Master in Interaction Design SUPSI Geo EAU

Geo EAU is an interactive waterless fountain based on the idea of pin screens. This fountain replaces the water with the use of solid metal moving fluidly at the user’s commands. The fountain consists of two large mechanical “pin screen” sculptures, one on the floor and another one directly on top facing at each other. The fountain displays a strong moving sculpture, whose shape is fully controlled by the user, in addition to the movement, the fountain interacts with itself through light and shapes. Interface and interaction modality

The main theme for Geo EAU is the Pin Screen Art, which consists of creating shapes with a uniform material or object such as the pins, and by pushing and pulling you can recreate any shape but with a very interesting distortion attached to it, created by the repetition of pins. The solid metal rods move in such union, that the entire surface will feel like liquid but never losing its strong and heavy look. Another theme that influenced the Geo EAU concept is the mechanical power. The piece should feel massive, and by using the metal rods as pins, should feel strong and heavy, and the user will feel empowered by being able to fully control such a massive sculpture with their bare hands. The relation of both motifs is that they are both physical, and both suggest a physical feedback to the user; a sensory feedback when the user touched the control pin-screen, and the visual feedback of controlling this heavy looking sculpture that is standing right in front of them as they feel the pins gently pushing in their skin. Technology

There are 2 sculptures, each one of the sculptures is a large scale Pin Screen. Sculptures:There is one on the floor, and one directly on top facing the other one.

Each sculpture is round with a diameter of approximately 3.6 to 4 meters
Each pin is a metal cylinder with 4cm of diameter, it should be able to retract on itself and grow up to 2 meters high.
Each pin, at the head it has a light that glows at proximity.
Each pin, at the head it has a light that glows at proximity.

Control Stands: There are 2 control stands; each one is connected to one of the sculptures. The interface for the control is a pin screen placed in a flat surface, with the pins towards the user.

The control screen is a small scale of the big sculpture with a diameter of approximately 30cms.
It sits flat on a surface, and the pins are spring loaded, meaning the pins come back slowly after release.

User experience

The first level consists of the manipulation of shape by the user. The user approaches the control stand where he finds a pin screen with the pins facing up, inviting the user to push them. When the user pushed the pins the shape drawn in the pins is instantly reflected into the sculpture exactly as the one he drew but in a larger scale, responding to the users commands almost instantly, the only lag would be of the sculpture movement to settle, which should not take longer than 1.5 seconds depending on high the sculpture will grow. For small movements it should react almost at touch. Since the pins are spring loaded, it will slowly come back to its original flat position. This completes the first level of interaction, where user controls shape by pushing on a pin screen.
The second level is an interaction between multiple users. Two users can control Geo EAU at the same time, one for the bottom one for the top. The second level consists of the response of one user to another to each other shapes, or even choreographing the sculpture to combine the 2 separate sculptures into bigger one. For example, if the bottom user creates a finger pointing up, the top user push another pointing finger, and if the user pushes all the way in , the sculptures will touch at the finger tips, making one big sculpture resemble the famous icon of the two fingers touching. For the user to be able to create these combined shapes, they will have to be able to recognize each other’s shapes and correct their creation pushing the users to be more creative as they get used to the fountain.
The third level it’s not so obvious but at some point it should come out clear. It consists of interaction of one sculpture to the other. The intensity of lights in the top of each rod is connected to the distance to the corresponding rod in the other sculpture; the closer the rods are, the brighter the lights glow.