Design for Disaster
This body of creative work focuses on the development of speculative furniture designed to mitigate the negative psychological impacts of earthquakes. Furniture has a unique relationship to seismic events. For instance, we are instructed to “duck, cover, and hold” beneath a table during an earthquake to avoid injury from falling debris. Within this context a common table undergoes an instantaneous transformation in becoming shelter: an architecture of personal scale. In looking beyond the physical implications of earthquakes, this research challenges our normative associations to furniture by exploring the capacity for everyday objects to function in relieving the psychological effects of traumatic events. The impact from a direct experience of an earthquake can be stressful and enduring, extending far beyond the period of the tremor. For those residing in a seismically active region such as New Zealand, the threat of a pending event is an ever constant source of anxiety. Through the creation of physically and digitally interactive, multi-material furniture forms, my work employs empathy, humour, play, and characteristics of emotional durability in an aim to foster psychological resilience in the face of seismic events and related disasters.
Investigations on Protection
&Vulnerability
Through the application of critical narrative and metaphor whereby the furniture prioritises provocation over traditional understandings of functionality, the role of furniture is challenged. The conceptually-derived furniture in this body of work offers an investigation into the interplay between protection and vulnerability. Rather than making an attempt to mitigate this tension, these interactive, tactile objects aim to expose and interrogate: this work includes designs that reflect a dystopian future, the expression of psychological trauma, and the representation of dysfunctional relationships.
CREATIVEMUSINGS
A collection of work that is decidedly non-research oriented works encompassing playfulness, self-reflection, and a good dose of catharsis.
Architectural
work
Architectural design interventions and related work