The Still Chime: a water-powered kinetic sculpture that makes music to help natural disaster victims cope with their loss.

Due to climate change, there has been an increase in the number and severity of hurricanes.  More and more people are suffering from the catastrophe the storms are leaving behind. The Still Chime will help natural disaster victims who lost their homes and who are suffering from stress, PTSD, anxiety or depression.

This simple and low tech contraption is made out of bicycle parts, plexiglass, wood screws, PVC, steel pipes, and fishermen's wire. The victims operate it by simply pouring in water found from creeks, rivers, ponds, or lakes that turns a water wheel; the water then activates the movement of the mill that moves a timing belt connected to a cylinder with multiple holes that hold pegs. As the cylinder turns, the pegs hit the metal chimes that make soothing sounds. The Still Chimes sounds are not fixed, so they don't become tiresome; the pegs can manually be pulled out and put into different holes to create different sounds.

The Music Box is a project worked on in collaboration with the Karam school, located in Reyhanli, Turkey. The town is mainly occupied by Syrian refugees, who are creating a musical playground to give back to the community that welcomed them. The Music Box allows children to play and explore the creation of music. It has been shown that both play and music accelerate brain development in the language and sound processing centers of the brain. For many refugees, who are learning new languages, this could be very helpful. The music box is made up of two cylinders. The inner cylinder holds the comb, which is a series of flat steel pieces that get plucked by the pegs positioned in the outer cylinder when the kids spin it. The kids can ride on the pegs as it spins around. The design takes into account that there will be many different users with a range of ages, by including components that are fun and engaging for everyone, Such as the spinning aspect for the kids and the platform to sit for parents.