UCA 3D 4: ‘Sensations’ Brief

Day 1 Idea Generation:

Building ‘sensorial’ environments from found objects

This quick task involved quickly making immersive or generally sensorial objects. I decided to make a weird wearable shelter, using corrugated cardboard and staples. I chose not to follow the work through.

Drawings of these environments

No-looking

We were then given the task to draw these environments without looking at the page, to achieve form without precision.

Panoramic

And then panoramic images on roll paper.

Artist Research

Terra! Grown Chairs — Studio Nucleo

Images credit: Studio Nucleo (2016)

This kit, sold as a design or finished piece by Studio Nucleo, combines a cardboard frame and compost filler to create a structure that slowly grows into a grassy armchair, as a permanent piece of garden furniture. The cardboard degrades in the soil, leaving only the mound. The design is intrinsically sustainable, and reconsiders human relationships to natural structures, making a living natural environment directly functional without an ecological cost.

’Light Green Leaves with Light’ — Hyun Jean Lee

Image credit: Lee (s.d)

This multichannel projection art piece by Hyun Jean Lee uses 16 screens and three projectors to mimic the feeling of warm sunlight filtering through foliage (Lee, s.d.). The piece is artificial but still creates the same atmosphere, it’s not a trick, but still, we are convinced by the projection, knowing it is fake.

’Moss your city’ — Pushak

Image credit: Pushak via Kim (2010).

This interactive installation by Pushak used moss coverings in a café space, to encourage visitors to consider the relationship between urban life and the forest and thereby encourage urban foresting initiatives. It appeals to the senses visually and through smell, the moss mimicking the full natural environment. I liked the idea of the indoor, immersive forest.

Wire Structure Plant Guides

Image credit: Wolford (2017).

Trellises are commonly used in gardens to create shelter or help plants reach heights. There is also the potential to grow plants along a frame that represents some sort of architectural shape, like the cylinder above, or panels along walkways to provide shade. The idea of an enhanced symbiosis-type relationship between human architecture and creeping plants fascinates me.

MFO-Park Zurich

Image credit: Burkhardt + Partner via Hoory (2017)

This public park in Zurich uses metal frames to support layers of plants, creating a park that has multiple levels, fully exploiting in 3D what is an ever-limited resource in urban environments — space. The plants grow faster than trees and provide more shade, creating an urban nature environment with many of the benefits of the forest, like shade and cool.

Tree Voids in Vietnamese Villa Remodelling — Kientruc O Architects

Image credit: O and Chaya (2017)

Spatial voids are central to the remodelling of this 70-year-old villa in Vietnam (O and Chaya, 2017) — but I found the ones accommodating for existing trees on site the most interesting — a path for functional cohabitation.

Withy Structures

We were given large amounts of withy, tissue and PVA, and the option to build large frame structures to be left as is or used as lanterns. I chose to try to create a sort of rolling hill landscape, to possibly be coated in grass, moss or other plants.

Frame Building

My first step was to create a grid for the structure to sit on, to make adding new elements easier and give it strength.

I then added arches to support the tissue which would later form the hills.

Image of the structure with a doorway for size and volume reference.

Tissue Coating

To solidify the volume, I added several layers of white tissue, translucent given its thinness.

Artificial Cactus

We were loaned a fan and given the option to build inflatables. I decided to build a cactus on the theme of artificial nature, using green recycling bags.

Initial sketching.

Construction: I added vents to avoid explosion, followed by images of the structure fully inflated outside.

Grown Surfaces Research

One idea I had for my withy hills sculpture was to coat it in a living organism of some kind. I decided to look into what it would take to create moss growth, and found a series of articles on moss graffiti. The articles, often using other people’s images, promised a sustainable kind of moss paint, based on simple recipes, for example involving yoghurt, moss, and sugar (Instructables, 2013).

Image credit: Instructables (2013)

However, after further research, the difficult that surrounds growing moss on any surface, let alone imperfect ones, became clear. An article titled ‘Moss Art (and why failures are sometimes a good thing)’ (Riesenmay, 2012) suggests using dried, preserved moss to achieve the same effect without live moss, which went against my idea to an extent. An article titled ‘Debunking Moss Graffiti’ (Budke, 2015) highlights the trick used to popularise moss graffiti as viable. Harvested mature moss is used to create wall sculptures, which are then implied as being made using the ‘milkshake’ technique I referred to earlier.

Projected Surfaces

I took a series of images of my two sculptures using semi-portable projectors to project images of nature and sky onto their surfaces from differing directions. This creates a weak illusion of nature, or in some cases elevates the objects to another status, like a tent, lantern, or cloud.

Peer Review

Forest Smell Compounds

I wanted to bring my art in the direction of an artificial forest environment, some place with the benefits of the forest, even considering confined spaces or budget limitations. Human smell is both under-researched and underused when considering the potential impact. Using a few compounds, it’s easy to partially recreate the odour experience of a forest environment. The smell of the forest, to evidence my ideas, according to Antonelli et al. (2020) is capable of ‘inducing relaxation, and improving cognitive performance and mood’.

Geosmin Experimentation

I started with the aromatic Geosmin, which is the main component of the famous smell ‘Petrichor’: the smell of dry soil after rain. Humans can detect the presence of Geosmin at low concentrations: it’s possible this is a result of the link between Geosmin, rainfall and therefore food supply and positive emotions (Wikipedia Contributors, 2022).

It’s strongly earthy and persistent as a smell, something a friend noticed after I applied some to her wrist, and various people highlighted that she smelt like soil. The compound is nowadays available from a few specialist perfume suppliers — I used pellwall.com — and comes in highly diluted forms, given the potency of the smell.

I experimented with 1% Geosmin in DPG, using a spray bottle with water and a few drops of the aromatic. The majority of those I spoke with made the link with the forest after I asked them about the smell, which made me confident this was the right track.

Other Compounds

I then decided to find more compounds related to the forest environment smell. Cross-referencing the research by Antonelli et al. (2020) with Wikipedia on their smell strength, I identified these three possibly useful forest smell compounds, ordered by their abundance in the forest environment studied: d-Limonene, alpha-Pinene, and E-beta-Ocimene. Due to a lack of time, I was unable to order them in time, but will be doing more investigation and hope to use these in my final major project.

Forest Corridor

For my final idea, ‘Forest Corridor’, I developed a design sheet as the start of the design for an immersive forest-like space. This sheet I developed alongside it:

Again, with more time, I would have liked to pursue this. I will likely be incorporating immersion into my final major project.

Reference list

Antonelli, M. et al. (2020) 'Forest Volatile Organic Compounds and Their Effects on Human Health: A State-of-the-Art Review' In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17 (18) p.6506. At: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7559006/ (Accessed 07/02/2023).

Budke, J. M. (2015) Debunking Moss Graffiti. At: http://mossplants.fieldofscience.com/2015/04/debunking-moss-graffiti.html (Accessed 12/02/2023).

Hoory, L. (2017) MFO-Park in Zurich Is Changing the Paradigm of Public Greenspace. At: https://gardencollage.com/change/sustainability/mfo-park-zurich-changing-paradigm-public-greenspace/ (Accessed 11/02/2023).

Instructables (2013) How to Make Moss Graffiti. At: https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-Moss-Graffiti-1/ (Accessed 12/02/2023).

Kim, E. (2010) pushak: moss your city. At: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/pushak-moss-your-city/ (Accessed 10/02/2023).

O, K. and Chaya, L. (2017) kientruc o remodels traditional 70 year old vietnamese villa using spatial voids. At: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/kientruc-o-remodels-traditional-70-vietnamese-villa-spatial-voids-09-01-2017/ (Accessed 11/02/2023).

Risenmay, S. (2012) Moss Art (and why failures are sometimes a good thing). At: https://www.notjustahousewife.net/moss-art-2/ (Accessed 12/02/2023).

Studio Nucleo (2016) TERRA! Growing Furniture. At: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/studionucleo/terra-growing-furniture (Accessed 11/02/2023).

Wikipedia Contributors (2022) Geosmin. At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosmin

Wolford, D. (2017) 15 Simply Gorgeous Trellis Ideas. At: https://www.weedemandreap.com/15-simply-gorgeous-trellis-ideas/ (Accessed 11/02/2023).