Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Zoom out. I have been, for the past couple weeks, working on this project with the concept that the finished product would be a "chair." However, an in-progress critique of my precedent research revealed some incredibly interesting ideas, mainly that I should not be defining the project as a chair from the get-go.
I don't care what anyone else told you (even if that person was me), this project is about healthy comfort. Chairs? Not healthy. In fact, the sedentary aspect of our culture is one of the most dangerous things we do. As Roland continues to tell me, "the healthiest position is the next one," meaning that we are meant to keep moving. We start children off early in high chairs that restrict movement; we teach kids to sit still at their desks all day; we ready the population to sit in factories and offices for the rest of their collective existence, and as they age, the members of the sedentary culture lose their physical strength until they can only do what we as a society have taught them: Sit. Geriatrics in cultures where ground-sitting is the norm are perfectly capable of getting up from and sitting down on the ground; mountainous cultures that require lots of climbing to get to residences produce old people that can still climb their enormous flights of stairs. The issue that I am encountering is making something healthy comfortable, not something comfortable healthy.
It's easiest to run with a partner. If you can't have a partner, music works too. You need distraction and interaction so that your body can work longer without you noticing. How can this aspect be applied to the more stationary aspects of life?
How can I make something that is comfortable but not specifically a horizontal platform 45cm from the ground? How can I make it healthy? How can I make relaxing healthy? How can the program in the piece provoke the user into action? How can the experience be tactile? These are all things that I need to consider.
I don't care what anyone else told you (even if that person was me), this project is about healthy comfort. Chairs? Not healthy. In fact, the sedentary aspect of our culture is one of the most dangerous things we do. As Roland continues to tell me, "the healthiest position is the next one," meaning that we are meant to keep moving. We start children off early in high chairs that restrict movement; we teach kids to sit still at their desks all day; we ready the population to sit in factories and offices for the rest of their collective existence, and as they age, the members of the sedentary culture lose their physical strength until they can only do what we as a society have taught them: Sit. Geriatrics in cultures where ground-sitting is the norm are perfectly capable of getting up from and sitting down on the ground; mountainous cultures that require lots of climbing to get to residences produce old people that can still climb their enormous flights of stairs. The issue that I am encountering is making something healthy comfortable, not something comfortable healthy.
It's easiest to run with a partner. If you can't have a partner, music works too. You need distraction and interaction so that your body can work longer without you noticing. How can this aspect be applied to the more stationary aspects of life?
How can I make something that is comfortable but not specifically a horizontal platform 45cm from the ground? How can I make it healthy? How can I make relaxing healthy? How can the program in the piece provoke the user into action? How can the experience be tactile? These are all things that I need to consider.
A scanned page from an out-of-print exhibition publication by Bernard Rudofsky. This page depicts many of the known positions one can take when sitting on the ground. Roland kindly brought the book in for me. Sitting on the ground helps develop the muscles required for sitting on the ground (go figure). How can such positions be incorporated into a product?
CHECKLIST
Accomplished:
15 variations drawn
46 precedents found
Working on:
35 variations
4 or more precedents
Job searching/ learning about job requirements
Receiving 2x HDMI to VGA converters ($12)
To do:
Studies in ergonomics/ comfort
Set up Raspberry Pi computers
15 variations drawn
46 precedents found
Working on:
35 variations
4 or more precedents
Job searching/ learning about job requirements
Receiving 2x HDMI to VGA converters ($12)
To do:
Studies in ergonomics/ comfort
Set up Raspberry Pi computers