Boundary: An exploration of embodiment

Abstract

Embodiment| the testing and experience of interior architecture through physical interaction.

Interior spaces lack an intimate connection with the body. Enhancing the body’s significance within the design process gives interior architects the ability to create spatial experiences closer to the inhabitant by engaging with expressions of boundary; a negotiation of body, form and space.

This thesis investigates a method for designing from a body-centred perspective, in order to create outcomes that are more attuned to the body in space.

Embodiment is the means by which interior architects achieve a sense of bodily connection through design making. During embodiment the designer is present, interactive and responsive, encouraging the production of design outcomes engendered from the body for the needs of the body.

Following a framework of Body, Boundary and Negotiation, a series of intuitive design investigations observe, analyse and explore interiority from a body-centred perspective. The design research further develops Embodiment as a methodology by applying it programmatically, focusing on the physical relationship between parent and premature infant in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

The body acts as the site for design research, structuring a fixed point from which to test the experiences of interiority, re-identifying the physical and spatial boundaries of the body with form and space.

Developed through a process of making The First Skin structures wearable space upon the body. Together with the Receiver, its supporting inhabitable form, they nurture a sense of private/intimate space for parent/infant bonding to occur.

The Spatial Envelope critiques and develops the experiential potential of each final prototype via digital collage. A design conclusion acknowledging the spatial extents of the methodology whilst ensuring the body remains at the centre of our design processes.