An experimental in-person social gathering held by Bureau of Public Health at Salone Del Mobile 2022
The Bureau of Public Health is looking to imagine the future of social gathering in a safe, enjoyable, and enriching way that has adapted to our new reality by proposing an exhibition experience for a show at Salone Del Mobile that highlights our innovative solution for the future in 2022. In this transitioning period of resuming post-pandemic life, we are developing a vision for in-person social gatherings that will connect people more meaningfully through multi-dimensional intimacy and build a reciprocal and healthier society.
When life has been isolated and virtual for such a long time, we are eager for intimacy more than ever. When digital technology has been involved with our life so much, it needs to connect us more instead of isolating us. A Journey for Intimacy: envisioning the possibilities of multi-dimensional intimacy in future social gatherings.
Here, the visitor will have an overview of the exhibition and get a smart audio device. The exhibition contains three main activities, the visitor will experience recreational, intellectual, and emotional intimacy as they move through each activity. These curated activities and the space designs for them are aimed at creating emotional progression and in the end connect visitors meaningfully. The smart audio device will augment their audio experience, collect information anonymously and generate a personalized visual summary at the end of the exhibition.
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This room is about experiencing recreational intimacy. Having fun together, creating a collaborative sharing experience is the most approachable yet delightful intimacy we can have. The visitor will enter a dark round space with horn and disk shape installations. Space will respond to the sound and movement visually to encourage exploration and expression. Visitors will warm up as a group here and prepare for further explorations.
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This room is about experiencing intellectual intimacy. The rapid collision of minds creates chemical reactions between different people. Space will work as a public conversation forum where visitors can discover ongoing conversations visually and link with different groups freely. The color patterns and texts on the ground will evolve and merge as the conversations continue, guiding people to exchange ideas more dynamically.
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This room is about experiencing emotional intimacy. Through experiencing emotional intimacy, we can create deeper, more trustful, and unexpected connections. The system will pair two visitors, guide them into a pod through audio and lighting. The pods are designed into an embracing but not enclosed space to provide a sense of perceived privacy, together with the warm tone lighting, creates a secure and supportive atmosphere. The guiding questions that are projected on the partition will guide visitors to talk about the emotional and spiritual topics that people usually feel difficult to bring up.
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As the epilogue of this journey, the reflection room is a space for reflexing and sharing. We want visitors to walk away more connected, mentally fulfilled, even getting a new friend. In this room, visitors can get their unique digital souvenir from the podium, and feel a sense of belonging from the combined pattern on the wall which represents all the encounters and connections happening in this space.
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Light will guide the visitor to put their smart audio device on the platform, and the data collected throughout the journey will start to download. Every visitor will get their unique visual wrap-up of the entire journey and be able to save and share it. The ratio of purple and orange indicates the time ratio of talking and listening; How dark the blue is related to the average distance between the visitor and the people he/she interacts with; the size of the pattern shows the number of people the visitor interacts with during the exhibition; the shape of the pattern means the emotional ups and downs during each activity.
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In consideration of the temporariness of this exhibition (stays for 7 days during the Salone Del Mobile), we keep the limitation of construction time and the minimum environmental impact in mind when designing the exhibition. We decided to use the tensile fabric structure to achieve an organic and minimal looking. The exterior walls could be printed digitally to be highly visible during the day and can work as the screen for projection during the night. The installations designed for this exhibition will be transported and reused in more affairs, and the design will be applied further in public spaces serving more people.
We believe that meaningful connections between individuals nurture a supportive and reciprocal society. We hope our exhibition is a starting point for the public to rethink and reimage the role social gatherings play in our lives and how technology and considerable design can connect people more meaningfully.
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