Blog Interior Scholarship
Juni 2022
Blogger: Nobuyoshi Yokota

MAIA – Master of Arts in Interior Architecture
HEAD – Genève, Haute école d’art et de design

Plant diversity ; Human expression
– Reflection on our future relationship with plants based on Christopher Dresser’s botanical thinking and contemporary design using plants –

In this article, I would like to introduce the abstract of my master thesis which I wrote this spring. Since I started living in Geneva two years ago, I have been influenced by many people with different perspectives both in Geneva and in Japan, my native country. My way of thinking about nature and plants is not an exception. My interest in plants started when I discovered new methods of design with plants at Aalto University in Finland last summer. I had no hesitation in researching plants and the expression of human beings using plants, their genealogy and the future relationship between plants and us. I hope this thesis will give you the chance to rethink plants, nature and the relationship we have to them.

This thesis is an attempt to answer the question: “What kind of relationship should we build with plants?”

The contribution of plants to global eco- systems is significant. We humans are no exception: we have been working with plants since ancient times. Not only as foodstuffs, but also as medicinal herbs or natural remedies for medical treatments, or even in the arts, crafts and design that we shape. Plants are the raw material for everything that surrounds us, and the source of inspiration for the forms of things. Through plants, we, humans, are part of a larger ecological cycle. Looking at the history of man and plants we can see that in our artistic activities of the post industrial revolution period, movements in which plants and expression had a strong relationship, such as Naturalism and Art Nouveau, had developed in Europe in the nineteenth century. In recent years, many philosophers and designers have once again attempted to rethink the relationship between plants and ourselves. Why are they calling for us to reconsider our relationship with plants? And what does it mean for us to design using plants today?

In this dissertation, we will explore the meaning of design using plants from multiple perspectives, including not only recent ideas but also the history of design and plants, in order to broaden our understanding on the subject. We will begin with the ‘Past’, focusing on plants and their design expressions since the post-Industrial-Revolution nineteenth century – when the term ‘design’ first came into use – and notably through Christopher Dresser’s approach. Then as the ‘Present’, we will examine plant-based design in the 21st century, as exemplified by Plant Fever. Finally, in the ‘Future’ section, we will consider the ideal relationship between ourselves and plants through a comparison of the work of Dresser and Plant Fever, as well as interviews with contemporary artists making handmade paper using plants as raw materials.

Tutor : Vilardebo Sacchetti Vera (HEAD)
Photographs (fig01-03) © HEAD – Genève, Guillaume Collignon

 

Interior Scholarship – das AIT-Stipendium der Sto-Stiftung

Blog Interior Scholarship
März 2022
Blogger: Nobuyoshi Yokota
MAIA – Master of Arts in Interior Architecture
HEAD – Genève, Haute école d’art et de design

Uncontrolled morphology using biodiversity – 
the new perspective of relationship between human and nature

In recent years, to consider design is to consider not only its form, but also the production and materials behind it. It is the responsibility of all those involved in manufacturing to create a sustainable society, and to abandon this is to abandon our future.
While a number of designers and artists are experimenting with approaches such as the creation of new materials, to design with plants is another method. And there are two main approaches to design with plants.
The first is an approach to create new alternative materials such as plastic using waste plants. The other approach is to entrust the plant itself to shape the design. This attempt is an approach that is entrusted by plant diversity. It is neither to materials nor to human behavior.
In this article, I would like to present my expedition to design with plants. It is neither a dualistic division between nature and humans, nor a design in which humans overly control nature. I sought a perspective on plant-centric design rather than human-centric design that would allow humans and plants to truly live together in the future. Specifically, I made a bowl-like object using the shape of the plant generated by temperature and humidity without my control.

Method – 1
First of all, at the summer school of Aalto University in Finland, I conducted an experiment to mix willow and cactus, which are plants living in completely different environments, with MFC (micro-fibrillar-cellulose). These samples had the same MFC to plant ratio, oven temperature, and heating time, but each sample was deformed into a different shape. These reactions and shapes are not controlled by humans, but by the elements that make up each plant. (fig 01,02)

Method – 2
The next method is the process of transforming a plant-made morphology into an object. Specifically, this process included digitizing the morphology generated from the plant obtained by method 1, performing 3D scanning, adjusting it to a preferable size with a computer and finally using a 3D printer to turn them into objects such as bowls. (fig.03)

In the end I extracted only the morphology of the sample generated from the willow, adjusted the scale, and created a bowl- like object. My design doesn’t exist there, it’s a design without human control, a design that follows the characteristics of the plant. Another possible next step would be the challenge of how to reproduce the materiality of individual plants through 3D printing or another method. (fig 04,05)

In the methodology explored this time, the design is produced on the object scale at this stage, but it is possible to create a space by applying this approach and increasing the size. With the evolution of technology, human beings have made various designs with the use of nature. In today’s all-saturated state designs that “make with nature” have the potential to build new relationships between humans and nature.

Special technical advisor : Abeyi Endrias (HEAD) , Kai Reaver (HEAD), CHEMARTS (Aalto University), Ezerskaia Marina

 

Interior Scholarship – das AIT-Stipendium der Sto-Stiftung

Nobuyoshi Yokota studiert an der HEAD (Haute école d’art et de design) in Genf in der Schweiz Interior Architecture, um dann mit dem Master of Arts dort abzuschließen. Am meisten interessiert ihn an seinem Studium “the possibility of creating a new relationship between architecture and nature, human beings and design as well as regional diverse nature assets.”

Für das Interior Scholarship 2021/22 – das AIT-Stipendium der Sto-Stiftung – hat sich der ursprünglich aus Japan stammende Nobuyoshi Yokota mit seinem Portfolio sowie einer Bearbeitung der diesjährigen Stegreifaufgabe „People‘s Places – Die Rückeroberung des öffentlichen Raumes?“ beworben. Er ist eine*r der vier Stipendiat*innen des mit insgesamt 24.000 Euro dotierten Interior Scholarship.
Das Stipendium ermöglicht Nobuyoshi Yokota, nicht nur leichter seine monatlichen Ausgaben zu finanzieren, sondern auch eine gute Ausrüstung und Materialien besorgen zu können, die er für seine Forschung benutzen möchte. Er freut sich sehr, dass für dieses Studium Alter und Herkunft keine Rolle spielen, weil er es persönlich als große Bereicherung und Unterstützung versteht.

Nach dem Studium möchte Nobuyoshi Yokota erst einmal gerne für eine Interior Design Firma in der Schweiz arbeiten, aber längerfristig auch sein eigenes Büro eröffnen wollen: “The reason why I don’t work in Japan is because I feel that interior design in Switzerland is very different from that in Japan, requiring consideration of the global environment and an approach that reflects the historical context, and I feel that there is a great potential for space design in Switzerland.”

Welche Bedeutung hat dein Stdiengang Interior Design für dich?
“With the development of technology, urbanization and industrialization are advancing, all things are being systematized, and efficiency, rationality, and convenience are being pursued. Even in the field of interior design, we design by simply combining mass-produced ready-made products like a puzzle.
However, I believe that a prosperous world is a world full of diversity and choices. And rather than over-controlling the environment by uniformly processing trees and plants as in previous designs, I believe that we should seek a variety of designs that coexist, resonate, and build an intimate relationship with all things and the natural environment that surrounds us like just as nature has evolved in a way that is appropriate for each region and overflows with diversity.”

 

“Die Rückeroberung des öffentlichen Raumes”
Stegreifaufgabe

“Rail Wine farm
Communication between unemployed people and local residents through manual work
The goal of this project is to reuse and redefine existing resources, rather than creating a new production, to transform the depopulated former houses of railway guards in CRANS into a workstation where the experience of winemaking is possible.

Where is the place for the unemployed?
As humanity develops, the places where we operate must also change. The places where we work, and where the unemployed seek work, are no exception. As the number of unemployed people is expected to increase in the near future, this project aims to build a small wine distillery and residence where unemployed can experience winemaking. This place will be a cultural activity through manual works, allowing not only job seekers, but also each and every resident of the community to lead a fulfilling life.

Seeing it as a valuable resource and revitalizing it into a place where people can gather again
The CRANS railroad house of railway guards, once a station and a place for people to get together, is located about halfway between Geneva and Lausanne stations. However, the former railroad house of railway guards along the line is now vacant and the platform is not maintained due to the reorganization of the station. Also, due to the noise of the trains along the line, it is difficult to find a inhabitant to live.

Circulating workstations along the railway line
The former railroad house of railway guards, once a bustling place where people gathered, will be reborn as a workstation where job seekers can gather and receive job training. It also envisions a circulation of not only one house, but of the entire railway line. Unemployeds will move from the city where the station is currently located to the countryside where the station is now empty, train and communicate with the local residents, and then return to the city.

Recreating the wine network along the railway
Just as vineyards once spread along the river, a new wine network will be reconstructed along the railroad tracks.
There, grape farms, distilleries that produce original wines, stores, and restaurants will circulate in unison.
In CRANS, located almost halfway between Geneve and Lausanne, a small wine distillery and residence will be planned as a place for work experience, where unemployeds can experience winemaking.

Small construction that redefines the resources
This is not a major construction project, nor does it involve the manufacture of new building materials. It is a small construction using and rebuilding resources reusing existing resources, such as transporting from other quarters, which are the resources that really need to be developed. This is a proposal that is feasible even with a limited budget and maximizes the potential of the project, not only for one house, but for the entire rail line.

The new scenario here creates moments of meeting, sharing and exchanging with local residents and wine farmers in a small way. The process of winemaking, from the vineyard to the bottling, generates collective energy and mutual support, and cultural activities through manual work, enabling not only the unemployed but also each and every local resident to lead a fulfilling life.

Can we create new design without new production?
As humanity develops, our process of construction must also change, because construction activities account for the majority of resources consumed by humanity. Instead, This project will redefine our existing resources to create a new design with no new production.”

 

Juryurteil:
“Die Arbeiten von Nobuyoshi Yokota bestechen durch ihre vielseitigen konzeptionellen Ansätze und ein räumliches Verständnis jenseits von herkömmlichen Maßstäblichkeiten. Über zukünftige ‚Food Cultures‘ im Mikro-Maßstab, zu imaginären Räumen, die aus ‚Verse Novels‘ generiert werden, hin zu ‚Reacting Spaces‘, Räumen, die die Schwelle ihrer Wahrnehmung in die physische Präsenz ausloten, wird eine Experimentierfreue spürbar, aus der heraus nicht nur einzigartige Projekte entstehen, sondern die darüber hinaus tiefe Einblicke in ihre kreativen Entstehungsprozesse erlauben. Bestechend dabei ist die durchgängig hohe Qualität der Arbeiten, die in ihrem ganzheitlichen Ansatz die Schwelle des Konzeptionellen bis in die konkrete gabaute Räumlichkeit, vom Entwurf bis in die Umsetzung ausloten.

Der klare innenräumliche Ansatz von Yokota geht dabei weit über das gewöhnliche Verständnis von ‚Interior Design‘ hinaus und eröffnet in überraschender Schönheit und kraftvoller Ästhetik die Manifestation des Raumes durch die Unmittelbarkeit des Materials. In dieser komplexen Überlagerung verschmelzen die Grenzen zwischen innen und außen zu Raumerfahrungen, die nicht nur durch ihre Eigenständigkeit bestechen, sondern deren Charakter darüber hinaus vielseitig Nutzungen ermöglicht und bereits im Entstehungsprozess unterschiedlichste Akteure mit in den Entstehungsprozess einbezieht.

Konsequenter Weise zielt das Stegreifprojekt ‚Rail Wine Farm‘ auf Prozesse der Teilhabe ab, die durch ein gemeinschaftliches Projekt und das gemeinsame Schaffen, kulturelle Barrieren überwindet und eine interaktive Kommunikation zwischen Arbeitslosen und lokalen Bewohnern verbessert.

Wir gratulieren Nobuyoshi Yokota zum Gewinn des Wettbewerbs und erwarten mit Spannung seine nächsten Projekte.”

Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

 

Der Stegreif:
People‘s Places
Die Rückeroberung des öffentlichen Raumes
Angesichts einer zunehmenden virtuellen und sozialen Segregation der Gesellschaft ist es besonders wichtig, Räume zu schaffen, in denen spontane soziale Begegnungen möglich sind. In einem lebendigen städtischen Raum treffen Menschen unterschiedlichster Herkunft und kultureller Prägung, verschiedensten Alters, mit differenten Lebenserfahrungen unmittelbar und unwillkürlich aufeinander. Die Wahrnehmung dieser heterogenen Gesellschaft ist der erste Schritt diese anzuerkennen, um sie dann mitzugestalten.
Entwickeln Sie Ideen und Objekte sowie Interventionen zur temporären, partiellen Aneignung von Dingen oder Orten im öffentlichen Raum, die zur Belebung der Stadt und zur gesellschaftlichen Identitätsbildung beitragen.
In Form von individuell ausgewählten, das Konzept unterstützenden Darstellungstechniken, wie Visualisierungen, Modellfotos, Collagen, Zeichnungen, Skizzen oder Filmsequenzen soll ihre eigenständige, persönliche Idee veranschaulicht werden. Ergänzen Sie diese textlich.