climate

futures


On view at the Liberty Research Annex
October 17, 2024 - January 1, 2025


about
projects
  1. 22/26 Midwest
  2. Ambiguous Territory
  3. Annotation and Insulation
  4. Asutsuare Rebound
  5. Atlas of the Trans-Apocalypse
  6. Becoming Biomass
  7. Bespoke Ultra-Thin Layered 3D-printed Reusable Wood-Bio-Based Formwork for Casting Complex Concrete Geometries
  8. Branch Wall: Geometrically Informed Non-Planar Toolpath and Material Deposition
  9. Deploy 2.0
  10. Detroit Cultural Center
  11. Elephant in the Room, and Other Fables
  12. Fabric-Formed Unstabilized Poured Earth
  13. Frie(s/d)
  14. Functionally Graded Additive Manufacturing
  15. Guidance for Designing and Implementing Constitutionally Valid Local Plans and Regulations to Protect Landmarked Trees, Woodlands, and Tree Canopy in Michigan
  16. Heat and Housing: Co-producing Passive Cooling Strategies and Promoting Health in Informal and Precarious Settlements
  17. Hygroscopic Envelope: Building Enclosures for Climate Adaptation
  18. In My Backyard
  19. In-Svalbard: Cold Coast Atlas
  20. Land, Foodways, and Kinship: The Case of Palestinian Villages
  21. Light Forms
  22. MiCE Architecture: Design Strategies to Mitigate Michigan Coastal Erosion
  23. Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
  24. Myco-Composite Furniture
  25. Post Rock Post-Industrial Plastic Facade
  26. re:FE Reimagining Mining Waste from a Wounded Region
  27. Shell Wall: Coupling Non-Planar Robotic 3D Concrete Printing and Topology Optimization
  28. Solar Technology Integration on Building Facades
  29. The Canopy
  30. The Lifespan Project
  31. Unfolding Forms of Conveyance
  32. Urban Climate Law Series
  33. Vertical Wetlands





In My Backyard
Ishan Pal Singh                            2023

18

In My Backyard is an augmented reality experience designed to raise awareness about the U.S. trash problem by immersing users in a visceral simulation of waste accumulation. As the user navigates through their environment, trash objects fall from above, representing items from daily life that are transformed into aesthetically alluring, yet overwhelming, symbols of consumption. This digital experience aims to critique the disconnect between U.S. waste production—accounting for over 12% of the world’s trash despite only housing 4% of its population—and its global consequences, particularly in developing countries lacking infrastructure to handle such waste.

Inspired by Ian Bogost’s concept of “procedural rhetoric,” the app utilizes “immersive rhetoric” to convey its message. By engaging users directly with the accumulation and impact of waste through interactive experiences, it prompts a reflection on personal and collective responsibility for environmental degradation. This approach moves beyond traditional persuasion, creating a dynamic space where users confront the realities of their actions on the world, underscoring the urgency for change in waste management practices and highlighting the U.S.’s non-participation in global environmental treaties such as the Basel Convention. 

Additional credits:
Research Assistant: Chang Chu