GowanusAR

{{sect1}}

~~ Spring 2024 Updates

Exhibition Update

We recently got accepted into the inaugural Meaningful XR Conference (at Stanford in May) to showcase GowanusAR's novel design features in a poster exhibit.

‍

App Updates

After three rounds of user testing in 2023 and many iterations exploring our evolving vision, we have reached a crystallization of the app's form and content:

• 9 walking tour AR experience sites
• A 3D navigation map that guides the user to each of the sites
• The core UX of interacting with 3D content to uncover stories of the canal's past, present, and future
• Variations of an animated "Gaia figure" telling the user these uncovered stories at each site
• The narrative conclusion of the app, including a collective Gaia figure ritual and takeaway for the user of a stitched-together media tapestry recounting their journey

‍

We're aiming to complete our updates to each of the sites and ship a user-ready version of the app in the App Store within the next month.

‍

~~ New demo video forthcoming!

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

{{sect2}}

Overview

I've been collaborating with media artist Sarah Drury on the research, design, and development of a mobile AR app that tells interactive stories of past and speculative future land development around the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY.

‍

‍

‍

{{sect3}}

Inspiration

Sarah Drury, as a resident of a neighborhood bordering Gowanus, grew interested in the canal as a site of contested political and ecological issues. These include:

• its history of colonial development (starting with Dutch settlers' construction of "tide mills" for their farms)
• its history of industrial development (with layers of pollution stemming from sewage overflow and former gas plants and oil refineries)
• its being designated a federal Superfund site in 2010, laying plans for the Gowanus Rezoning (which allows 80 square blocks of residential high-rises)
• reflecting on these colliding issues of ecological remediation, gentrification, and possible sustainable development, activists and designers have been envisioning alternative solutions for the past two decades

‍

Inspired by these envisioned solutions, Sarah got the idea of literally visualizing them in an AR app that explores "alternative urban development and sustainability in the context of a densely built urban wetland." She invited me on board, and we started meeting to map out the design and technical requirements.

‍

‍

{{sect4}}

Approach

Via an AR iOS app, we are designing a guided tour around the future site of Gowanus Green, planned as an affordable, below-market-rate housing development, to be built along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York.

‍

It tells the history of the canal's development and visualize future development plans, including interactive "data stories" about social, ecological, and health impacts, such as added wastewater per building.

‍

I'm developing the app in Unity with C#, AR Foundation, and third-party plugins such as the Mapbox/ArcGIS Maps SDK and support for Apple's Core Haptics API, with the following features:

1. An interactive walking tour map
2. Data layers such as sewer infrastructure, underground waterways, and rezoning plans
3. Hotspots along the Gowanus Canal where users can experience content in AR
4. Within these AR experiences, interactive "data stories" brought to life by 3D animations, audio recordings, text, haptic vibrations, and GIS data

‍

Along the way, we're inviting contributions from local stakeholders, residents, artists, advocates, and landscape designers, such as audio narratives, 3D models, design projections, and information.

‍

‍

{{sect5}}

Outcome

Currently in development (through May 2024)

‍

‍

{{sect6}}

Process Sketches

‍

‍

‍