In this assignment, our professor assigned us to design our future bedroom around our thematic object/ material using the template we did for previous projects. In the process of doing that, our professor wanted us to do make 2 mind maps in order to provide help. We also got assigned to create a mock-up wall section of the room using the materials or objects we decided upon with the help of your mind map.
Futuristic Bedroom
Explanation of the Time “Future”
The Destructiveness of Tomorrow
Will we be blessed by the presence of tomorrow, or will we wish tomorrow never came? The previous year ironically proved that we do not have any control over what the future holds for us. Time has the power of both to weaken and to strengthen. All the beings within its path who refuse to keep up with this change are convicted of vanishing. Rapidly passing time also leaves a trace behind, representing its mighty powers. Time holds the power of manipulating humankind as they live in a dollhouse. Time changes society’s needs and forces them to make changes in the way they construct their environments. So, it is no secret that our bedrooms are great signifiers of the way of living in that period. This fact makes us wonder how our constructed environments and our rituals will change in a matter of a few hundred years.
Bedrooms are our sacred places where even in some cultures is forbidden to enter without permission. Today, we use these spaces to ground ourselves from the chaotic nature of today’s world. Also, the decoration of these rooms is much more intimate than how we decorate the house’s common spaces. We usually take our time and construct a private environment using only the objects that have special meaning. Even though I support that this a great tradition, in the future, we will most certainly lack that. Few hundred years forward, I envision my bedroom in all tones of grey without any trace of grief or joy. Living on autopilot blunt people’s foreign point of view towards the world. With the absence of character and taste, there is nothing much for software to hold on to. Doing art and having a particular flavor is beyond the abilities of technology. I can feel the emptiness of the fully furnished room. The room is radiating a cold atmosphere, which signals that now you are a stranger to the room. This place is no longer a habitat for the resident. The sudden and unnatural shift in the environment whipped out the welcoming and possessive aura of the room.
The theme of rituals and spiritualism is based on ancient times. They go back to the periods when people needed gods and goddesses’ support to complete their daily tasks. With the passing time, other elements of spiritualism surfaced in the form of witchcraft, paganism, and variations of religions. Trough history, with the rapid development of the sciences, these supernatural aspects got overshadowed and eventually will leave to be forgotten. In the future, I suspect that these elements will exist as nothing more than just a symbol. People will turn their backs to their beloved spirits guides as an effect of getting blinded with daily desires that the time future offers them. In a matter of centuries, spiritual objects like crystals and tarot decks will be for the ones who resist this harsh and sudden development. These objects and the overall theme of rituals will also target the audience who are not blinded by the bright lights of time future and the minority, which is still genuinely connected to spiritual aspects. There is also another possibility that people will be changing their rituals to fit the future flow. In a symbolic way, people might worship materialistic or digital icons.
To sum up, the future of my constructed environment is for the ones whose beliefs and comfort zones will be drastically reshaped. From my point of view, this environment and the selected theme will eventually taste the destructiveness of tomorrow.
Exploring My Future Bedroom
Rose Quartz (Thematic Object)
Today rose quartz, a silicon dioxide crystal is one of the most common varieties of the Quartz family. Its name is derived from its soft rose color, which ranges from very pale pink to deep reddish-pink. It usually occurs in massive form, though it sometimes grows in clusters of small prismatic crystals. It varies in clarity from opaque to translucent to foggy transparency. Some specimens contain Rutile traces within the stone, which creates six-rayed stars when polished into cabochons or spheres. Rose Quartz is feminine in tone and one of the stones of the Great Mother. It not only activates the human Heart Chakra, but it also links with the heart of the Earth and the heart of the Universe. Its vibrations can penetrate down to the cellular level and reprogram cells for joy and longevity rather than despair and death. It encourages the dissolution of anger and resentment, fear and suspicion, and brings the Light of healing, the rebirth of hope and faith in the benevolence of the Universe. Meditating with Rose Quartz assists one in reaching a resonance with the frequency of compassion, releasing emotional patterns that hold one back, and allows for embracing higher and finer frequencies of Light. Rose Quartz brings the energy rays of determination, commitment, and caring. Its soothing color calms feelings of anger or resentment and can aid efforts to meditate and reflect. Pink is the color of new love, new romance, and new relationships. It increases developing sensuality and can help overcome heartache, aiding in the improvement of our caring and loving abilities. Above all these, it is a mighty crystal to enhance the speed of your manifestations’ responses. It is an exceptionally functional crystal to manifest love with its high level of frequency and sacredness.
In the future, I envision this object losing its sacredness. I truly believe that specific objects are sacred because they usually have believers who support the object’s uniqueness and significance. Starting from today in hundred years, I can vividly see people worshiping money and fame instead of their once beloved spirit guides, gods and goddesses, or any supernatural being that at some point in past people used to get their strength out of. Unfortunately, with our narcissistic and materialistic society’s rapid growth, any other spiritual objects, including my crystal, will be left to be forgotten. In the case of my crystal, because there is no longer a group of people supporting its sacredness, the crystal will lose its supernatural powers. I envision it turning into a decorative element, just like marble. This made me wonder if the marble was once a sacred element that eventually lost its holiness and became a signifier of wealth and style. Just like this situation, I am scared about the possibility of my rose quartz turning into a signifier of wealth and design rather than something magical and enchanted. In this assignment, I wanted to sculpt all the furniture, floor, and walls out of rose quartz. They all hold the same texture and color. The only aspect that illustrates the edges of the objects is the contrast created between dark shadows and bright highlights. This design evolution almost makes the room look like a cave full of gems and crystals.
Minimalism (Signifier of the Future)
The best design style that can symbolize a futuristic scene is minimalism. Opposing from the Victorian Era, displaying the minimal amount of furniture and not leaving any room for unnecessary decorations is the most significant sign of futurism. Across history, sci-fi films and comics influenced society to interpret minimalism and its connection to time future. Inspired by that, I decided to keep the furnishing and other decorations as minimal as possible in this new project of mine.
The Bookcase
The bookcase is one of the most significant pieces of furniture that the changes of time are vividly displayed. In the older versions, it was composed of glass and wood. But in the future, I envisioned it carved out of stone with an edgeless design. I designed it as a structure that incorporates into the wall creating smooth transformation between the wall and the furniture. In the older version, the bookcase was intended to display books and boxes. In this version of the room, the bookcase has a softbox behind it, lighting the room. This invention of mine is entirely inspired by James Turrell and the incredible light fixtures he creates. To me, his works truly represent the time future and an artistic approach to minimalism. So, I thought that incorporating his style into my room will be a great signifier of time and intended style choice.
The Bed
In the Victorian Era, I displayed the bed with intense prints and carvings decorating the bedboard. In this period, I had a drastically different approach to the design of the bed. In the future, I envisioned the sheets in straight whites, which keeps the minimalist design approach on track. Other than the sheets, the frame of the bed is entirely made from rose quartz. With matching flooring, it almost looks like the bed is connected and rising from the floor. Besides its material, the form of the bedboard is pretty minimal and away from unnecessary carvings. It consists of sharp and definite edges, almost looking like a crystal growing from the room’s floor.
Lighting (The Ray of Light)
As I mentioned before, the lighting of the room is almost entirely inspired by James Turrell. The wall, which is partially overlaid with the bookcase, is a softbox that reflects a bright white flash into the room. It is my modernized take on the purple rays that I included in my previous works. Instead of portraying it as a ray reflecting from my crystal, I decided to represent this symbol using a light fixture just like the ones James Turrell designed. With this technique, I hoped my piece to appear more futuristic and modernized.
The Reflection
How this project made you think differently about space (the Living Room/Bedroom space as a place you inhabit) and the passage of time?
This assignment made me judge every element that my room is constructed of. Also made me wonder how these elements will age with the passage of time. I figured out that all of the walls of my room covered with wallpaper. Looking back and forth at my drawing, I noticed how having a stone especially crystal (rose quartz) elevated the atmosphere of the room. As a result, this discovery of mine verified the fact that objects and materials have huge impacts on the room both visually and spiritually. In my case, this change was nothing close to what I have hoped for. Turning my room into a cave of rose quart, damaged the sacredness of the crystal. I realized that when it is lower in quantity it reflected more holiness. Other than that, I realized that with the passing time our connection to our bedrooms fades away. The more our hobbies commercialize and we continue to worship money and glory, our bedrooms will lose their sacredness and fade into any other room.
The Research
James Turrell is famous for his extensive work. It is safe to say that he has a fascination with light that is projected in the way he materialized the concept of light. He is on a mission to manipulate the viewer’s perception and experience by just using light. The fact that he only uses light and the projection technique to create astral portals inspires me. This whole clean and neat finish of the work made me appreciate its minimalistic nature. Just like he did, in my recent work, I wanted to construct a minimalistic room with a monochromatic color palette which makes the edges of the room hard to see. I must say that his obsession with minimalism heavily influenced me in this assignment. Other than his design taste, I am a huge fan of his light fixtures. As a result, I placed one into my future bedroom in order to make my composition look even more futuristic.
Axel Vervoordt is a Belgian interior designer, antique, and art dealer. I first came across him with the show-stopping work he did on Kim Kardashian West’s house. Then I searched him and his other designers, but I must say that the work he did on Kim Kardashian West’s house’s interior is by far my favorite one. In this work, he succeeded to create a monochromatic and simplistic monument. The stone walls were a major inspiration for my assignment. The sculpted walls vividly show his minimalistic approach incorporated all around the house. This design of his guided and informed me about how I can incorporate my crystal into the design of my future bedroom.
Process Drawing
In the process of doing this piece of mine, I majorly used photoshop to obtain the crystal’s texture in my final piece. I built it out of the template I created for my previous variations of this room. I made some elevations on the form of the furniture to make it more modernized and futuristic. Then, I repeated the selected texture all over the piece and shaded it accordingly to make it look three-dimensional and define the edges of the objects. After finishing the piece I noticed that my light fixture is not visible in the daylight of the room, so I also decided to make an additional version that will display the nighttime.
Mind Maps
Trought the building process of this project I have guided by the mind maps that I created before giving a start to my assignment. With this technique, I had a chance to narrow my topic down and to see what should I focus on this assignment. It was also a great way to investigate the materials I am going to use both in my illustrated piece and in my mock-up.
Materials Investigation
In this assignment, guided by my professor’s advice, I decided to create prototypes of the object I will make the room out of. Since I am planning to create a room carved out of crystals, I decided that it is impossible to create a wall out of actual crystals. As a result, my professor and I agreed on creating prototypes of the object I want to make my room out of.
Photo #1
Here I tried out the material of acetate. I printed the rose quartz crystal pattern on a piece of acetate hoping to work with a transparent medium. However, while working with it, I realized that acetate is not strong enough to build something three-dimensional out of. With acetate, I achieved the goal of maintaining a realistic texture of the crystal. However, I found out that it is impossible to fold and create something voluminous out of it.
Photo #2
Here I tried out crafting paper to build the shape I had in my mind. Using crafting paper, I created the shape of my crystal by combining a rectangular prism and a triangular prism. Crafting paper is strong enough for me to build the forms in my mind. However, I could not incorporate the texture of the crystal onto the prism I created.
Photo #3
After creating the shape I had in my mind. I had to make up a way that can transfer the texture of the crystal onto the paper sculpture. As a result of my brainstorms, I decided to give the reflection technique a try. I set up my projector and reflected the textures onto it creating the illusion of a real crystal. I have to say that, this technique was by far the most realistic and effective one.
