THE SMALLEST SPATIAL UNIT, Or The Bed-Space Manifesto

Challenge

This studio departs from an assumption that the traditional classification of space, acquired over time in the field of architecture is now being reconsidered. The demarcation line between public and private is becoming more and more blurred. Exterior and interior merge. Online and off-line realities form new mutant configurations. Also, large-scale global events, such as pandemics and mass-migrations, prompt us to re-evaluate our spatial sensibilities. Within the profession itself the interscalarity  discourse – and generally the understanding that architecture is not obliged to be human-centric only – helps architects to discover new exciting terrains at both macro and micro levels: we start working with scales that have never been even considered before. It seems that we are in dire need of a new spatial categorisation. 

The studio therefore proposes a rather unorthodox investigation: we invite participants to look at the smallest spatial unit that humans need to function properly — a space for sleep, or a bed. One might say that a bed is just a piece of furniture which can be created by a carpenter or a furniture designer; that it is not as significant as a building or even a room and does not deserve any attention from architects. We, however, state that today a bed can and should be seen as a fundamentally important space for leisure and labor with its own political, cultural, and social implications. 

With the advent of mobile telecommunication and various portable computer devices, humans tend to spend more and more time – according to some sources almost half of our lives, – in bed, making it into a important interface between the land of dreams, the online universe, and the off-line reality of our everyday. 

Understanding spatial characteristics of bed-spaces as well as describing various experiences they can provide is also an important part of this studio research. Bunkbeds for climate and war refugees, bed-spaces of migrant workers, traditional sleeping places programmed also for cooking and other functions or the industry of luxury smart beds could become the focus of your project research and critically inform the design proposal. 

The study will begin with the investigation of your own place of sleep. Soft atlases, axonometric drawings, material research as well as video and audio diaries will help to understand your personal bed-space in detail. 

Scenography 

The term scenography usually describes theatre settings, but its relevance in the field of architecture remains less obvious. In fact, scenography is a practice of inventing and making the right contexts for particular actions, formatting space to accommodate and enhance human performance.  

We invite our studio participants to envisage a bed also as a performative space or, in other words, as a stage. Taking John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s bed-in for peace at the Amsterdam Hilton hotel – one of the greatest political performances of all times – as a point of departure, we will try to understand how multiple scenographies can make a bed-space adaptable for specific functions. 

Design

Each studio participant has to first draft a brief for his or her design proposal, explaining why and for whom the bed-space will be designed. The brief should be research-based and clearly state either a problem you are tying to solve or an opportunity you are planning to explore. 

Taking into account a very small scale of our operation, we expect all projects to be very detailed and developed with proper argumentation. The concept must be explained with texts, images, and fine drawings (plans, sections, axonometric views) with clear indication of the project’s potential to become a prototype or a model for future interpretations. 

At the same time, the topic allows for more poetic or artistic approach, so additional materials in a form of videos, performances or/and art installations could become a vital component of the design proposal. 

We encourage studio participants to address the issues of sustainability and climate change, demonstrating how the intention to live more consciously and design more responsibly can be embodied in the project of an individual (or collective) bed-space. Particular selection of materials, energy saving schemes or sustainable production strategies should became central to ideation and conceptualisation processes.