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Works

Rockfish Habitat

A modular habitat for the endangered Rockfish population 

In collaboration with Mamie Shi
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External Partners:

  • DESIS Lab 

  • Oceanwise 

  • Vancouver Aquarium 

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Roles:

  • Researcher

  • Industrial Designer

  • Visual Designer

Vancouver rockfish populations are currently on a decline. They are increasingly being driven out of their natural habitats because of human activities. In support of the threatened Rockfish in Howe Sound, we designed a modular habitat for the rockfish population to help support their restoration. 

Focusing our attention on adult Quillback rockfish which dwells in deep rocky bottoms, we considered their preferred environment, the size of the fish and their lifestyle. These modules can be stacked in numerous ways, providing shelter for different sized Quillback rockfish, as well as other bottom dwellers in order to support a healthier ecosystem. The habitat is meant to stack along rocky bottoms, the openings providing shelter for the fish. It features natural ridges that act as both joinery and spaces for sea fauna to grow. The modules are casted out of concrete and meant to be lowered down to the ocean floor by divers.  

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Capture.JPG
  • Research
    “I’m not sure, to be honest, I can’t say that I identify more to either side, because I still live with my parents so I speak a lot of Vietnamese and do Vietnamese family things, like I still feel connected to the Vietnamese culture, but not so strongly because I was born here. But I don’t identify as more Canadian either…” “To be quite honest, I’ve always felt a disconnect in which country is my home country, so don’t really know.” These are some of the responses, we received from initial research through a questionnaire about Identity. Drawing from this survey that we sent out to 1st and 2nd generation immigrant youths as well as mixed and third culture individuals, we mapped out their responses and drew common themes which are safe space, common ground and community.
  • Process
    We started out with the goal of connecting immigrants closer to their culture, but as the project evolved, we realized we had to look deeper than that. Through our primary research, internal questioning and reflection, conversations with peers and mentors, and the process of iteration, we arrived at the goal of lifting up youths so they feel belonging and acceptance. Eventually, we landed on two main activities that fulfills our core themes: a microaggression card game and a mask-mapping activity. We have iterated various versions of the workshop, what it would look like, and how it would play out with pandemic restrictions.
  • Prototyping
    We conducted material exploration for the mask-making activity, experimenting with felt, paper, plaster wrap, foil and other materials. The base had to be comfortable to use, be structured enough to provide participants with a framework but also lose enoughthat they could excercise their creativity. Eventually, we settled with papermache for its ease of use and low-skill engagement. For the card game, we mapped it out in Miro and created simple card prototypes to play with. We iterated several versions of the game, varying the prompts and responses to provide the smoothest and most genuine interaction while at it's core, educating participants and prompting conversation.
  • Engagement
    Through Miro and Zoom, as well as in-person, we conducted mini-workshops of the card game and the identity-mapping activity to test the outcome, facilitation and validate the impact of the workshop.
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