The Human Last Resort
It is an existence for people to think about, it is inclusive and an infinite possibility.
Background: This world seems to become a 'reverse zoo'
During the epidemic, animals took to the streets, while humans became ‘trapping animal’
The COVID-19 outbreak has restricted human freedom while giving other animals the opportunity to move more freely. There is a global debate about who should bear the burden of the pandemic. The truth is outbreak of this pandemic ultimately comes from human, from human overuse of the earth's resources. The current life of human not only destroyed the living environment of other species but now, in turn, poses a massive threat to human survival and life. During the epidemic, humans experienced an environment improvement, and the value of a lot of things by humans to rethink in the slow era of reduced consumption. Keeping the planet's ecology sustainable and suitable is the basis for the continued survival of human as a species on the earth. This means that we should rethink our lifestyle, and human needs an environment-friendly lifestyle for future.
Theories
Consumerism first appeared in the 1600s, and it has spread across most countries in the world in the 21st century. Alongside the modernisation of consumerism, it has produced more waste of resources and damages to the ecological system.
The advantages and disadvantages of consumerism are very obvious. However, the contradictions caused by the emergence of consumer attention have not been well solved in the past several hundred years, but also added many new problems, such as the objectification of people, distortion of values, environmental degradation and extinction of species. And this consumerism seems to be an "unstoppable" pattern. Yuval Noah Harari described in Sapiens that if a modern capitalist economy is to survive, it needs more and more production, like a shark that will suffocate if it doesn't swim. And consumerism is the product of sustainable capitalism. Harari calls consumerism a code of ethics that ensures that humans will continue to buy to prevent capitalism from stagnating. I am not against consumption per se, but I am not in favour of consumption as an end or money as a religion. Consumerism seems to have created a bottomless pit that cannot be filled and has no end.
A tipping point for human future
At present, human beings have approached a tipping point that all our choices will lead to a future which has ‘no return’.
Compare With Original Lifestyle
In the research, I have found out that human living experience may not be as good as it was in agricultural times. We always want to find a pathway to pursue a more relaxing life, but this has, instead, brought more difficulties. Comparing these two periods in human history, I have revisited and enjoyed the more natural and friendly nomadic era. In there, money was not the media in trade but Barter, which was the model of social exchange.
Centre change
Since the status of money has leapfrogged from an intermediate, the shape of the entire society has changed unconsciously. Schools and medical classes that were originally in the social centre gradually moved out of the city centre. And the originally social place has gradually become a giant shopping mall with consumption. Therefore, our current social centre has become centred on ‘money’ and ‘right’.
In the new nomadic life system, the barter to be a theme, re-zero the value of money. Here, the four elements that people need most brought back to the core of society. This is a not materialized world, and the values of money no longer bound people in disguise. This social made up of real needs. In this new system, everything is possible, thinking is free, and the meaning of each person's existence is defined by himself.
Nature create vs Human product
Borrowing the elements found in the natural world, the design has adapted sustainable form, materials and structure. This nomadic building design not only to be environmentally friendly but also to decompose pollutants created by humans and purify the environment.
House units plan
The furniture employed in the design has been modular, whose construction has stressed the central areas. The model has been expanded to a broader architectural and urban scale. Examining different scales of spaces, I have wanted to intervene or even break the cycle of consumerism. Everything here is modular, and people can live according to their needs and hobbies.
Modular furniture design
Activities schematic
Here I want to design modular furniture that can combine more daily activities. By studying the scale of the human body, trying to find a suitable height size ratio for design.
Modular furniture arrange
THE SETTING OF THE STORY
People are now aware of the evils of consumerism, but they think their influence is small. (In my questionnaire, two-thirds of people are aware that consumerism leads to a worse living environment for human beings. But most say the effect is minimal.) Later (in 2049), the environment became worse. Instead of being restrained, people at that time consumed the earth's resources in a crazy way. (If a modern capitalist economy is to survive, it must produce more and more, just as a shark, if it does not swim all the time, suffocates.- Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari) Gradually a group of pioneers appeared, who thought that such consumption and plunder could no longer be done. In their analysis, consumerism is not a sustainable way of life. They abandoned this mode of extreme material life and reentered a new nomadic world. So this little community came into being. It's a barter, education, health, and social community. With the evolution of time, the living environment of cities becomes worse and worse, and more and more people realize that maybe they should change their living mode. People are here to discuss life, to discuss ideas, to build a new perfect world system. It's about thinking, exploring and experimenting with new forms of life. It is not known whether this would last long, but people began to think about a more harmonious model of man and nature.
House units - Floating and On the land
House units Overlook - Floating
House units Overlook - On the land
Fishing And Planting
Centre - Social
Centre - Education
Centre - Barter Transaction
Centre - Medical
Overlook - Community
CONCLUSION: With concerns over the environmental problems facing us today, the research has sought for an alternative life mode, which can achieve a better ecological balance between human activities and the earth. With emphasises on the human need, and theorised by the 'non-one-way degree of human', I am convinced that my new interpretation of nomadic lifestyle is one of the possible solutions. Through this project, I hope to make more people think about their behaviour and their relationship with nature.