARY