Re-embedding the global soul

Abstract

This thesis proposes to "re-embed" the "global nomad" into the context of an increasingly globalized world at the room scale. I define re-embedding as the "plugging in" of social relationships to local contexts and their recombination across time/space distances in order to establish a sense of continuity and order in events including those not directly within the perceptual environment of the individual. The term global nomads refer to a population of people who travel frequently and globally due to the nature of their jobs. Their transitory lifestyle restricts them to live principally in hotels or other temporary accommodations. The options available to global nomads are limited and do not adequately provide for the sense of place. The research focuses on the lifestyle of global nomads from fashion, technology, to living environment i.e. furniture. It interprets fashion and technology as layers and wires that both filter and protect the global nomads like a cocoon. It interprets the blase attitude towards thehomogeneouss living environment in the urban, metropolitan context as the culprit for the need to liberate. The thesis aims to expand the dimension of the 'cocoon' through the design of a wall of technology (transient) and the room as an open landscape (permanent) where the making-of place can begin to happen. The room then becomes an object that can be strategically 'plugged in' to existing buildings at nodes of an intense, urban context locally.