At once performative thermodynamics and a microclimatic landscape, Local Cooling sets the spectacle of public thaw against the backdrop of high design at the threshold of one of the most prominent international design fairs.
For a duration of one week in Miami’s winter heat, an inhabitable, monolithic cube of ice sits in the heat of the sun. As heat penetrates the volume, fresh meltwater flows down its sides and registers the lost volume as pools form in a gently sloped, shallow topographic basin. As the icy water spreads, pools, and overflows its basin, occupational boundaries are redrawn and the dynamic thermal gradient activates the surrounding space as a fluid site. A uniquely ephemeral experience that changes literally by the moment, the resulting landscape is a playful environment for socializing shaped by puddles, paths, and cool breezes. Eventually, the volume of meltwater breaches the basin’s edges and overflows into the public realm. At this point, the value of fresh water as resource and commodity is rendered explicit. As sea level rises globally, national and territorial freshwater reserves continue to fall. Local Cooling is positioned between these current events: not only a visceral analogy to the impacts of global climate change, but also a public plea for attention to fresh water’s importance and imminent scarcity.
Local Cooling was a finalist for the 2015 Design Miami entry pavilion.
Collaborative project designed by Christopher Reznich, Mark Jongman-Sereno, and Timothy Nawrocki.