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SAFE AGUA: Ducha Halo Portable Shower profile
SAFE AGUA: Ducha Halo Portable Shower
Art Center College of Design
The comfort of a simple hot shower is out of reach for many around world, with effects on people’s health, hygiene and self-esteem. This team is developing the Ducha Halo, an affordable pressurized shower solution that provides a warm shower, reduces the spread of illness and reduces the amount of water used in traditional showers. The project originated from first-hand field research with impoverished families living in a transitional slum community of Santiago, Chile, as part of the Safe Agua initiative, a social innovation collaboration between Designmatters at Art Center College of Design (www.artcenter.edu/designmatters) and the Innovation Center of the NGO Un Techo Para mi Pais (http://www.untechoparamipais.org).
There are two models of the Ducha Halo: the Halo 1.0 (DIY) and Halo 2.0 (production). Halo 1.0 is a fully functioning DIY shower kit built for just $17 by assembling parts found at a local hardware store, and has brought significant relief to Chile’s earthquake-affected communities and slum-dwellers in Argentina. The increasing adoption of the DIY version encouraged the team to develop Halo 2.0, a design for production purposes that includes a wall-mountable showerhead, stainless steel body to be heated directly on a stove, and a foot pedal valve for hands-free water control.
