Halve It Component:
My design project focuses heavily on the Environment pillar of our school's framework. 

• Environment means the air, water, plants and ground in a space, this impacts Middle School students in multiple ways. It can relax students, teach them about water and offer a soothing sound. It would also be an interesting art piece that would complement any murals in the area.

Sustainable Development Goal:

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities 

The Water Walls project meets SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities And Communities) because it provides an opportunity to Middle School students to see the amount of rain water we get. This is important because it will teach students about water usage, and rainwater collection. This will make students more sustainable with water because they have an appreciation of it.

School Context:
If you look closely at our new school campus design, there is a big problem: the name of the school is Living School and it's known for working in nature, and our new campus has none. Everything is buildings and large brick walls, straight lines everywhere Nothing resembling nature at all. Forcing Middle School students to work in this environment is against the school's ethics.

During school time Middle School students would rather work in natural environments. During one survey 96% of students would rather work in natural environments.

Ancient China

My design is deeply connected to ancient Chinese history and rainwater collection through the practice of using roofs to collect rainwater and store. From as early as the Qin and Han dynasties (221BCE-220CE) there are records of ponds being made to store domestic rainwater. To this day China still uses roof tops to collect rainwater, filter it and use it for multiple things such as toilets, sinks and showers.

My design also relies on the yin yang philosophy of light and dark, action and rest. As some parts of the sculpture will have water rushing through tight pipes as well as water slowly flowing down musical tubes.

By using both yin yang and chinese techniques we can design a sculpture that will look amazing and help calm down stressed students. This is why this is an essential thing for Middle School and the Living School community.  

Hundertwasser

My design uses the five skins of Hundertwasser to connect with nature as much as possible. The five skins of Hundertwasser is the philosophy of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and his way of explaining the way people express themselves in life.

The first skin is the epidermis, the actual skin on your body. The second skin is the clothes you wear, what you wear every day. The third skin is your house, what you live in. The fourth skin is your identity, what makes you you. And the last skin is the Earth, where everyone lives.

To bring Hundertwasser’s ideas back to the world, my project uses his five skins philosophy and his famous saying “straight lines are the work of the devil” to make my project represent Living School as best I can. The sculpture sits on the third skin, the house, or rather, any building you spend time in.

How might we design a water collection sculpture to help students' knowledge of rainwater collection, transportation and usage?

My design solution is the Water Walls. These should be located on two of  the walls of Brown & Jolly, replacing two boring concrete walls with a beautiful sculpture that will liven up the building.

The sculptures will feature steampunk-like pipes and repurposed spoons. One of the sculptures should be located on the Carrington external car park wall. The other sculpture should be located on one of the internal walls of the soon to be rainforest.                                                   

The first sculpture (Steam Junk) will be the one located on Carrington. It should feature large recycled bronze pipes that will all be coming out of a large pipe at the top. All the pipes will be going down at different angles and all the pipes will have different diameters to make different sounds as water flows down. The sculpture is inspired by Kunsthofpassage Singing Drain Pipes.

The second sculpture (Spoon Sound) will be the one located in the rainforest. It should feature hundreds of spoons that will each have a set of initials or signature of one student. Each student who is or was in Middle School as well as all the staff who work in Middle School will get to put a spoon on the sculpture. The sculpture is inspired by Ned Kahn's Spoonfall. As rainwater falls down the interior wall, it will be captured in each of the spoons until they fill enough to tip, creating a moving sculpture as rain falls and gathers at different intervals. 

The sculptures should be constructed by an artist, with help from Middle School students.