#ONELESS DESIGN FELLOWSHIP

Increased use of publicly available drinking water will deliver substantial positive impact on the health of the ocean. Yet numerous technical, practical and psychological barriers make widespread adoption of a fountain culture challenging.

Using the emotional narrative of water and the ocean, we propose a joined-up digital and physical infrastructure solution for London - the ‘London wave’.

Our interventions consider the user experience, accessibility, community engagement, inclusivity, design and material. They utilise existing infrastructure, including decommissioned fountains, in conjunction with new, iconic fountains. They seek to break down cultural barriers and ensure fountain use becomes embedded in London’s culture.

Water monsters are mobile drinking fountains designed for a range of urban venues and outdoor environments. They are an immediate and economical alternative to the installation of costly stationary fountains.

The monsters collect drinking water from existing fountains and taps, which they can later dispense to thirsty people on their route. For a small fee, the monsters offer a choice of flavours and herbs to add to the water. This serves both to replace the current revenue venues make from bottled water and to increase desirability for customers.

Beyond hydrating the capital, water monsters function as a living campaign to engage people, ease stigma around tap water and normalize refill culture.

We live in a society where smokers are glared at on the street, while shoppers carry a bag for life to the stores. Yet those carrying plastic water bottles are perceived as ‘cool’ and trendy.

‘People’s plastic’ investigated what it would take to ignite a behavioural shift and make refilling the new social norm. Their investigation lay in understanding what it would take for individuals to not reach for plastic water bottles.

The interventions seek to enable consumers to become more conscious of their actions on the environment and subsequently make plastic water bottles socially unacceptable.

We ask, would you still reach for bottled water…?

Not seeing and not experiencing the many steps involved in the production, dispatch, collection and recycling of single-use plastic bottles inevitably builds a wall of detachment and a dehumanising barrier from all these man-made processes.

‘A transparent revolution’ exhibited an array of small artefacts related to water, which focus the attention on the human factor from an individual perspective. With our objects we want to tell stories that might reduce the distance between the true reality and what we perceive of it; that through little interactions let the audience reflect over the issue of plastic consumption; and that rebuild already existing cultural narratives inspired by rituals related to water from a multicultural perspective.

Everyone has to recognise and acknowledge the importance of personal social impact and responsibility so that together we can take care of where we live through ethical choices. An insensitive action towards the environment, is also a crime against ourselves.

Bottled water culture has been quietly etched into our consumer conscience over the past few decades, and with a population approaching 9 million, it's going to be a real challenge for a city the size of London to change its collective behaviour.

#HowDoYouDrinkYours is a public awareness and engagement campaign. It champions the eclectic, personal and aspirational culture of refilling, over the homogenous and ugly truth of single-use. By crowd-sourcing content, it has the potential to catalyse a new social norm, relegating disposable bottles as undesirable and almost anti-social, perhaps like smoking or binge drinking.