Research Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affecting the global population has offered the opportunity to reflect critically on how we occupy and inhabit space. Inmost plays with an intimate scale relative to a singular user and encourages people to reflect upon the isolation experience of 2020 and 2021. The envelope of the pavilion is not a definitive barrier, rather there is a fabric screen and central skylight, allowing for interaction with the external environment, in unique ways.
The research questions asks, how can temporary sculpture design facilitate contemplative thinking in relation to the sublime moments that can be found within an intimate and isolated environment. Research Contribution: This project forms a part of a larger research project with the Architecture Et cetera Lab (AEcLab) operating within Griffith University. The AEcLAb’s members, Cecilia Bischeri, Jessica Harris and Zuzana Kovar, are aiming to promote an agile and prolific exchange between research and the making of architecture. The AEcLab’s current research investigations focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the design of the residential habitat. This research project includes a multidisciplinary Think Tank as well as an exhibition titled COVID Retrospect: A Reconsidered Residential Habitat to be held in January 2022. The final phase will be a more formal conclusion of these explorations that will publish the findings. The Inmost sculpture is an individual research project linked to the AEcLab’s research agenda and provides for a more immediate creative experimentation on current research themes. Research Significance: The SWELL Sculpture Festival is Queensland’s largest outdoor exhibition, attracting a large and diverse audience of visitors. The embedded significance of the sculpture is that a localised creative experiment surrounding themes of isolation can draw attention to these themes pertinent within the design sphere and contribute to a larger body of work surrounding COVID-19.