Fatal Heat Waves by Simon fraser university

This data physicalization (i.e. physical data visualization) illustrates the heat-dome-related deaths as reported to the BC Coroners Service between June/20/ 2021 and July/ 29/2021. According to the Coroners Service, this was one of the worst heat domes in history which caused hundreds of deaths across BC. We exhibited this physicalization in the form of a wall installation, in The Old School House Arts Centre from July to September 2022. This data set is of particular relevance to the visitors and the local people of Vancouver Island. 

To physicalize this data set, we drew on the data representational possibilities of Kirigami, the art of paper cutting. Kirigami supports the creation of 3D structures from 2D material and enables designing physicalization with various forms, materials and scales and is inherently aesthetic and interactive. We have explored how these patterns offer new capabilities for representing data. We named Kirigami physicalization basics elements loops and joints and by varying the number and width of those, we have discovered possibilities for representing independent and dependent variables. We will illustrate this using our physicalization.