In this first project we worked in groups, negotiating between the impositions of design and our expectations vis-a-vis built environments. We needed to negotiate with our group all the formal decisions that will contribute to the experience of such space. How do we understand the theme/concept that accompanies the space—what does freedom, joy, solidarity, or power mean to us? How will space we design look like/feel like? What will an individual do, or how will an individual behave in such a space—and how will we make this clear? Everything we decide on has to be connected to the ultimate theme of the space.
For our topic, we got Space of Joy. A space that would evoke a certain emotion, which was joy. A space that could distort reality and be an escape for individuals from the real world. We started by listing down things that would mean joy to each of us individually. For Yoona, joy means candles and a healthy lifestyle. She found that there is something about them that gives her positive energy. For Ankita, joy means being happy, comforted and relaxed like a ball pit and trampoline give her a feeling of relaxation and thrill at the same time. To Dhwani, joy is being able to enjoy the smaller things in life – quite literally like how spaces that make us feel happiness through relaxation with nature, a mix of emotions with movies, and nostalgia with a ball pit. And lastly to me (Yasha), very similarly, joy meant childhood, being carefree and grasping little things that aren’t important. Birthdays also gave me a lot of joy because it was one day only you could feel special. We took elements from each person so that it was not biased, and everyone immediately agreed to the idea. The model is inspired from the shape and style of a birthday cake therefore, it is round in shape and is divided into five pieces or rooms which resembles to five giant slices of a cake. To express in words, it’s literally a cake walk. The five rooms contain activities that brings out the kid in you or makes the audience innersole joyous.
From a bird’s eye view these rooms look white in color and are decorated by red and golden confetti painting. Each room has a separate entrance gate which is made out of glass and the gate is surrounded by a full size glass window which is in the shape of a curve to mimic the shape of a slice of a cake. To begin with the activities, Room one is the Ball Pit room, made for people of all ages and gender to feel carefree. It contains a triangular ball pit covered with safety net and fencing for protecting the audience from any mishap. The walls of this room are bright yellow. Next to this room is the Trampoline house, which is mainly a big triangle shaped trampoline again covered with net for safety reasons and the bright red walls of this room is home to a caution board which reads “ Have fun, jump safe ” which again prompts the audience to be safe while enjoying. The room next to the trampoline house is a Mini movie theatre, created with two screens one situated at the left wall and one situated on the ceiling and also contains two projectors. It has grey carpet flooring and the room tries to create a very cosy atmosphere with the help of big blue pillows and blankets provided to the audience who can view movies on the left wall being seated or by lying down and watching on the ceiling. With movies come food, therefore our next room is the Candy room especially made for people with sweet tooth because it is a big dessert destination and it seats a huge chocolate fountain and contains six doughnut shaped containers filled with marshmallows, doughnuts, cakes and small chocolates which is suspended from the ceiling. The walls of this room are tangerine and has a wallpaper with doughnuts and ice creams. The last but not the least room is a Pet cafe, this room imitates the theme of nature and a park therefore it is covered with trees and bushes and the flooring is lined with artificial grass but contains about 6 dogs and 6 cats and hence, is the perfect spot for animal lovers. Through this model we have tried to explore and create spaces which induce joy for different kinds of people and serves as a joint for everyone to hang out together as it everyone can associate joy with one or more rooms.
Space pictures:
Joy can be described as something that brings us great pleasure or happiness, but all this definition does is draw away from the experience behind joy. For instance, joy isn’t the cake itself; it’s the act of savoring every bite of the cake whilst being surrounded by your loved ones. In short, it’s the adventure that the small slice of cake takes you on that counts; it’s what keeps you lusting for more. To us, joy doesn’t lie in physical objects or spaces, it lies in the experience that an object or space allows or brings to mind.
Our cake structure does exactly this. It doesn’t just simply show our audience what we think joy looks like, it allows them to experience joy for themselves through a nostalgic roadway through their childhood. We’ve chosen ‘childhood’ as a secondary theme throughout our project, as when one is subjected to think of the term ‘joy’, they almost instantly go down memory lane to the times when they were most free and happy. This cake with its many rooms permits an audience little spurts of joy beyond just visual means. It is a space where they can play to their heart’s content, snack on candy and desserts until they can eat no more, relax in the comfort of nature surrounded by lovable cats and dogs, and watch movies until it’s no longer bright outside. With such rooms being encapsulated in the cake structure, it’s no question that our goal is for individuals to experience nostalgia, be delighted and overwhelmed by the contents of these five rooms, be charmed by how easily the rooms bring back pleasant memories, allow them to simply relax and enjoy themselves, and lastly, to some extent, wonder about how these little joys follow and find us everywhere.
This ‘space of joy’ almost feels as though it is alive and breathing, drawing in this joyous experience to an audience. Even though the space is artificial in the sense that it will be planted onto public grounds to change the atmosphere of the place, the brightly lit and colored rooms harmoniously bring the piece together and make it seem unified. As the goal is not for the cake structure to blend into its surroundings, the luminous and glowing aspect of the colors will make it stand out and draw in eyes, intriguing wanderers to come have a look. The fine matte texture of the walls will give the rooms character and make them appear as actual rooms, thus allowing an individual to truly experience entering a new space, and to take it in as a journey. Each room consists of different elements that will bring an individual joy, and thus we wish to surprise our audience with how color-coded and abstract/natural the interior representational spaces can be. And thus, this assemblage that is visualized as a cake encapsulating little joys becomes a space of joy of its own.
Mood Board:
Material Board:
Conceptual and exploratory sketches:
