iAAR_02

INSTANT AARHUS PLASTIC WORKSHOP_AAA_SEPTEMBER 2013

Janne Fjeldtvedt // Bodil Hemgård // Hannah Knudsen // Lovisa Thorsén

DAY ONE

During our first day we focused on gathering different plastic materials and sketching different possible forms to experience within inflatable plastic spaces.

Through some playful forms we investigated the plastics with focus on public and private spaces. We built a small model illustrating two spaces connected to each other. One with seethrough plastic and one with bubbles covering the plastic material which give the two areas totally different experiences and defines even clearer which of the areas is public and private.

In the public area you’re experiencing the outside world while inside and can communicate with people outside the inflatable plastic. In the private area you can’t see what is happening outside the space and you’re cut off from the rest of the world, the focus is on yourself and you’re body inside the space, how you can experience things inside the inflatable plastic.

We decided to connect these two spaces to illustrate the choice we’re making while stepping into the plastic area, do we want to belong to the outside world through a new experience or do we want to make the plastic in it self be the focus of our experience?

DAY TWO

The second day of the workshop we got a piece of plastic with the size 2m x 6m, to create a prototype model related to the body. We wanted to use the form that we had worked with the day before, and develop it in relation to the body.

We wanted to create an inflated structure with space for two persons. The simple form is measured so that two persons can sit down or stand up inside the inflated structure, in a private space.

The private space can be inflated in any public space, where the persons inside can see the surroundings through the transparent plastic material.

DAY THREE

The third day we were constructing and designing a part of a bigger inflatable plastic structure. We wanted to emphasize the movement of the human body inside the structure and also create a genuine flow through our passage.

We sketched a lot of different ideas but came up with a solution that included both small spaces for two (inspiration; Share A Space) and bigger walk-through’s for many people to move in at the same time. Another element we wanted to underline with our final structure was the height of the passages. When a person walk into our area, he/she can stand straight without any problems and the space is capacious and easy to move in and utilize. While one’s walking deeper and deeper into the structure the ceiling gets lower and the passage gets narrower. So from walking straight and spacious one has to lean down to walk even further into the construction and even crawl one’s way into the small intimate spaces at the end of our structure. In the small spaces one can sit and talk or just reflect on one’s journey through the plastic spaces.

We also designed a sort of confusion in the form of misdirection. We created a loop in the passage one has to walk through to get further into the construction. The first passage is blocked by a piece of plastic, which is playfully deceiving by being just see-through plastic. We also designed a passage into the next part of the bigger construction so one doesn’t have to walk the whole way back through the same spaces but can experience the rest of the big structure by walking through this passage.

After constructing our part of the bigger puzzle we finally gathered all the material and with model constructions build up the big inflatable structure in 1:8.