projects
notes
designer
engineer
and sometimes
rice farmer
engineer
and sometimes
rice farmer
designing for
human
existence
on water privilege
summer 2023
org:
ideo
client:
roppongi midtown
design team:
takumi kitamura - poject manager
alisa koegel - production lead
yurio yamaguchi - design research lead
rhianna davies - communication design
kenta kondo - critical design
process:
human centered design
critical design
output:
outdoor exhibit @ design touch 2023 roppongi midtown
media:
tokyoartbeat
in the center of tokyo, a beautiful artificial river flows across roppongi midtown park.
the locals, the employees, the dogs love it.
so we decided to turn the water off.
we designed a waterless river where visitors can reflect on water consumption at a personal, national, and global level. in the dried up river, we placed 27 mirrored water droplets each containing a reflection prompt. we played riversounds in the background to create a cognitive dissonace between what you see and what you hear. riversounds were accompanied by interview snippets of water experts. why?
japan is a water-abundant country. but japan is also a water-dependant country. as an import dependant nation, the goods produced abroad indirectly consumes a substaital amount of water. from the smartphones, to jeans, to groceries, imported goods makes japan water-dependent. some might even say japan indirectly steals water from other nations. this exhibit was designed for visitors to confront this contradiction and reflect critically on our collective water privelege.
where is water?
who owns water?
what is water?
>critical design
>outdoor installation
>we are running out of freshwater folks
>like seriously