Funtains

Funtains offers the opportunity to design and animate robot fountains as kinetic sculptures with a 3D animation software (Maya + Mimic).

The fountain is a complex object that has had different functions throughout history. After having been the place of hygiene and social care, it became a purely decorative ornament. For a long time, fountains served as public places. All social categories met at the fountain to quench their thirst, wash their clothes or do their dishes while discussing the news of the world. However, the arrival of running water in homes at the beginning of the 20th century led to the privatisation of previously collective activities (drawing water, washing clothes, etc.). By losing its utilitarian character, the fountain became a monument in its own right, for decoration or entertainment. Majestic fountains, for recreational and aesthetic purposes, appeared during the Renaissance, and continue today with water shows.

Today, the public fountain, also called the drinking fountain, has regained its utilitarian and social character with a renewed relationship of proximity in the city: offering drinking water to all, and thus avoiding the use of plastic bottles. The fountain has also been given a new role in terms of hygiene with the pandemic of COVID19, which may merit design research.

Over the course of the semester you will investigate the relationship between the movement of the robot and the nature of the water jet by designing and animating your own fountain.