DOMESTIC DEVICES
JAMES SOTIROFF ARCH 409 SPRING 2021 INSTRUCTOR: MELISSA HARRIS UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Domestic Devices
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Connection
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Habituated Views
29 - 42
Domestic Context
43 - 58
Arch 409 Weekly Drawings
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In the midst of a global pandemic, I cannot help but become more attuned to my surroundings. Every day I dwell in a two-bedroom, 500 square foot unit on the third floor of a low-rise apartment building. Playing with the cards me and society were dealt I quickly notice the multitude of devices we utilize and depend on in the domestic environment: speakers, phones, lights, microwaves, ovens, etc. It is their growing presence that I am interested in. Steve Martin once said, “The television is the most stared at domestic appliance!” This comment is both a joke but also a statement that resonated with me. My study takes on the role of documenting these domestic devices via analog drawing and seeks to develop a stance around them. How habituated have we become with their presence? What devices define our domestic lifestyle most?
Domestic Devices
1 - 16
Connection
17 - 28
Habituated Views
29 - 42
Domestic Context
43 - 58
Arch 409 Weekly Drawings
59 - 72
From blenders to coffee presses, televisions to computers, these mechanical gadgets are populating our domestic environment at an incredibly fast rate. Western culture encourages the consumption of these objects and obsesses over the idea of efficiency, progress, growth, instant gratification, convenience, etc. The tech industry is so developed and ingrained into our culture that blue (the color theme for this book) is the dominant color for marketing these products. Don’t believe me? Type “technology” into your google search and select images. This chapter documents our domestic devices and analyzes their identities, typologies, and physical attributes.
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Domestic Devices
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Connection
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Habituated Views
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Domestic Context
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Arch 409 Weekly Drawings
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What is a room without a power outlet? What is a living room without a television? This year’s virtual school setting leaves me and my roommates confused and borderline dysfunctional as we shuffle ourselves around our 500 square foot apartment. Day in and day out we search for the nearest power outlet and set up camp for upcoming zoom calls. New social dynamics are explored and necessary. What is the courteous thing to do when your roommate is on a call? Are you on mute? With power cords left and right, getting to the bathroom requires an acrobatic maneuver in order to avoid tripping on these charging units! We live in the age where a day could either be saved or ruined in the case of an internet blackout. “Connection” seeks to expose our perpetual use of energy, the result in domestic space, and the greater unsustainable lifestyles we live.
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Connection
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Domestic Devices
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Connection
17 - 28
Habituated Views
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Domestic Context
43 - 58
Arch 409 Weekly Drawings
59 - 72
“Habituated views” aspires to challenge our perception of the domestic devices we live so intimately with. In the form of brain teasers, this chapter shows how habituated we have become with domestic technology by taking on unorthodox views of domestic objects. What is the least amount of information needed to recognize a toaster? Can you recognize the objects?
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Domestic Devices
1 - 16
Connection
17 - 28
Habituated Views
29 - 42
Domestic Context
43 - 58
Arch 409 Weekly Drawings
59 - 72
Often times we describe our iphones as extensions of ourselves. I believe this statement could not be more accurate. Shoshana Zuboff, a social psychologist and professor at Harvard Business, highlights and condemns contemporary trends of technology overconsumption in western culture. In Zuboff’s book, Surveillance Capitalism, Zuboff is critical of our close tech counterparts stating a “saturation of convenience” and calls out our tech companies who “engineer our ignorance for their own financial benefit.” It’s voices like Zuboff that profoundly shape my perspective of technology as we have clearly developed a dependence on these devices and are unaware of their greater consequences. Ultimately, our society must be made aware of our relationship with Domestic Devices and how we use them in space.
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Domestic Devices
1 - 16
Connection
17 - 28
Habituated Views
29 - 42
Domestic Context
43 - 58
Arch 409 Weekly Drawings
59 - 72
“Arch 409 Weekly Drawings” lays out the foundational exercises our class practiced this semester. It is through these explorations where we discovered new ways to depict our environment and experiment with different media to create a desired effect. For instance, the single-line drawings are one of my personal favorites as important decisions like “which object does the line follow” or “which objects do I emphasize” have to be made.
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Weekly Drawings - Paper Bags
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Weekly Drawings - Paper Knot
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Weekly Drawings - Umbrellas
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Weekly Drawings - Trees
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Weekly Drawings - Ellipses
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Weekly Drawings - Section Cut
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Weekly Drawings - Texture and Media
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Weekly Drawings - Single-line Drawings
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