#initial work

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To Conclude - Initial Work

Through the process of collecting initial ideas and contextual research within this blog, as well as learning from my previous projects which have influenced my decisions and focuses thus far, I have determined that I would like to explore sensory spatial experiences for individuals rather than collectives, as focusing on the individual allows me to investigate more specifically, and the constraints of lockdown will mean I cannot physically test with a large number of people. It would be interesting to look at the crossovers and grey areas between types of sensory human experiences within environments, investigating the conscious/ tangible and the subconscious/ intangible.

Regarding the spaces themselves, I am interested in investigating atmospheres and senses within space and how these can be evoked and manipulated to engineer the human experience. As explored throughout this blog, I have seen that sensory stimulation is key in this atmospheric aspect of space. Taking my Final Major Project forward, I would like to explore these senses in different environments, and the ways in which they impact and make up individual human experiences, with a view to isolating a specific sense or senses within space to heighten awareness of sense.

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James Turrell

Aten Reign, the Guggenheim Museum, 2013

Akhob, Las Vegas, 2017

Turrell’s spatial art seeks to induce a state of involuntary vision which he names “seeing yourself seeing”; through this process, visitors become aware of their own senses and of light as a palpable, almost material substance which can be architectural. This could be described as an “in-person, out-of-body” visual experience. For example, Turrell’s Aten Reign space focuses on the perception of light and colour in a highly spatial context. The designer sought to reimagine the Guggenheim rotunda as a luminous volume floating above the viewer, drawing the eye and shifting the atmosphere through changing, immersive colour. Rather than designing for the individual, Turrell has created an environment that encourages collective experience, bringing people together to watch, discuss and sit beneath the dome, with its absorbing combination of natural daylight and vibrant colour. This ability to create experiences as a collective is unusual within Turrell’s work, as he usually focuses upon meditative, individual space, often limiting visitor numbers and use of electronics (as is the case for Akhob above). However, the success of this collective environment is evidence that Turrell’s designs are highly intuitive to the human experience, which I aim to explore in my own work throughout my FMP.

http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/turrell/

Bright, R. and Schütze, P., 1999. James Turrell Eclipse. London: Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art.

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The ability to connect emotionally to our environment is fundamental to human experience. … [Environments should] provide opportunities for people to personalise spatio-sensory experiences, nurturing emotional relations between people and their environment.

Valerie Mace, Inhabiting the Public Interior, Conference

In this conference, Mace explains how spaces and the human senses are inherently linked, and how intelligent design should take advantage of this in order to create optimal human experiences. Furthermore, Mace references the highly personal, emotional experience of space for humans as individuals. I would like to explore the idea that, while collective experience is significant and positive for humans within many environments, human nature ultimately causes us to feel and think individually. I would find it interesting to manipulate this insular nature into engaging on a collective level.

https://spatialexperience.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

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Garance Vallée

Hydro room, Imaginary interior project (bringing drawing to life with Benjamin Guedj), 2019

Architectural installation for the scenography of Vivetta's fashion show, Milan fashion week, 2019

Welcome home, interior model, 2019

Garance Vallée is an architect, interior designer and visual artist known as Royal Garance. She playfully subverts her spaces and imagery to create surreal, simplified realities which deliberately confuse the viewer, exploring scale in combined 2D and 3D settings to create the illusion of space. Conversely, many of Vallée’s spaces are in fact real, and yet are abstracted, often into graphic silhouettes, which suggest they are renderings. The designer uses this to her advantage by presenting these spaces in visually misleading ways. I would like to explore the playful nature of this integration and subversion of real and virtual space, and particularly the use of moving image to create a reality, which is then shattered by shifting the perspective to reveal the installation’s true nature.

https://www.garancevallee.com/

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Alexis Christodoulou

Alexis Christodoulou is a 3D artist who creates imaginary architectural spaces and environments via 3D rendering, that are so beautifully crafted they seem real. Christodoulou focuses on digital worlds, fulfilling his desire to see fantastical spaces when they are not available in a physical setting. Virtual spaces like these explore the limits between the tangible and intangible. I am very interested in investigating creating worlds in this way, which cause the viewer to question whether these environments truly exist or are just visual translations of mental imagery.

Christodoulou, A., 2020. [online] Alexis Christodoulou. Available at: <https://alexiscstudio.com/>.

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Ernesto Neto

Nomadic tent, 2013

Esqueleto Glóbulos (“Skeleton of blood cells”),  Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, 2001

‘Anthropodino’, Wade Thompson Drill Hall, 2009

Contemporary visual artist Ernesto Neto creates organic, immersive sculptures and installations, influenced by biomorphism and neo-concretism to call for greater colour and sensuality throughout his spatial works. The artist incorporates organic shapes and materials, exploring perceptions of space and engaging all five senses. Through creating such surreal, atmospheric works, Neto actively renegotiates margins between artwork and viewer, becoming able to manipulate people’s responses to his spaces almost directly. For Neto’s nomadic art tent, the artist invites visitors into an immersive sculpture which surrounds them in fleshy membranes in vibrant oranges and yellows. The womb-like experience envelops viewers in tactile, malleable surfaces, and changing sunlight fills the internal void with an ever-changing atmosphere. Contrary to traditional artwork, Neto’s sculptures and spaces encourage the audience and experience them on a multi-sensory level, as a meditative opportunity to rediscover the acoustic, tactile and visual aspects imbued within each installation. The interactivity and immersive, sensory nature of these spaces make it evident that Neto’s work can give me valuable insights into sensory and experiential design. Furthermore, Neto explores the relationships between people within spaces and how changes to environments can transform these connections; this is very relevant to my focus upon the individual versus the collective.

https://www.designboom.com/art/ernesto-netos-nomadic-art-tent-is-an-immersive-fleshy-womb-10-01-2013/

https://mdbk.de/en/exhibitions/ernesto-neto/

Azzarello, N., 2013. Ernesto Neto's Nomadic Art Tent Is an Immersive Fleshy Womb. [online] designboom | Architecture & Design Magazine. Available at: <https://www.designboom.com/art/ernesto-netos-nomadic-art-tent-is-an-immersive-fleshy-womb-10-01-2013/>.

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Verner Panton

Visiona 2, 1970

Multifunctional Living Unit, 1966

© Panton Design, Basel

Danish furniture designer Verner Panton sought to redefine the function of furniture, believing that intelligent design should be made accessible to the mass market. While Panton’s products created unique worlds for users, they could be mass-produced and then curated by individuals to make them more affordable and adaptable; these would be inspired by Panton’s visions but still create personal spatial experiences, linking to my focus of individual perceptions of space. I am also interested in influencing the senses and feelings of people within spaces; I can learn much from Panton’s work in this respect, looking at his neo-avant-garde, expressive environments which evoke emotional experiences and challenge traditional perceptions of space. The designer’s ‘Visiona 2’ landscape, created in 1970, defined the decade’s signature colours and forms, with a “living cave” of “social uteruses”: surreal furniture-megastructures focusing on the behaviour of individuals. Panton was able to manipulate spatial perceptions through immersive, organic textiles and psychedelic light, creating the illusion of a futuristic fantasy landscape. The designer even had utopian claims, with an aim of envisaging habitats of the future. Similarly to my own ‘Apothecary’ installation, Panton hoped to create a domino effect through altering spatial experience on an individual scale.

’Verner Panton – A monograph’ - Strandberg Publishing

Panton, V., 1986. Verner Panton. Copenhagen: Bording Grafik.

Vegesack, A., Remmele, M., and Panton, V., 2000. Verner Panton. Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum.

https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/11113/how-verner-panton-changed-the-way-the-world-sees-furniture-design

Arch2O.com. n.d. Psychedelic Environments – A Retrospective Journey Through Verner Panton’s Aesthetic Extravaganza. [online] Available at: <http://www.arch2o.com/psychedelic-environments-retrospective-journey-verner-pantons-aesthetic-extravaganza/>.

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Supporting work

I chose the subject area of spatial experience due to my passion for architectural and spatial design, focusing particularly on atmosphere and human interaction with spaces and others. My work with textiles and past interest in fashion design has developed my interest in tactility and texture in my designs, which links with my interest in interactive spaces which people can engage with closely, enhancing spatial experiences such as through sensory stimuli. This can be seen in my aforementioned Between Before and After ‘Dreamscape’ space. Processes I have explored throughout this year such as weaving, knitting, casting and working with plastics will be very effective in investigating tactility within space, stimulating both sight and touch.

Furthermore, I have explored the relationship between experiences of the collective and the individual in my previously mentioned ‘Intimacy’ garment; however, I am interested in placing this concept into a spatial environment and investigating it further. I have also explored the individual experience in ‘Dreamscape’, designing the space around individual, personal perceptions of the specific ‘moment between’: between consciousness and the dream state. I am excited to further consider this concept while also linking it to the collective experience of space, their crossovers, and how (or whether) these two can coexist.

Throughout the City of Exchange brief, I explored designing spatially for a pre-existing environment, which interested me due to its application into real life design situations. Furthermore, this is relevant for my FMP in that I focused closely on the perception of my chosen site, Apothecary Street in Blackfriars, and how I could change assumptions of pedestrians as individuals through the introduction of my sculptural intervention. By influencing individuals, I could change the perception of the collective of the entire area over time in to becoming aware of the site’s forgotten history. My way-finding distillery system was spatial and interactive, through educating pedestrians about the historical Apothecaries’ Hall location as they chose to actively engage in following the route of my intervention. I can learn from these areas of focus throughout my FMP, due to their relevance and wide scope surrounding spatial and experiential design. I will also learn from the depth and methods of research which I used, because they enabled me to engage with individuals’ perceptions of the space while also understanding the deeper hidden history, putting me in a position to create with a clear, positive and meaningful purpose.