SHOULD THE PENCIL BE CREDITED AS THE AUTHOR TOO? HOW THE NON-HUMAN IS DRIVING INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

The abundance of energy provided by coal and oil for more than a century has gradually led us to lose our understanding of the natural dependence of human products and their aesthetics and design on material, non-human conditions, which actually participate as much in the success of artistic creation as human genius.

What would 1960s aesthetics have looked like without oil, which made plastic and all the molded forms typical of the 1960s possible? What would the new millennium’s aesthetics look like without 3D software? What would modern aesthetics be without coal that made central heating and air conditioning possible? What would Roman architecture have looked like if Vitruvius had worked with AutoCAD? What shape would Le Corbusier’s buildings be if he had worked in 3D on Rhino? What would gothic cathedrals look like if universal gravity did not exist? What would Swiss chalets look like if there had been no snow?

This interior design studio questioned the dependence of design on non-human material conditions of representation and construction, taking into account that not only pencils, erasers, ink, 2D software, 3D software, but also wood, earth, stone, rain, wind, and gravity can all be considered co-authors of the human project.