Concept of Project 1

The interface of screen will be the appearance of both sides on Cuba Street at present day. Users will go through the street as if in the real world by using the mouse. And the information of each prominent place will be shown up on the screen.

The mouse will be addressed in the characteristic of Cuba Street. The Bucket Fountain is well known as a landmark of this city. I am thinking that if the form of mouse designed as an element of the street such as the form and tipping action of Bucket Fountain for users to navigate the interface, it will make the re-tell story more interesting.

Intended response from users: to know those un-known stories and explore interesting things of the place through interacting with interactive screen.

The Bucket Fountain on Cuba St.

-Hate it or love it, the Bucket fountain is here to stay.

-The newly opened mall featured a "Water Mobile". Since its construction in 1969, the water feature has been much loved, and has become universally known as 'The Bucket Fountain'.


History

Cuba Street was closed to traffic in 1965 to remove the unused tramlines. During this time a campaign started to keep Cuba Street closed to traffic. In 1969, the Cuba Street pedestrian mall was officially opened by then mayor, Sir Francis Kitts.

Designed by architects and town planning consultants Burren and Keen, the Bucket Fountain was constructed as part of the Cuba Street Pedestrian Mall. Before the fountain was installed in Cuba Mall, an off site mock up was created to test and adjust the tipping buckets.

Cuba Mall has received two facelifts, in 1980 and in 1998, but the Bucket Fountain continues to remain remarkably faithful to its original construction (although regular maintenance is required to keep it operating).

The Bucket Fountain is recognised as one of Wellington quirkiest and most well known landmarks. The Wellington City District Plan includes recommendations on how best to develop Cuba Mall. Within these recommendations the plan states, The much maligned/much enjoyed sugar-scoop bucket fountain should resume pride of place in the Mall.

In November 2003, the Bucket Fountain was removed from Cuba Mall so that it could be painted and repaired in time for the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The revamped fountain is brighter and splashier than ever!


Links:
The opening
How it works
Before and after

Research of Cuba Street

The most fascinating mix of people in the country

Discover the diverse wonders and delights of Wellington's Cuba Street, one of Wellington's oldest thoroughfares, and running from the Michael Fowler Centre in Wakefield Street in the north through to Webb Street on the boundaries of Mount Cook in the south.

The Bucket Fountain

The Bucket Fountain is recognised as one of Wellington's quirkiest and most well known landmarks.

Wellington's Cuba Street is pedestrian-only from Manners Mall to Ghuznee Street, where it is called Cuba Mall. With its retailers ranging from leading retailers like Farmers and Whitcoulls through to R18 shops and tattoo artists, its numerous cafes and bars, clothing, book and record shops draw people from all around the region for what only Wellington's Cuba can offer.

Experiment 1

MOvie

Basic QC experiment

First entry to QC

Re-telling tales

After visiting the "Telling tales" exhibition at the Museum of Wellington, I have chosen one of the stories that I am intersted in. The srory comes from 1969 and it tells the story about Cuba street which is a popular shopping area. Starting to think about how to re-tell this story by using new form of input.

"The revenge of the pedestrian"

When Wellington's Cuba Mall opened in 1969 it was the first New Zealand street to be transformed by the removed of traffic.
Cuba street had once been a popular shopping area, but after World War II(1939-45), spreading suburbia drew people away from the central city. In 1965, the street suffered a further blow which the withdrawl of the tram service. However, while the street was closed to remove the tram tracks, retailers soon noticed that the lack of traffic was an attraction. Sales increased and letters to newspapers showed the public like the temporary pedestrian mall. The cuba street Businessmen's Association presented a petition signed by more than 5000 people to the Wellington City Council requesting that the mall become permanent. The city council agreed.
Since then the mall has been revamped twice. The prominent signs that marked each end have been removed, but the mall's most controresial feature, the Bucket Fountain, has survived, Critics detest the icon, but intrigued tourists and children love it.