Quell
A smart public water hub that obligingly accommodates all users and their needs.
a semester project at weißensee school of art and design berlin
with Janine Fingerle
The Concept
Quell is a smart public water hub that celebrates the analogue quality of water. It puts the user in dialogue with the stream itself.
In stand-by mode, a fine mist is sprayed which attracts the attention of passers-by. This spray has not only a cooling effect, but also a self-cleaning function for the fountain.
When a user approaches Quell, a hands-free response from the fountain is initiated, allowing the user to modulate the way the water is presented.
Artificial intelligence allows it to adapt to your height, react to your hand gestures, and in a polite gesture, bow down to fill up your water bottle. By moving the hands together and apart, the stream becomes more concentrated or diffused. This »neo-analogue« gesture allows the user to conduct the water stream, and represents the spectrum of variation possible, from a fine mist to a targeted jet.
Quell could prompt a more inclusive and enjoyable interaction with water in the public space.
Why We Need More Drinking Fountains
Access to water is an essential human need that is more and more commercialised.
With cities becoming hotter year by year, the European Union has now introduced legislation that underlines the city‘s increasing responsibility in providing its people with free water. This precipitates the introduction of more public fountains in the coming years, helping to reduce plastic waste.
A liter of bottled water is roughly 700 times more expensive than tap water and generates approximately 580 times more CO2 emissions during production and distribution.
With cities becoming hotter year by year, the European Union has now introduced legislation that underlines the city‘s increasing responsibility in providing its people with free water. This precipitates the introduction of more public fountains in the coming years, helping to reduce plastic waste.
A liter of bottled water is roughly 700 times more expensive than tap water and generates approximately 580 times more CO2 emissions during production and distribution.
Observing Existing Water Fountains
Ideation
During a design sprint, we developed our first prototype, focusing on the interaction.
Using the »neo-analogue« gesture of moving the hands together and apart, the user can fade between a jet for handwashing and a fine mist offering a refreshment. Using a spectrum between the two functions, instead of a binary interaction, makes for a much richer interaction.
Experiments
To incorporate the drinking-function, we experimented with different water jet angles and diameters. We decided that the perfect angle is 5°, at the highest point of the jet the water collects and makes it easier to drink. A thicker jet is more comfortable, while a smaller one is more sufficient.
Building a functional prototype
To build a functional prototype, we wrote code in Cables that uses a camera to recognize our gestures with the help of the MediaPipe and processes these values further.
We also linked an AI model that we trained in TeachableMachines to recognize a bottle.
Cables also enabled us to program various animations that Quell is meant to perform. The data for the servo motors and the water pump is then sent via a serial port to an Arduino, that is connected to the electronics.
In an iterative process we tinkered with nozzles and went from a hacked pump sprayer to 3D-printed enclosures mounted on bent aluminium pipes.
Outlook
The formal design of Quell aims to establish it as a distinctive urban icon, recognizable from a distance.
Its form language and terracotta-colored powder coating draw inspiration from ancient vessels.
Quell’s design communicates its affordances —the actions it enables— through its visual cues and the animations it performs in stand-by mode.