︎ Project head.hands.heart
A biophilic approach to expanding the exclusivity of design to accommodate sensory processing sensitivities.
By Makenzie O’Connor ︎
The physical, human body provides an interface between the environment and the central nervous system. How environmental stimuli are processed, understood, and acted upon are determined by our perceptual systems. These systems are influenced by trauma, and as trauma is passed down through generations, I’m proposing inter-generational healing to recover the perceptual potentials of the body. In addition to the design of products & architectures, project head.hands.heart is comprised of interactions and auto theoretical writings.
Environmental stimuli / 2020
Biophilia / 2020
Biophilic design utilizes tactile, auditory, and visual stimuli to provide a broader opportunity to connect, interact, and be part of the community without the pressure of normative interaction. Architecture can be a tool for building safe and self-expressive experience.
[Re]imagining household design / 2020
Only through creating spaces that facilitate feelings of visceral safety will mental health and healing be possible. In addressing inter-generational design, I’ve identified “home” as the primary space of inter-generational inheritance and connection; the home as environment and home as body. Focusing on “home” as the space of architectural intervention, I’m exploring a biophilic approach to building soft architecture that provides visceral safety through perceptual emancipation.
Design to Outcomes
Designing with materials that acknowledge and reciprocate life to outcomes of reduced self-harm...and visceral safety through perceptual emancipation.
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Works Cited
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