LIVING FURNITURE
An interactive ecosystem
How Does Nature Impact Our Wellbeing
People in the city tend to forget that they are actually living in a world surrounded by nature. We live in a world where everything is moving fast and thus sometimes resulting to having stress. Simply by taking a break to feel mother nature can reduce stress by a lot.
Research reveals that environments can increase or reduce our stress, which in return impacts our bodies. What you are seeing, hearing and experiencing at any moment is changing not only your mood but how your nerves, endocrine and immune systems are working. The stress of an unpleasant environment can cause you to feel anxious, or sad, or helpless. This in return elevates your blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tension as well as it suppresses your immune system. A pleasing environment reverses that. And regardless of age or culture, humans find nature pleasing. In one study cited in the book Healing Gardens, researchers found that more than two-thirds of people choose a natural setting to retreat to when stressed. According to a study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology, active interaction with indoor plants (like touching and smelling) can reduce physiological and psychological stress.
Objective Of The Project
- An interactive ecosystem of biotope in the form of furniture.
- Users can interact, manipulate and trigger sample and sound simply by touching the plants.
- It creates a natural, lively atmosphere for the surrounding area
What we aim for is bringing nature one step closer to your home.
We were inspired by the idea of Aquascaping, an aquarium that could interact with us through sounds and touch. Aquascaping is the art of arranging aquatic plants along with rocks, cave-work, stones, or driftwood, in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium.
Method
We designed a piece of furniture influenced by a mix of mid century and futuristic style. We attached a censoring device that detects slight electrical pulse variations in a plant via electrodes sensor sticked to the leaves. These signals then are translated into midi data which plays and triggers sounds on a synthesizer.
