In these project, you will speculate for critical and provocative purposes about possible futures. You will also explore the potential of the medium to deliver highly sensory experiences.
Working in pairs, develop a shared concept informed by the course readings, discussions, and assignments. Check and try to answer the reading response prompt before committing to a concept. You have to refer to the readings and connect something to your concept. You should identify specific materials and techniques you will be using to make your project. Record all this in written form as well as sketches, and post it on both your blogs. (Same as before, this post should essentially be the same for both of you)
In this project you might use other materials, but the biomaterial you will use should be the main material of the project (80% at least). Keep in mind that when there is an option, you will choose natural materials over synthetic or unsustainable materials.
Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming, chapter 1: Beyond_Radical_Design
Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming, chapter 6: Invitations to Make-Believe
What is the future that you are speculating about and how your project lives in this possible future?
What will make your project different from products and something that does not “fit” into today’s world, especially the commercial world?
How your project will help the audience think about alternative possibilities? How it will challenge ideals, values, and beliefs of our society embodied in material culture?
Our speculative design explores a future where severe air pollution renders traditional respiration unsustainable. In this imagined scenario, aerobic organisms, including humans, face a mass extinction event due to the collapse of air quality. To survive, humans have developed a New Breathing Plan, a system that integrates biological and mechanical adaptations for breathing.
In this future, lungs and tracheas are replaced by external devices inspired by:
Each person carries a balloon of purified air, inhaled once a day and distributed by a centralized organization. The device is built with biodegradable and breathable biomaterials, emphasizing a deep connection between human survival and organic systems.
Our project leverages biomaterials as the foundation for both the functional and sensory aspects: