Peggy Willing, H2OME: wateraware [×]

On the driest continent on earth, what could be more precious than fresh water…?
In an era defined by human driven climate change there is urgency that we address our impact on the earths ability to regulate. Healthy natural environments are a prime reflection of climatic balance, yet our radically urbanised way of life has severed us from this intrinsic comprehension. From our domestic interiors we exploit land daily with no apparent consequence to inform us of our effect.
H2OME is a design project that interrogates the consumers relationship with water in an existing home. It seeks to promote mindful consumption of this essential resource by connecting users to the complexities of its origin.
Consumed frequently within this site water appears via the simple turn of a tap. We often only associate it with the domestic tasks at hand and quickly discard of it despite the extensive journey. Its fleeting presence brings with it wastefulness and lack of opportunity to question where it came from, where it is going and how we might be degrading its quality.
In challenging the infrastructural systems that service us with the delivery and disposal of water, this project aims to expose consumers to the natural processes otherwise hidden to them. Enacting a systems-thinking approach to utilising water within the home the reconfigured dwelling foregrounds a gravitational purifier with consumers integral to its activation at every stage.
If devoted to the system a series of rewards emerge that embrace moments within nature where water is the essence of life. This seeks to depict an interlinked ecology reflective of natural terrains on an intimate scale. Through this process of engagement with a system the consumer turns carer of water and it is hoped, develops a greater awareness of its vitality.