Floatables: Modular Lifesaving Furniture

New York City is in danger of being underwater due to climate change.

This project focused on the use of satirical conceptual design in order to convey the severity of the future of climate change. Humor is used in order to make the topic more approachable. Viewers frequently shut down at the idea of climate crisis but this project aims to allow for much needed discussion. The built environment is one of the largest sources of waste in the United States. How can furniture begin to address this and make a difference in our future?

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Form

The form of each module is an abstraction of the traditional lifejacket. It has been scaled up to comical size and bold colors are used to emphasize the youthful humor.

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Material

Milkweed is uncommonly used fiber that has unique characteristics such as insulation, cottonlike quality and buoyancy. It was used as stuffing for lifejackets in World War II which proved it was effective enough to hold an average person in water.

Despite this I still did my own studies to prove that milkweed was an ideal material for this satirical piece. Below you can see the tests done to see how long milkweed was able to float in various casings.

Make it stand out

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