From the various briefs given by RSA Student Awards I chose the one based around water and water management in the urban environment.
My design focuses on the idea that using a public art installation will draw peoples’ attention in and they will want to know what it’s all about, therefore creating awareness about the subject matter within the design. I have used a shocking fact about urban water usage to make people aware of just how much water they use on a daily basis. This, in turn, should shock people and make them think twice when using water, and hopefully this means people will take greater care to save water.
I have created a design that would be projected onto the side of a building, maybe in a city center, so an area with a high footfall so the message is seen by as many people as possible. Projecting this message onto the side of a building makes the design very versatile, so can be easily moved to different areas and may only be projected at different times of the day/year – possibly when there is a higher volume of people so more people see it. Also, I have designed it so that the illustrative water drains away to reveal the shocking fact that ‘only 4% of the perfectly drinkable water you use everyday is used for drinking’, creating this sort of movement within the design will grab peoples attention – especially with it being such a large scale projection, it will create a ‘buzz’ and a talking point. I feel this design will be successful in gaining peoples attention and hopefully change people’s behavior towards their own water usage.
These are the first two stages of my projection design, I thought it might be quite interesting if the shocking water fact was revealed by the water draining away, as if it were being wasted. I have chosen to project the design onto the side of a building that you would find in a city centre as this is a place with high footfall so will be seen by as many people as possible for maximum effect.
Stages #3 and #4 are when the fact starts to be revealed and the audience will grow curious as to what the fact says. The water effect slowly drains away to reveal the whole fact which can be seen in stage #5.
Stage #5 is where the fact is fully visible to the audience to read. The fact is shocking and grabs peoples’ attention, by reading this fact, and the content in which it has been shown, I hope the audience will take note of their water usage in order to save water and help the environment.
The last few stages of the projection design show the water being re-filled and covering the fact completely. This represents the water that is saved if the audience change their behaviour towards their daily water usage. The projection would be played on repeat throughout the busiest times of the day, so that as many people as possible see it and there is more chance of behaviour change and higher levels of careful water usage/management. This installation is easily movable and can be projected ont almost anything, meaning the message can be shown to almost everybody.
