Dots is the project that me and my team, made of other three designers and friends of mine, realized for the BADc (Best Architecture and Design competition): a one-day competition organized at Politecnico di Milano. The brief and the time constraints were very challenging but, after a wide brainstorming, we came up with a solution which led us to the 2nd placement.
Relax means not only to absorb and recharge energy but also to use physical energy in a comfortable way: that is why DOTS represents an urban solution of active relax. DOTS is an in-between intervention which offers to everyone a cozy public place to have a rest according to their needs. The user has the possibility to enjoy DOTS as an indoor but also outdoor space, as far as the installation is going to fit in the urban environment of public areas. Therefore, two are the issues we are dealing with: the idea of game, thought as playful moment of break, and the idea of light, which plays a fundamental and strictly communicative role in the urban context, becoming attraction and characterization of a specific place.
The structure is composed by three walls. Two of them are disposed at right-angles to each other, the other marks the entrances. The walls, which are made by a tube structure, are pierced in defined places, in order to host and support the pillow units. These units are made by soft pillows, sustained by maple-wooden pipes.
The users can move the modular units across the walls, setting the space according to their needs. The system could be a sitting, an armrest or even a table.
The extremity of the wooden pipe hosts a led lamp, activated by a metallic clamp. As soon as the pipe enters into the wall, the clamp touches the metallic surface on the holes and the led lights up. Also during the night, from the exterior you can see how the units are organized inside the space. The ceiling is composed by similar wooden pipes, arranged in a dynamic way, shaped as a wave. This solution gives a dynamic nature to the structure. In the dark, many of these pipes can illuminate the space.
