Interactive digital faucet / Toto KiKi_Japan

Washing is a very sensory task and using a bathroom tap or faucet is also a very tactile & acoustic one. The temperature of the water is communicated via the metal of the faucet as is the control and flow of the water via the pressure of one’s hand.

Progetto Sorgento

Sorgento, meaning source (as in source of a spring or well) was a research project looking into using digital technology to increase tactile interactivity and expressive opportunities of the Faucet. Rather than making the Faucet less interactive and fully automatic as if often the case with automatic faucets found in public places, in this study for a domestic digital faucet we wanted to give greater interactive expression to both hot & cold water select functions.  The technology allowed us to control the temperature and rate of water feed of both  by touching the surface in different ways. The hot temp controls were pointed and sharp and the cold ones a smooth dimpled surface. The hot water part of the Faucet was made in a “terra cotta”  (cooked earth)  shell while the  cold water emerges from beneath a smooth surfaced stone under which the water emerges.