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?
“The True Measure of any Society can be found in
how it treats its most vulnerable members”
Anti Hostile Architecture Activities
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
Tools
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
Temple Grandin Squeeze Machine
Translation towards a sitting Object
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
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
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