Iteration 4.1 looks at the form of the bathroom through analysis and reflection of the bathroom diary, translation of movements within the diary into shape and form and transformation of form into spatial gesture.
Showing posts with label Personalized. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personalized. Show all posts
20110926
Re-designing the bathroom_Iteration 4.1
20110918
Re-designing the bathroom_Iteration 2.2 & 2.3
Iteration 2.2
The bath has become a small vessel at the end of the progression through the bathroom. Now, because of the size of the sink, the shower and the bath are both on the outside of the existing structure.
A view from the outside of the existing bathroom, showing shower and bath on the outside of the existing structure.
Plan view showing size of sink, shower and bath.
Progression from largest segment of time (sink) to smallest (bath).
And again, from the outside of existing structure.
Iteration 2.3
Reducing the width of the sink so the progression from sink to bath is possible without leaving the red surface area.
A view from the outside of the existing structure - as you can see the outside remains unchanged.
The width of the sink has been reduced in half.
Overall view of the bathroom from the outside - what was private is now public having penetrated the existing structure.
20110917
More writing...Intro cont.
BATHROOM TO LORNA
Eczema is just a layer of this project, it demonstrates a level of individuality that is shared by a limited amount of people around the world. This could be compared to, for example, being a single mother looking after a 3 year old whilst wanting to have a shower, or similarly, having a visual impairment and longing to be independent in the bathroom. All examples are unique. Design could be personally driven and accommodate such layers of individuality through the cross-over between spatial design and product design through the designer.
This is a very personal history of my Eczema that explains why the mentality of the bathroom as a chore has emerged for me. I intend to cut down so that it doesn't become the main parameters of the project, it is only a layer. I do not want to design bathrooms for persons who have Eczema.
To me, the bathroom is a room that I dread entering, however once I am inside and “doing something” I begin to enjoy myself. I grew up in Scotland, in a small village 25 miles from the nearest town. From birth to 6 months, my mum and dad noticed that I was constantly covered in a red, blotchy rash from head to toe and at age 6months I was diagnosed with Atopic Eczema. Throughout my 24 year life so far, I have undergone countless treatments for Eczema – most of which involve treatments that occur within the bathroom, or after having a bath. These treatments included:
- Chinese Herbal Medicine (bath additives)
- Dry-Wraps (bandaging done in bathroom)
- Moisturizing and Cream Application (done in bathroom)
- Bath Emollients (added to baths)
- Wet-Wraps (wet bandaging required to be done in bathroom)
- Oat baths (bath additive and used similar to soap)
- Potassium Permanganate baths (bath additive)
- Ichthammol and Zinc bandages (coated bandaging done in bathroom)
- Ichthammol and Zinc skin application (applied as a cream in bathroom)
- LIST CONT.
The bathroom became a room where I would be treated for my Eczema, almost like a hospital, where a simple bath or shower meant a strict routine to maintain my skin. Entering the bathroom was the beginning of a long tedious ritual to keep my Eczema under control. Gradually as I got older, I grew out of my food allergies and today I am only allergic to eggs, nuts and animal fur, which will induce an Eczema flare-up. However, the bathroom became a chore, and this mentality has stuck with me for as long as I can remember.
My Eczema makes the bathroom an experience unique to me, and instead of hiding it, how can I incorporate it into my re-design of the bathroom.
SUMMARY OF THESIS? Through practice-led research for deisgn, I intend to investigate personal aspects of the bathroom for myself, and translate these into a bathroom design that is a result of the practice-led research conducted and discussed throughout my Thesis. The ultimate goal is to create an individual bathroom; a bathroom designed for myself, and that accommodates my own individual routines, rituals, actions and movements within the bathroom, aspects which are not visible in current bathroom design, specifically my current home in Rolleston.
Highlighted through design investigations, a Bathroom Diary and analysis and reflection of these. (incomplete sentence)
How can I make the bathroom a more enjoyable experience?
How can I re-enthuse myself about entering the bathroom through design?
More writing...Intro.
Just adding extracts I have written recently regarding my project. They are not a finished item but I think it is valuable to upload writing as I write it to the blog. Aim: To keep track of progress and use it as a means of communicating what I have done, how it is developing, similar and re-occurring thoughts and processes which clarify my project in my own mind.
Sketch Essay 2
(CH 1) Intro
"...If we want to find ourselves, we must enjoy ourselves. In an individually personalized environment. In our own personal bathroom. A bathroom that, in its entirety, is a kind of interface for our physical and spiritual needs and which also reflects them.”[1] (Dornbracht, 2005, P.21)
Discuss what the bathroom is to me, and the intentions of the project. Yes
ABOUT THE THESIS TOPIC
My Master of Design Thesis seeks to investigate the bathroom, how it is used as a space and if there is the potential for a method for design that accommodates a singular persons/MY daily rituals, routines and actions within the bathroom. [Using myself as the tool for investigating ].
It is my belief that the methods for design demonstrated throughout this Thesis could be applied to any room within the domestic home, and used to inform the design of a better home, tailor-made to it’s inhabitants’ rituals, routines and movements. This belief for me was realised last year (2010) whilst completing my Bachelor of Design, majoring in Spatial Design. I investigated my bodies relationship to my home on Wellington’s busy Cuba Street, and created a series of works that highlighted the visual connection between inhabitant and habitat, me and my home.
SHOW VISUALLY WITH CAPTIONS. ^
IMAGES OF RED ROOM
Description relevant to project for both
IMAGES OF BEDSHEET
The bathroom is very much a ritual based room – it is a room built for purpose and one enters it with specific intents – such as washing, showering and bathing. Current bathroom designs seem to be defined by the multiples of singular products they contain, and not by the rituals that happen within, so what about the bathroom as a whole? Through my practice-led research, I intend to re-design the domestic bathroom based on the movements I make whilst performing rituals that happen within the space.
Gap - the gap between the role of the spatial designer and the product designer. Design is the interface between space and products?
Observation of my body’s movements, the keeping of a bathroom diary (both filmic and written), generation of movement diagrams and organization of body parts, products and actions from the diary, I have generated a series of tables that inform me of the actions, body parts and products that are most used – most interacted with, and most recorded – which will aide me in the generation of a tailor-made bathroom design unique to my own rituals, routines and actions – as fitting as a tailor-made suit.
[1] Dornbracht, A. (2005). People, Ritual, Architecture. In D. Hebel & J. Stollmann (Eds.), Bathroom Unplugged: Architecture and Intimacy (pp. 21- 25). Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser.
20110914
Starting to write about the Bathroom Diary...
The diary as a tool for research is very beneficial - from this I have drawn up tables, graphs, diagrams, lists and re-designed my existing bathroom room, all through reflecting upon diary entries.
Lastly, I used the bath. Once in the entire time I kept my initial Bathroom diary did I have a bath. This was time-consuming in terms of having to perform the same actions as a shower, but having to run the bath before hand and constantly check on it. Other than the once I bathed in it, and the daily prop it has become for ease of moisturizing my legs, it was seldom used or acknowledged.
Diary
Pedgley - diary
- Written
- Visual
- Blog
In order to further clarify to myself what actions, rituals, and routines I perform on a daily/weekly/monthly basis I decided to keep a Bathroom Diary. This diary became my companion, occupying my thoughts whilst I was in the bathroom and becoming my place to reflect upon my actions later whilst writing my recollections into it.
The diary is a valuable tool for recording my daily actions in the Bathroom. I used it to be as specific and personal to myself as possible. My own affliction with Eczema alters my routines and rituals dramatically, as the bathroom has become more of a chore than a place to relax for me. I tend to scratch my skin when it is exposed and after bathing become dry and irritated rapidly so I apply my moisturizers, creams and steroids as soon as possible. Personal routines, rituals and actions are important in the design of my bathroom, as the bathroom is one of the few places I feel comfortable exposing myself.
The bathroom is already a very personal room in the domestic house. It contains multiples of personal belongings and has seen the most intimate of encounters. The touch of soap and body lotion covering skin from head to toe, the rubbing of bubbles and lather through one’s hair and the collection of persons hair and skin, all in the name of hygiene. The bathroom keeps hidden what the rest of the rooms in the domestic house do not want to show, nor do its occupants want guests to see – a hair covered hairbrush, deodorant for rubbing onto the underneath of one’s arms, female sanitary products, cotton-wool buds for cleaning out my ears…CONTINUE.
I found that I spend most of my time in the bathroom admiring myself, checking myself out in the mirror above the sink, or checking myself for imperfections on the surface – dry skin, stray hairs on my eyebrows and nose, or checking for toothpaste around the edges of my mouth.
The time spend in front of the mirror was enhanced by my daily routine of brushing my teeth, having to stand directly in front of the mirror whilst brushing my teeth. Performing a monotonous task such as this whilst in front of the mirror, I found it very difficult not to look at myself. Occasionally I found myself drifting off into thought – often thinking about the Bathroom Diary but more often than not I have no idea what I was daydreaming about. I would brush my teeth, pick up my toothbrush, apply toothpaste, switch on and off the taps, brush my teeth up, down, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, slow and fast, spit out into the sink basin and rinse my toothbrush – finally placing it down on the sink in front of me, directly under the mirror. As caution I would check the corners of my mouth and lips for white toothpaste to avoid future embarrassment or another visit to the bathroom to look in the mirror.
The shower was the next item I spent most of my duration in the bathroom for. Preparation, undressing, checking myself out in the mirror (again!), putting on my shower cap, stepping into the shower, washing myself, applying soap, washing my hair with shampoo, conditioning my hair, washing myself again, shaving my legs and underarms, washing myself again, squeegee-ing the shower cubicle, opening the door and stepping out, drying myself, moisturizing myself, getting dressed and finally, leaving the bathroom.
20110905
20110901
Time/Body Parts dev.
more overlaying - 18th, 19th and 21st
22nd August
23rd August
Another overlayed image. 18th, 19th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd August
Linear Diagrams_Time/Body Parts. Overlayed 18th, 19th & 21st
Green 19th
Lime 18th & 19th
Blue 21st
Linear Diagrams_Time/Body Parts. 21st August
Linear Diagrams_Time/Body Parts. Overlayed 18th & 19th
Green 19th
Lime both
...just to give an idea of how this can be used...
Linear Diagrams_Time/Body Parts. 19th August
Linear Diagrams_Time/Body Parts. 18th August
Diagramming in other ways to inform design development. These diagrams will aid me in knowing what parts of my body are taken care of, or paid most attention to, in the bathroom.
My notebook.
Rough modelling - boxes, or pieces of paper which can be assembled and reassembled in a variety of configurations for design exploration.
More time analysis of the diary. Using each day in 24hour table showing different types of information.
The top one (above) is Time/Product - so dividing the use of a particular product (mentioned in the diary) into time slots according to when it was used. This will aid the positioning and reconfiguration of objects in the bathroom.
The second (above again) is Time/Action and is dividing the actions performed within the bathroom into 24hour time slots. The bathroom could be redesigned through actions, what occurs most regularly and rarely etc.
The last (below) is Time/Body Part, which looks at particular body parts and how often they are paid attention to in the bathroom.
20110831
(18th & 19th) Overlaying Movement Diagrams
20110830
Images_my bathroom as a result of my body
A series of images taken today after having a shower. The images are mainly of the glass structure - the shower - and the stream/drips/watermarks left on it after my presence in the shower - after me using the shower to shower. The steam/drips/watermarks are a unintentional drawing on the relationship between my body and the shower during the act of showering. The splashes made by myself during showering/washing/combing/shampooing/conditioning/scratching/turning on/turning off/adjusting/shaving/lifting/bending hit the steamed up glass partition and create a drawing of the consequence of movement - the consequence of using the shower for it's intended purpose.
The actions and movements I do when I shower very depending on what I enter the bathroom to do. If I have a bath, chances are I won't leave any marks on the shower. If I shower, wash myself and not my hair, I will leave washing/scrubbing/rinsing marks on the shower cubicle - visible from the inside and out. If I shower myself and wash my hair, I will leave completely different marks - or traces that my body has been there - on the shower. In fact, every time I shower the markings I create will be completely different - as unique to me as my fingerprints - and created as a consequence of movement, ritual, routine and actions within the shower.
Outside of shower, just after having a shower.
My reflection in the shower door - reflected on steamed, splashed glass
The shower from outside of the shower looking in at the mechanics of it. My drawing exposes or hides parts of the shower - this is a consequence of me using the shower - a result of inhabitation. A result of body does action uses product meets material.
And again.
Inside the shower, just after having a shower.
Looking out at the bathroom through the splatter/splash/watermarks on the shower glass.
And again.
The drips on the soap holder are a result of my presence in the shower.
The splatter marks created by my body - a visual of the body and product colliding.
And again.
Towards the top of the shower glass less splashes are visible - would a taller person splash the whole shower? Would an even smaller person splash even less? The splash marks are unique to my body.
The floor outside the shower, after stepping out of the shower.
Stepping out of the shower door and onto the bathmat, the transition between shower and floor is splattered with drips from my body as it moves through the door way and places each foot on the floor outside before reaching the bathmat. Then closing the door behind me.
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