ANU Climate Coaster - website

The ANU Climate coaster is a collaboration between the ANU Design Lab and the ANU Climate Change Institute. The work uses the Bureau of Meteorology���s ACORN-SAT dataset to represent maximum daily temperatures relative to long-term averages for 112 different locations across Australia. Geoff Hinchcliffe and Mitchell Whitelaw produced the work for ANU Climate Change Institute���s Climate Update 2018. The coaster represented Canberra���s 2017 temperature data in a novel tangible form. The compact dataform could be read as a graph but also explored through touch and even smell. Its physicality offered a compelling way to comprehend the data; to feel the peaks of 2017���s record-breaking maximum temperatures. The coaster elicited enthusiastic audience engagement and lively conversation which motivated production of a second version localised for the CCI���s Brisbane edition of the Climate Update. The title of the work draws on its physical similarity to a drink coaster. We hope that printed coasters will occupy coffee tables across Australia and spark conversation and reflection on our rapidly changing climate.