Interactive installation “Onsen”, in collaboration with Hayashi Yosuhiko (PARAMODEL), Riga, Latvia, 2014

Interactive Installation “ONSEN” was an attempt to recreate a traditional Japanese onsen, a hot volcanic pool, in the middle of Riga. The traditional infrastructure and design that is related to onsen in Japanese culture was substituted with a postmodern minimalist approach. The pool of the onsen was large 8 meters in diameter granite pool that in the summer, autumn and spring is used as a fountain. In Latvia as in the many other countries fountains are structures of power and wealth, they are displayed in the most prominent parts of town and it is not traditional for people to immerse their feet in it or other interactions with them. Interactive Installation “ONSEN” looked exceptionally good at night time, giving it a surreal look.

Project was a great example of how a part of city can change and react to injected new element in the cityscape, causing people to respond to the unexpected turn in the environment and integrating with it as a functional part of everyday life.