It's been a long time since I posted something! So, here I am, back with a post about a project that I took up during my post-graduation. Two good years since then and now, I am sharing it! Well, maybe because the whole idea intrigues me, still. :)
The theme of the project was the emotion of "Contradiction", which was derived from a research done on the space of pedestrian subways and later, taken ahead to be further developed into a tangible product.
Here are some points to give you a gist of the research paper.
“Pedestrian Subway- A Questionable Space”
- Pedestrian subways were incorporated in the
1960’s by the traffic management to stop people from crossing at road level,
valuing motorists’ time more than safety of women and the convenience of
elderly and laden pedestrians
[Loucaitou- Sideris, Anastasia.2009].
- Research showed that people, especially women
were and still are comparatively more fearful in using subways because of
numerous reasons like it's closed and dark, stays empty, is an underground
space, the environment is crime inviting [Reiter, Zoe.2006].
- Hence, even if the actual crime rate is not high
in subways, there is fear due to likeliness of occurrence of crime [Loucaitou-
Sideris, Anastasia and Fink Camille.2008].
The aim of the research was to prove a hypothesis, which in my case was that
pedestrian subways, which were built in order to facilitate road crossing i.e.
curbing fear; actually became a reason for fear in people’s mind. This led to picking up the attribute of "contradictory nature" of subways.
The essence of contradiction present in
emotions, materials, functionality, gave rise to the idea of developing a
product which would give a similar sense of contradiction.
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| Mood board on the theme Contradiction. |
Then followed the idea churning for the tangible products. After all the brainstorming, the selection and dismissal process, the final product was a c
omplex
having a theme based restaurant, hukkah lounge and coffee house - all three in the same space, making it an experiential design inspired from a subway.
Here are some snapshots of the complex made on 3Ds Max:
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| Top view of the complex. |
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| Hukkah lounge - Theme rock |
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| Theme of rebellion |
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| Restaurant on theme Sufi. |
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| Feeling of space, soothing Sufi music, openness. |
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| Coffee house on theme Fusion. |
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| Soft interiors, music, low seating. |
The transition from one space i.e. from the subway like entrance (closed and uncomfortable) to a Sufi restaurant (serene) to a hukkah lounge (rebellion) to Fusion cafe (love and tenderness) makes the user experience contradictory feelings because of the different ambiance offered by the spaces.
I also came up with a model of the final product using various materials like sun-board, thermocol sheet etc. Take a sneak peek.
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| Top view of model |
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| Graffiti in the transitory space |
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| Ways leading to entrance of the Restaurant, lounge and cafe |
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| Graffiti and cobbled pavement |
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| Hukkah lounge |
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| Sufi restaurant |
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| Fusion cafe |
Thus, with the combination of different themes/ materials/ music/ interiors/ ambiance and hence, feelings that vary with the space, I have tried to incorporate the attribute of contradiction within the complex altogether.
