A transformative space for sensorial wellbeing to reconnect with nature
DoubleRoom is an inclusive, sustainable, and biophilic design solution that brings the outstanding healing effects of nature into our interior environment. By utilizing 5 physical objects inspired by ancient wellness rituals, we can stimulate the senses to improve our overall wellbeing. The interior space can take on a virtual transformation through these objects to insight a digital escape to nature in urban spaces, providing a bridge between our technological evolution and biophilic roots.
National
Italy
Milan
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
DoubleRoom is a thesis research and concept inspired by behavior change during the emergence of the pandemic in urban environments. The project aims to understand how our wellbeing is affected by self-isolating in our interior spaces and what is missing in our homes that being in nature provides. As urbanization continues to increase, how can we reconnect to nature without completely secluding ourselves? We can look to our ancestral roots to understand our genetic and primitive connection to nature and to science to understand what nature provides for our health and wellbeing. The pandemic also forced a surge of reliance on new technology for better or for worse, so as we design spaces for wellness, technology must be assessed with the same mindset- rooted in humans & nature, to benefit our wellbeing.
DoubleRoom has two faces: the first grounded in the material world- rooted in research of biophilia and rituals of ancient civilizations. In this first face, five modern artifacts are designed around stimulating the 5 senses. These artifacts bring mindfulness and meditative acts into everyday routines, creating rituals to improve wellbeing. The second face of the room lives in the virtual world, and utilizes each of the static artifacts to enter a dreamlike space in nature inspired by the objects themselves. This expands on the possibilities of meditative design and using technology in an embodied way to stimulate the inner consciousness.
DoubleRoom provides a holistic solution to balancing the tensions faced in an urban environment, creating harmony between the natural and digital world. Human beings always have a genetic connection back to nature, and living in an urban environment shouldn’t have to compromise that need or force counter-urbanization as the only solution. An ideal future is one where these conflicting topics are not against one another, but merge effortlessly. By designing to reconnect to nature, we design to reconnect to ourselves.
Sensorial
Wellbeing
Biophilia
Sustainability
Nature
The objects of this collection are all designed using sustainable design practices including a minimalistic approach, utilizing only natural, sustainable and healthy materials. All of the products are made of natural materials or materials from nature, and are all completely recyclable. The collection also makes use of wabi sabi design principles that allow the project to age naturally with time and only become more beautiful with age. The products are designed simply but backed by science and ancient history to provide affordable products to an inclusive audience to improve living in a space within its existing architecture. The products require only a soft investment, allowing any room to be transformed into a sensorial room to reconnect back to nature and our ancient roots.
Each of the products within the DoubleRoom have been designed with human beings in mind. This addresses everything from our ancient roots as human beings to our inherent connection with nature (biophilia), to understanding how our evolution with technology affects our wellbeing. Every object is designed with a connection to a sensory experience, poetic gesture, and wellness benefit. This means they utilize natural materials that hold healing properties in the physical, emotional, and spiritual world to impact our wellbeing by inducing positive emotions and helping to regulate our nervous system naturally. These products stimulate the senses, and provide a means of recreating the soothing techniques nature holds that our interior environments lack. Interior spaces have only recently been designed with these types of biophilic principles in mind but by implementing these techniques in products we can simply add to existing spaces to receive its benefit without a hard investment.
The underlining principle that unites us all is being human. Understanding what this means at its very core is incredibly important to designing products that are inclusive for all. By tapping into our ancient roots to understand how we improved our health and wellbeing before western medicine we find many holistic practices based upon stimulating the senses in various ways with various instruments throughout a wide variety of cultures. Experiences our reality through the senses is something we all share, and also something completely unique to processing our own existence. I aim to bring this research into designing for modern wellbeing by creating simplistic objects that are easy and cost effective to produce, allowing it to be accessible and affordable for all. The concept can be implemented utilizing just the physical aspect of the design (absent of technology) for the most affordable solution, but can be met with technology for those who are more connected to the digital world (and more often disconnected from nature). The product set can improve sensorial wellbeing in everything from small children beginning to developing sensorial skills to the elder experiencing memory and health problems. The products are meant to improve the health and wellbeing of any human being occupying an interior space that is absent of the benefits of nature. This applies directly to anyone living in an urban environment, people needing to be in quarantine situations or needing to heal from various ailments or diseases, to people who experience sensory disorders, mental health issues, or are just looking to create a healthier interior space.
The spaces could be created all over the world so anyone could experience a space of sensorial wellbeing from the physical to digital benefits and both relax and reset their nervous system. I hope that the development of these concept could show people how design can improve our wellbeing, by creating daily rituals, being made of sustainable and healing materials, and utilizing design aesthetics that soothe or calm our innate being. I hope the importance of nature as a part of our being is understood, inspiring action to respect nature as part of ourselves, knowing that by taking care of nature we are taking care of ourselves. Improving health and wellbeing can be done in simplistic, ancient even, ways, without the use of technology or spending a lot of money. As we evolve as technological beings, our health and wellbeing needs to be considered, and technology should be designed with human beings in mind and not only for technology's sake. The way we use technology in the future will ultimately be linked to our wellbeing as we learn more about its effect on our health. Our homes can evolve and adapt to our needs, forever being our refuge, but also can become our escape at the same time. DoubleRoom is a product design concept but also can be implemented as a brand design and service concept in the future, allowing people to create a community based around these rooms where people could create these rooms from an extra space in their house and rent them out as experiences as an investment to receive additional income and meet new people.
The design and development of the concept was owned by Carrie Hack, supported by the resources of the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) in Milan, Italy, for the Master of Arts in Product Design program, and overseen and advised by Mario Trimarchi. Various resources were used in the research phase including the Healthy Materials & Sustainable Buildings Certificate by the Parsons School of Design in New York. The benefits of this certificate are evident in the research and final result.
The project utilizes aspects of sustainable design and biophilic design principles. By taking what we already know about sustainability in design, every piece of the project was designed in a minimalistic way- tackling the objective using the least amount of materials required to fulfill the objective of the process. Every piece is fully recyclable in its own material set and doesn't use any artificial or manmade materials but natural materials or materials derived from nature. By researching aspects of biophilic design principles for the interior space (in which there is abundant information) I processed the information through a product design lens to apply biophilic design principles to products that could exist in a space- allowing for sustainable and biophilic practices to be implemented as a soft investment rather than a complete remodel of a space.
This concept addresses a need within the community that hasn't yet been addressed or met. This was brought to light during the pandemic where humans were forces to stay indoors and we saw the suffering of mental health within urban communities that were mandated to quarantine and unable to go outdoors and interact with nature. The modern homes in urban environments need to adapt to this realization by designing for sensorial wellbeing, to make up for the lack of stimulation humans are missing without living closer to nature. The stress of living in a city can be directly caused by and a lack of this type of sensorial stimulation that naturally regulates our nervous system and soothes the mind and body.
The elements by which I explored design for wellbeing can be implemented in many different product design or interior design contexts in the future, implementing biophilia not only in architecture and interior design but also at the source of product design. The idea of using 'healing' or 'healthy' materials can also be used across design fields. Designing not only for the senses but for active design- considering ergonomics and movements that can be inspired by objects and the way this affects our health and wellbeing too. Separating the benefits of the physical world and the digital world to understand how isolating each to get the best benefits out of them provides a means of observing how to design for both worlds in the future. The technological processes and concept developed in VR could be used to create a means of replicating our physical space in a virtual world to create more comfort in entering these types of foreign environments.
The project addresses certain global challenges as stated by the United Nations sustainable development goals focusing on 3. Good Health and Wellbeing, while implementing other goals such as sustainability, inclusivity, education, and environment. If we can learn to live better in our homes, we can certainly learn to live better within our worlds. By taking small steps towards investing in sustainable products that connect us back to nature we prove what we've forgotten about how important nature is toward our health and wellbeing. By engaging with nature or aspects from nature within our homes on a daily basis and daily routine we can bring nature back into our life, reap the benefits, and in turn be inspired to give back to the natural world in other ways.
