Liverpool street station, London: People rush past each other in anonymity, wait next to each other on a bench. People together, anonymous, alone, afraid to touch others, afraid to be touched. This forced intimacy can be intimidating, but maybe when you let it happen, can be quite nice lean against an other human body, or feel the heat of the person before you on the seat.


Being captured by a chair. Embraced by a pressuring softness, until you are released.


A chair that opens up and closes. When you get trapped you will have to wait until you are released. The meaning of this project is based on a take of the words intimacy and intimidating. These words have a different meaning but the action can almost be the same. Being stuck is an unpleasant feeling, but being hugged is a very nice one. If you are captured in the chair you will have to give in and relax, the moment you do this it will become a pleasant hug.


This hugging also has associations to specific treatments on autistic people to help them control their sensorial input. This technique is called deep pressure and is a form of pressure on the whole body to relax. This technique comes from taming

animals and is also tested on normal people that experienced the same relaxing effect.

 

Visually my project is about the question 'What is a chair' and 'What is function' The transformation from a minimalist cube to an organic chair and back.


Execution

A cube of foam cut in a specific pattern with inside a metal frame to function as structure and air shafts for the air to flow in and out the foam. The whole structure is covered with a plastic sealed fabric to provide an air-tightness with a vacuum machine installed underneath the seat.


Research you’ll find here...

captured by a chair