Urban Imprint at A/D/O

“In a natural environment, you always leave an imprint,” designer Nassia Inglessis told The Journal. “Imagine when you're in a field of grass, or when you're walking through the woods to make a path. Imagine when you're walking on snow. The natural environment takes its form from all the living elements within it, and you also become part of that ecosystem. It's this concept of passive interaction and interplay.”

“Whereas in urban environments, it's almost like you've been poured into a vessel that has been predefined; designed by someone else,” she continued. “You're navigating through set boundaries, and your presence is not changing or affecting them. So it's inevitable to feel muted.”

In response to the A/D/O 2019 research theme The Future of Self, Inglessis and her team at Studio INIchose to explore the relationship that our bodies have with urban space, and how that differs from our experience of moving through the natural world.

Therefore, the studio aimed to create a manmade space that adapts to its user, rather than the other way around. As part of Studio INI’s research into “augmented materiality,” the team also decided that this should take the form of an analog mechanism, as opposed to a digitally actuated system that relies on sensors for its interactive element.

Urban Imprint is on view at the A/D/O courtyard from May 17 to September 2, 2019.

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