Process

1 Initial Idea:
close the gap of pain as a taboo in Public Space

Context: We humans can only endure a limited amount of pain. If we endure chronic pain, our body can adapt to it until a certain level. Resulting in a system that’s overloaded while blocking a constant transmission of pain impulses. This way we burn a lot of unnecessary energy. Most designers and artists who work around the subject of a lack of sensorial input (blindness, numbness, …) tend to focus you on that fact that you may or may not have experienced this, and help you understand this lack of input. Since pain is an everyday thing and known to all people, the idea is to work around an installation that may or may not temporarily relieve a certain amount of pain. This way the user may experience a sort of reset towards an earlier stage in their life where they didn’t experience this kind of feelings.

Setting: The design of a public space depends mostly on the duration of use by the user.
Depending on the spot, an instrument or object should only be comfortable for a maximum amount of time. From this perspective we, designers and architects work towards an optimal solution regarding price, misuse, weather and many more. This solution can be seen as a mean deviation on the matter, which helps a city keep its effectiveness while providing for its citizens. When we change the perspective of the context towards the less fortunate, the disadvantaged, the overworked, the homeless, those beyond the average. We see that some cities use hostile-architecture to keep them places.


Goal: Developing an object or installation which enables the user to be temporarily relieved of/or experience a diminished input of pain. This will be linked with public space, with vision on a platform where people can share their experience.

Context:Research Questions:

How can we untaboo the topic pain,
how to break a social barrier?

How is pain perceived in the body and how do we temporarily erase it?

Is it possible to translate active therapies into a passive object, accessible for all?

what kind of physiological element can we use for this?

Alternative Therapies

Acupressure

Link

Measuring

2 Setting: Public Space

Hostile Architecture

Design For Discomfort

Homelessness

Designs Against Humanity

Anti Homeless Architecture

Social Injustice

Examples

Acupuncture

Reflexiology

Shiatsu-Massage

Physiotherapy/Sports

Vagus

Neuroscience: Vagus Nerve

AntiDepressant Mechanism

Revisiting Reflexiology

Not enough Supporting Evidence

Acupressure Against Pain

Too invasive

Trigger Points Massage

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Dolorimeter

Chronic Pain

Society

Scoliosis

Sensing Sickness and Pain

Chronic Condtions/Pain

Chronic Pain

Can we design for improved (healthy) behaviour and/or quality of life?

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“The True Measure of any Society can be found in
how it treats its most vulnerable members”

Anti Hostile Architecture Activities

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10/01

Hostile architecture does not just affect homeless people.

Uncomfortable benches and chairs are challenging to use or inaccessible

to people with disabilities, the elderly and children.

Conclusion: Unethical

GD-20 (acupressure and -puncture point)

Noiception vs Pain

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Tools

Morphological Chart

Bad Habits?

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Conventional sitting

Natural and "alternative postures"

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Hostile Architecture as a tool that empowers the user.

vs.

Hostile Architecture as a tool to moves the problem out of perspective

Overload

Hypersensitivity

Autism

Tank

End: a morphological Chart which combines different postures with different pressure techniques.
PROBLEM: There do exist a lot of contradictory research in the fields of Acupressure.

END-RESOLVE:
Symptom Treatment?

Bad posture often cause for Chronic Pain

POSTURES

Reducing Sensorial Input

MindBody/ Psychosomatic

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Temple Grandin Squeeze Machine

Translation towards a sitting Object

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Temple Grandin's squeeze machine is mostly represented as a couch-like object.
The cause of this, I figured, is because for the original paper to work, you'll need pressure from around the user.
Hereby it is more logical to make a dynamic, foldable and immersive object, where the user will be surrounded by pressure.
Now if we would translate the Squeeze machine to something accessible, As a designer I tended to merge the machine with a common recliner chair.
Hereby the pressure would only be affected on the whole back. A hammock is a good gray zone between the two objects.

Design goal:

  • a chair > means accessible for a conventional sitting position > design should be ergonomically correct
  • Hug Machine, the sitting surface ad’s pressure to the user, the amount of pressure will vary based on their weight and their center point of gravity.
  • Some hammock designs use cords/rope on the sides of the object for added tensile strength.
  • I used a beach chair // can be ergonomically better / adds uniform pressure to the users body / had a hammock effect

V1

User tests ( 3 ) are positive, but the frame needs to be adapted towards less leg pressure. The chair however is really relaxing, so placing it in public space feels not like the appropriate location of use

Knipsel

ReFocus

What are proper sitting postures around the world?

Seiza (Japan)

Cross-Legged (Whole World)

Squatting (India)

Conventional (Globally)

Talks&Podcast

What happens if we Embed Natural Sitting postures in a conventional chair?

Why are 'ergonomic' chair designs considered weird/freaky?

No Idea Why I haven't found it yet ( obvious google search )

Expensive

Make it All Accessible? Patent?

Create space for Natural body postures in Public space.

  • Focus: Sitting
  • Locations?

BeenDone: Hack Stairs with crosslegged posible chairs

Kool

TITLE

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Redisign Existing Places with renewed Philosophy?

Sedentary Lifestyle

Bad Habits