Studio Pratt Smallest Room
Pratt Institute, Visiting Assitant Professor, Interior Design Studio II, Spring 18, Spring 19, Spring 21 (Donghia Grant)
Continuing the introduction to a sustainable design practice and the understanding of social boundaries, an innovative room for a single person to “perform” a ritual in is defined and a design is informed by a thorough investigation rooted in human movement, occupancy, consumption, and site specificity. Everyday small spaces and contemporary archetypal spaces of worship are studied, documented and discussed. This is a group project built at 1:1 scale to test real occupancy.
In March of 2011, Japan was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami killing 19,000 thousand people. On September 23rd, 2016, “This American Life”, a weekly public radio program and podcast, reported on a story that developed during the aftermath of the tragedy that struck Japan. In the coastal town of Otsuchi, an individual built a phone booth in their back yard, with a disconnected black rotary phone, where people can go to “call” their loved ones who were lost in the tsunami. It has grown where thousands of people visit the phone booth to help cope with the loss of family members & friends. This leads to the inspiration and exploration of how humans deal, experience, and release emotions, furthermore the ritualistic process of catharsis. Each and every person copes with their emotions differently, where precedents or what can be described as rituals are created and repeated with each associated emotion. This act of catharsis, the ritual of an emotional deluge, and the associated behaviors, components & spaces we experience them in is the basis to our concept, designing a space for the ritual of a catharsis.
Spring 18 Students: Wanlu Liu, Shenyi Zhang, Ryan Gilrane, Ningxin Zhang, Niyati Shah, Mahzad Soheili, Mallika Mehrotra, Ju Yeon Lee, Giselle Lauway, Boshan Zhou, Alexandra Ellerkamp
Spring 19 Students: Fanhao Sun, Liangyu Zhou, Hanxin Cen,Zhiying Liu, Aixuan Li, Leo Yang, Shirley Chen, Shelby DiTrani, Yifan Hu, Yifei Xie, Milagros Oviedo
Spring 21 Students: Claudia Sanders Jessica Kim Louisa Lu Hyeonsu Kim Makenna Lucey Iris Wang Laila Sacasa Eunsu Lee Christine Huang Eric Feng Margaret Zhao Kalu Li He Joa