design research
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Drinking Fountain
Public Drinking Fountain in Parks of Hong Kong 9th May, 2014 Ng Wing Man Yang Yangyang A report submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the SD2467 Design Research May 2014
YANG Yangyang Sheepy Ng Wing Man Vivian
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Drinking Fountain
Abstract This report aims to promote people’s motivation of using public drinking fountain in parks of Hong Kong from design aspect. Literature review and four research methods including information collection, fly-on-the-wall observation, interview and survey are used to discover the design defects of current public drinking fountains in parks. A new concept of public drinking fountain design is provided base on the researches result.
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Drinking Fountain
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Contents
Introduction 1. Background Information 1.1 Significance 1.2 Location 1.3 Main Users 2. Literature Review 3. Research Methods 3.1 Information collection 3.1.1 Basic Information 3.1.2 Information Analysis 3.2 Fly-on-the-wall Observation 3.2.1 Case 1: Spill of the Water 3.2.2 Case 2: Tap Design for Bottle Users 3.2.3 Case 3: Switch Design for Children 3.2.4 Case 4: Unfavorable Switch Position for Users 3.3 Interview 3.3.1 Basic Information 3.3.2 Analysis 3.4 Surveys 3.4.1 Basic Information 3.4.2 Data Analysis 3.4.3 Result 4. Public Drinking Fountain Design 4.1 Design Details and Advantages 4.1.1 Type 4.1.2 Height 4.1.3 Material 4.1.4 Switch Design 4.1.5 Tap Design 4.1.6 Basin Design 4.2 Design Rendering and Users scenario Conclusion Reference YANG Yangyang Sheepy Ng Wing Man Vivian
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Drinking Fountain
Introduction With the development of urban construction, instead of purely pursuit for the development of economy, Hong Kong is planning an all round consideration for the relation between man and nature, and is trying to focus more on urban culture’s construction. Public drinking fountain is one of the indispensable public facilities, which can reduce the number of waste plastic bottles, supply water for people to suggest a healthier life style, and beautify surrounding environment to show city’s culture.
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1. Background Information 1.1 Significance According to the apple daily, an average of 2,000,000 waste plastic bottles are generated in Hong Kong everyday, which is an enormous amount and should be paid more attention by both Hong Kong government and residents. Waste plastic bottles are mainly produced from people’s outdoor activities, but there are several concerns, such as hygienic problem, which may decreases people’s motivation to use public drinking fountains.
COMPOSITION OF PLASTIC WASTE PLASTIC BAG 40% OTHERS 46%
POLYFOAM DINING WARES 3% POLYFOAM 3% NON-PET PLASTIC BOTTLE PET PLASTIC BOTTLE
5%
4%
http://www.a-tech.hk/greenplastic/Info/Recycle_of_Plastics_in_HK.pdf
INSTITUTIONAL BOTTLED WATER MARKET Sales of bottled water to institutional channel 2005-2010 million liters sales% growth
2005 121.8
2.4
2006 124.2
off-trade sales of bottle water:volume 2005-2010 million liters 2005 2006 1.6 1.6 Carbonated bottled water 1.1 1.1 Flavored bottled water 0.7 0.7 Functional bottled water 183.5 195.5 Still bottled water 186.9 198.9 Bottle water
3.1
2007 127.3
2007 1.6 1.1 0.7 207.2 210.7
3.9
2008 131.2
2008 1.7 1.1 0.7 218.6 222.1
6.5
2009 137.7
2009 1.7 1.1 0.7 229.5 233.0
8.3
2010 146.0
2010 1.7 1.0 0.8 242.2 245.7
http://www.prclive.com/pdf/uploads/Bottled%20water%20in%20Hong%20Kong%20-%20September%202011.pdf
Recycle rate
4%
2,000,000
Per day
apple daily http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20130822/18389098
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1. Background Information 1.2 Location There are more than 5oo public drinking fountains in Hong Kong according to incomplete statistics by Water for Free (2013), most of which are in parks or universities.
There are more than 500 drinking fountains in Hong Kong Mainly located at Public Space
School 47
Park 58
Swimming pool 19
Hospital 10
Playground 52
Gym 43
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Drinking Fountain
1. Background Information 1.3 Main Users Apart from ordinary users, disadvantaged groups like children, the elderly and wheelchair users, should be put into consideration.
Probably Everyone are allowed to use it
Children
Adult
Elderly
Disabled people
Pets
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Drinking Fountain
2. Literature Review The literature review aims at discovering whether people lack of motivation to use public drinking fountain and the possible problems that affect people’s motivation. According to Ref. Scaiding Risk – Drinking Fountain (2009), temperature and quality of the water in public drinking fountain may be one of the concerns that reduce the usage rate. Machine pollution is another problem, which may raise the possibility of virus transmission (The Sun, 2008). The new from Apple Daily (2013) insists that the misuse of drinking fountain is a main factor, which contributes to reducing the usage. Also, the accessibility is another important element needs more consideration (Choi, 2010).
>Temperature problem
>Water Pollution >Machine Pollution
From The Sun，http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/news /20080514/20080514024712_0000.html”
From Safety Office The University of Hong Kong, Ref. Scaiding Risk – Drinking Fountain http://www.safety.hku.hk/homepage/pdf/SMSR.pdf
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2. Literature Review >Misuse of pets
>Accessibility >Usability
From Apple DailyďźŒhttp://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art /20130607/18287390
From Society, Technology, and Mesicine, NCKU, http://teach.med.ncku.edu.tw/stmcenter/download/ 20100206%E5%8F%B0%E5%A4%A7%E7%A4%BE%E6 %9C%83%E6%89%80%E8%94%A1%E8%8A%B3%E5%AE%9C.pdf
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What affect the motivation of people to use water fountain? How can we motivate people to use it?
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Drinking Fountain
3. Research Methods During the research period, four research methods: information collection, fly-on-the-wall observation, interview and survey are used to evaluate the current public drinking fountain in parks. The first three methods aim to have a basic understanding of the public drinking fountains in parks of Hong Kong, which are for the preparation of designing a questionnaire to conduct a survey.
In the information collection section, three parks: Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, Shek Kip Mei Park and Tai Po Waterfront Park, are chosen from Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories respectively, which are with sports facilities and largest numbers of drinking fountain. This section aims to recording the basic details of public drinking fountains in Hong Kong and gets preparation for designing questionnaire in the survey.
3.1.1 Basic Information Information of 30 public drinking fountains in three parks is collected, including location, photos, design details, data measurement and overall evaluation.
Research Location · Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories · With sports facilities · Largest numbers of drinking fountain
Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park 4.1 hectares [8] Shek Kip Mei Park 8 hectares [16]
Tai Po Waterfront Park 22 hectares [9]
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Types of drinking fountains Tai Po Waterfront Park
Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park
Dobble (Two in one)
Single
Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park
Dobble (sperate)
Numbers of taps Tai Po Waterfront Park
Multiple (For bottle and direact drinking
Shek Kip Mei Park
Single
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Types of taps
Tai Po Waterfront Park
Tai Po Waterfront Park Sun
taps with cap (without botton) Tai Po Waterfront Park
taps with cap (with botton)
Yat Sen Memorial Park
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Types of switch Tai Po Waterfront Park
PolyU
pressed botton
turned botton
PolyU
PolyU
side-pressed botton
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Types of container Tai Po Waterfront Park
Tai Po Waterfront Park
with guide walls Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park
Shek Kip Mei Park
Shek Kip Mei Park
without guide walls
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Drinking Fountain
Fly-on-the-wall observation is also conducted during the information collection. The current situation of the public drinking fountains and users’ behavior in front of them provides us some valuable information.
There is a same phenomenon on many public drinking fountains that we have observed. Lots of spilt water can be seen in front of the public drinking fountains, which may have bad effects on the surrounding environment, leaving users an uncomfortable impression and may decrease people’s motivation.
Case 1
spliting of the water
ShekKip Mei Park
Tai Po Waterfront Park
Tai Po Waterfront Park
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Near the toilet No.5 in Tai Po Waterfront Park, there is a public drinking fountain with only one fountain type. As the location of the fountain is near the cycle-track, during the observation, many users can be seen bringing a bottle to get some water. Usually, users have to fill their bottles more than three times to get enough water supply. Case 2 Tai Po Waterfront Park, Near Toilet No.5
tap design for bottle
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Drinking Fountain
A special public drinking fountain is found under the bower in Tai Po Waterfront Park, whose original unfunctional side-pushed-button has been insteaded by a new pressed-button on a new tap. In the observation, a child around 3 to 5 years old tries to push the side button to get water but fails. Then he tries to press the button on the tap but due to his height, he can only reach the button but cannot put all the strength on it and finally failed again. unfavorable hegiht for childern Case 3 Tai Po Waterfront Park, Under the Bowers
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In Yuen Chau Tsai Park near Tai Po Waterfront Park, a double-machine used by two people have been observed. As the switch on the lower set cannot be seen in the front view and the cap on the tap is designed like a switch, during the two users’ observation, both users are misled by tap design, trying to press the tap to get water, and one of the two users ends up with a failure to find the real switch. Case 4 Tai Po Waterfront Park, Near Yuen Chau Tsai Park Toilet
unfavorable position of the botton
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Drinking Fountain
3.3.1 Basic Information Information of 30 public drinking fountains in three parks is collected, including location, photos, design details, data measurement and overall evaluation.
· Date: March 23rd, 2014 · Location: Shek Kip Mei Park Tennis Court, Near the Changing Room · Numbers of the Interviewee: 4 · Size of the Machine (cm): 40.5*33.0*88.0 · Height of the Fountain (cm): 16.0
Age:48 Height:173cm occupation:manager
Age:20 Height:170cm occupation:student
Age:35 Height:168cm occupation:sales
Age:21 Height:168cm occupation:student
Some of the interviewees mention the height of the drinking fountain may bring inconvenience to lower users like children. One interviewee thinks the cap on the tap is too big, which may easily be touched by user’s mouth and may cause hygienic problem. About switch design, four interviewees believe turned-button on the tap or side-pressed-button on the side is more users-friendly than pressed-button on the tap. One of the interviewee also suggests designing a foot pedal. The wall of the basin is suggested to make higher to prevent water from spilling out and keep the surrounding environment clean.
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Drinking Fountain
According to the results from the three research methods above, a questionnaire is designed for collecting peoples’ preference and providing us effective design details. The survey conducts for around one month on Facebook. There are total 138 participants (62 males and 76 females) and 114 of their questionnaires are valid. Questionnaires with contradictions or showing the participants have never used the public drinking fountain in parks have been regarded as invalid questionnaires and haven’t been concluded in the following analysis.
Information collection
Interviews
Surveys Date: From March 14th to April 17th Location: Facebook Numbers of the Participants: 138 Numbers of Valid Questionnaire: 114
Observation
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Age: As the participants of the survey are mainly young people, our design should also put other age groups into consideration.
Age of Participants
10-18 19-25 26-35 36-45 46-55
Gender of Participants Male Female
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Times of going to park per month & Time of using drinking fountain in parks per month: (Questionnaires with contradictions or showing the participants have never used the public drinking fountain in parks have been regarded as invalid questionnaires and haven’t been concluded in the following analysis.)
Times of going to park per month
Almost Everyday More than Twenty Days More than Ten Days More than Five Days One to Five Days Seldom
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Times of Using Drinking Fountain in Parks per Month
More than Twanty Times More than Fifteen Times More than Ten Times More than Five Times One to Five Times Others Machine Type: More than half of the participants prefer ground-away drinking fountain, which also bring convenience for wheelchair users, as more space is needed for their knees.
Type of Drinking Machine
Ground Ground Away
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Button: Most participants choose foot pedal. However, as wheelchair users are not concluded in the participants and foot pedal may bring inconvenience for them, in our design, we choose the second preference side-pressed-button in our design. Side button: Most people choose “on the right� as dextral may be in the majority. Fountain tap: The result shows the most preference on the tap with cap, as it can prevent user’s month touch the nozzle. Bottle: Many of the drinking fountain users are bottle users, which should be take into consideration in our design.
Switch of the Drinking Fountain
Pressed Botton Turned Botton Side-Pressed Botton Foot Pedal
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Position of the switch
On the Right On the Left In Front
Tap Types
1
No.1 No.2 No.3
2
3
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Use their own Bottle to use the Drinking Fountain
Yes No
People prefer Bottle tap Direct Drinking tap
Bottle tap Direct drinking tap
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4. Public Drinking Fountain Design
The public drinking fountain is designed as ground-away, which is out of the consideration of providing more space for wheelchair users.
A higher machine with height of 95.0cm and a lower machine with height of 85.0cm are designed for different users. The higher one is for normal users and the lower one is out of the consideration of children and wheelchair users. For the lower machine, we set the users of minimum height (age 3-6) as standard and for the higher one, we set the average height of people age from 13 to 69 year-old as standard. According to the Physical Fitness Summary Report from Chinese University of Hong Kong (2012), the average height of children between 3 and 6 year-old is 108.88cm and the average height of people from 13 to 69 is 162.06cm. As child’s height is equal to around the length of 4.5 head and an adult’s height is around the length of 8 head (Loomis, 1949), out of the consideration that the lowest user for lower machine should be higher than the machine for at least one head, and the height of the high machine is better to reach the height of users chest, the height of lower machine is designed as 85.0cm and the higher machine is 95.0cm. According to The Design Principle of Accessibility Facilities (2013), people on wheelchair can reach the height of maximum 110cm in front of a desk-like facility and need at least 65cm height for knees, which proves that the lower machine is also suitable for wheelchair users.
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Drinking Fountain
Drinking Fountain (Lower) Height of people between age 3-6 :108.88cm Min. height : 108.88cm/4.5=24.20cm 24.20cm*3.5=84.7cm
85cm
Drinking Fountain (Higher) Height of people between age 13-69 :162.06cm Min. height : 162.06cm/8=20.26cm 20.26cm*4.6=93.20cm
95cm
(Loomis,1949) (普及健體運動 – 社區體質測試計劃 研究報告撮要, 2012) (建築物無障礙設施設計規範,2013)
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By checking the current materials for outdoor drinking fountains selling online, stainless steel and weatherstone are the most comment two materials, which are durable and fit the environment of park. As there are many small gaps on the weatherstone that may store water and dust, stainless steel is chosen as the material for the body of our public drinking fountain design.
Model 3511 Stain Stainless Steel Finish
Model3500D Stainless Steel Mounting Plate With Anchors
Model3300G Satin Stainless
ModelTF7072 Weatherstone
Model3202G Stain Stainless
Model 3177 Exposed Aggregate Finish
(Dillon,1995) (Belson Outdoor,2003)
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As foot pedal may bring inconvenience for wheelchair users, the switch is designed as side-pushed-button.
The public drinking fountain is equipped with a tap with cap for both direct drinking and bottle usage. It is possible for bottle as the basin is designed deeper.
The water outlet is moved to the ground for keeping the upper part clean, leaving users a more comfortable using environment
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Conclusion
To promote the usage rate of public drinking fountain in parks of Hong Kong from design aspect, the design should consider the machine’s durability, users’ demand and surrounding environment. To be more comprehensive, one machine of 85cm in height and one machine of 95cm in height are designed together for different user groups. Stainless steel is chosen as the main material for the durability of drinking fountain. The public drinking fountain is equipped with a side-pushed-button, a tap with cap, a deeper basin with outlet on the ground, to bring users a better user experience and keep the surrounding environment clean.
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Reference Martin, B., Hanington, B., & Hanington, B. M. (2012). Universal methods of design: 100 ways to research complex problems, develop innovative ideas, and design effective solutions. Rockport Publishers. 撲水－香港飲水機地圖. (2013, August 16). 撲水－香港飲水機地圖. Retrieved March 17, 2014, from http://gogreenhongkong.wordpress. com/2013/08/10/%E6%92%B2%E6%B0%B4/ Safety Office The University of Hong Kong. (2009). Ref. Scaiding Risk – Drinking Fountain (Version 1/2009). Retrieved from http://www.safety.hku.hk/homepage/pdf/SMSR.pdf The Sun Gourp. (2006, May 14). 逾半含菌超標 污槽如池水 飲水機播毒 康文署靠害. The Sun. Retrieved from http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/news/20080514/2 0080514024712_0000.html Apple Daily Gourp. (2013, June 07). 寵物狗舔公共飲水機. Apple Daily. Retrieved from http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art/20130607/18287390 Choi, F. Y. (2010). 有瓶無據： 公共空間飲水設備的社會考察 (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from http://teach.med.ncku.edu.tw/stmcenter/download/20100206 台大社會所蔡芳宜.pdf 普及健體運動 – 社區體質測試計劃 研究報告撮要. (2012, November 1). Physical Fitness. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/healthy/physical_fitness/download/SummaryReport_cn.pdf Loomis, A. (1949). Ideal Proportiona at Various Ages. Figure Drawing for All It's Worth. New York: Viking Press. 建築物無障礙設施設計規範. (2013, December 14). 無 障 礙 設 施 規 範. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://main.oga.ncku.edu.tw/ezfiles/ 76/1076/img/1869/A9700014.pdf Drinking Water Fountains. (2013, January 19). Belson Outdoors. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://www.belson.com/Drinking-Fountains Dillon, C. P. (1995). Corrosion resistance of stainless steels. CRC Press.
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