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PARAMETRIC LAYERING AND EMOTIONAL DURABILITY IN SUSTAINABLE WALL-MOUNTED DESIGN
This study explores how wall-mounted sculptural design can serve as a medium for sustainable material practices and emotional durability. The central research question guiding the work is: How can wall-mounted parametric design enhance emotional durability and flexible long-term use, while minimizing material waste through an embedded fabrication strategy?
The focal project is a wall-mounted composition constructed through a plywood-based, parametrically layered system. The fabrication process employs CNC-based digital manufacturing, where each contour layer is algorithmically derived. Notably, the design establishes a chain of material reuse: negative spaces from one layer inform the positive geometry of the next. This embedded logic enables a form of closed-loop material use that reduces waste not through post-production recycling, but as an inherent aspect of the production method. In this sense, sustainability is achieved through the geometry itself.
Formally, the piece creates a visually dynamic, three-dimensional effect that shifts with lighting and viewing angle. While constructed from conventional plywood, the layered structure introduces a rhythmic alternation between organic flow and structured geometry. This visual and tactile duality contributes to emotional durability by encouraging prolonged, contemplative interaction. Rather than immediate visual gratification, the piece promotes a slow unfolding of perception and attachment over time. Its lightness compared to solid wood brings secondary benefits: it not only supports easier handling and installation but also reduces the carbon footprint during transportation. Thus, material choice contributes to environmental efficiency on both production and logistics levels.
The production process integrated three key phases: (1) iterative digital modeling of parametric forms; (2) toolpath optimization for CNC milling to reduce material waste; and (3) manual alignment and finishing to ensure dimensional accuracy and tactile quality. This hybrid approach allowed the project to stay close to its sustainability goals while ensuring aesthetic precision.
Although the initial design intention emphasized formal continuity and fabrication efficiency, real-world user feedback expanded the conceptual framework. Buyers and viewers of the piece reported varied placements in their homes and offices, indicating a sense of spatial adaptability and personal attachment. Some noted that the three-dimensional qualities invited reinterpretation over time, enhancing long-term engagement. While no formal user testing was conducted, these anecdotal responses suggest that emotional durability may emerge not only from material composition but also from the interpretative flexibility and tactile richness of the design. These insights reoriented the project, revealing how sculptural wall art can mediate between form and function, stillness and interaction, personal meaning and environmental concern. To formalize these insights, future work will employ longitudinal user interviews and photo-elicitation diaries to track attachment over time.
Rather than relying on explicit environmental cues, the work adopts a quiet, embedded approach to sustainability; emphasizing material logic, longevity of use, and adaptability to context. It argues for a broader understanding of sustainable design that transcends symbolic aesthetics, situating sustainability at the intersection of systemic production choices, emotional resonance, and spatial behavior. This model proposes that visual neutrality, production intelligence, and lived adaptability can converge to generate sustainable value beyond conventional functional or stylistic boundaries.
Literature Context. Recent scholarship on “emotionally durable design” (Chapman, 2010; Mugge et al., 2005) positions sustained user–object attachment as a pathway to reduced consumption. Parallel research on parametric waste-minimization strategies in product fabrication (Bedarf et al., 2021) demonstrates that algorithmic geometries can embed circularity at source. By synthesizing these two streams—emotional durability and parametric circularity—this study contributes a practice-based example of how wall art can operate simultaneously as an affective artefact and as a material-efficiency system.
Limitations. The current investigation is limited in three ways: (1) emotional-durability insights rely on unsolicited user feedback rather than systematic data; (2) life-cycle assessment (LCA) was estimated from material volumes and transport weight, not full cradle-to-grave analysis; and (3) findings derive from a single case study, constraining generalizability across other fabrication contexts.
Future Work. Building on these limitations, the next research phase will: (a) prototype alternative layer-reuse algorithms to test different closed-loop topologies; and (b) examine how gallery or hospitality installations might alter patterns of long-term engagement compared to domestic settings.
Bibliography
Bedarf, P., Dutto, A., Zanini, M., & Dillenburger, B. (2021). Foam 3D printing for construction: A review of applications, materials, and processes. In Automation in Construction (Vol. 130). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103861
Chapman, J. (2010). Subject/object relationships and emotionally durable design. In T. Cooper (Ed.), Longer lasting products (1st ed., pp. 61–77). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315592930
Mugge, R., Schoormans, J. P. L., & Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2005). Design strategies to postpone consumers’ product replacement: the value of a strong person-product relationship. The Design Journal, 8(2), 38–48. https://doi.org/10.2752/146069205789331637
This study explores how wall-mounted sculptural design can serve as a medium for sustainable material practices and emotional durability. The central research question guiding the work is: How can wall-mounted parametric design enhance emotional durability and flexible long-term use, while minimizing material waste through an embedded fabrication strategy?
The focal project is a wall-mounted composition constructed through a plywood-based, parametrically layered system. The fabrication process employs CNC-based digital manufacturing, where each contour layer is algorithmically derived. Notably, the design establishes a chain of material reuse: negative spaces from one layer inform the positive geometry of the next. This embedded logic enables a form of closed-loop material use that reduces waste not through post-production recycling, but as an inherent aspect of the production method. In this sense, sustainability is achieved through the geometry itself.
Formally, the piece creates a visually dynamic, three-dimensional effect that shifts with lighting and viewing angle. While constructed from conventional plywood, the layered structure introduces a rhythmic alternation between organic flow and structured geometry. This visual and tactile duality contributes to emotional durability by encouraging prolonged, contemplative interaction. Rather than immediate visual gratification, the piece promotes a slow unfolding of perception and attachment over time. Its lightness compared to solid wood brings secondary benefits: it not only supports easier handling and installation but also reduces the carbon footprint during transportation. Thus, material choice contributes to environmental efficiency on both production and logistics levels.
The production process integrated three key phases: (1) iterative digital modeling of parametric forms; (2) toolpath optimization for CNC milling to reduce material waste; and (3) manual alignment and finishing to ensure dimensional accuracy and tactile quality. This hybrid approach allowed the project to stay close to its sustainability goals while ensuring aesthetic precision.
Although the initial design intention emphasized formal continuity and fabrication efficiency, real-world user feedback expanded the conceptual framework. Buyers and viewers of the piece reported varied placements in their homes and offices, indicating a sense of spatial adaptability and personal attachment. Some noted that the three-dimensional qualities invited reinterpretation over time, enhancing long-term engagement. While no formal user testing was conducted, these anecdotal responses suggest that emotional durability may emerge not only from material composition but also from the interpretative flexibility and tactile richness of the design. These insights reoriented the project, revealing how sculptural wall art can mediate between form and function, stillness and interaction, personal meaning and environmental concern. To formalize these insights, future work will employ longitudinal user interviews and photo-elicitation diaries to track attachment over time.
Rather than relying on explicit environmental cues, the work adopts a quiet, embedded approach to sustainability; emphasizing material logic, longevity of use, and adaptability to context. It argues for a broader understanding of sustainable design that transcends symbolic aesthetics, situating sustainability at the intersection of systemic production choices, emotional resonance, and spatial behavior. This model proposes that visual neutrality, production intelligence, and lived adaptability can converge to generate sustainable value beyond conventional functional or stylistic boundaries.
Literature Context. Recent scholarship on “emotionally durable design” (Chapman, 2010; Mugge et al., 2005) positions sustained user–object attachment as a pathway to reduced consumption. Parallel research on parametric waste-minimization strategies in product fabrication (Bedarf et al., 2021) demonstrates that algorithmic geometries can embed circularity at source. By synthesizing these two streams—emotional durability and parametric circularity—this study contributes a practice-based example of how wall art can operate simultaneously as an affective artefact and as a material-efficiency system.
Limitations. The current investigation is limited in three ways: (1) emotional-durability insights rely on unsolicited user feedback rather than systematic data; (2) life-cycle assessment (LCA) was estimated from material volumes and transport weight, not full cradle-to-grave analysis; and (3) findings derive from a single case study, constraining generalizability across other fabrication contexts.
Future Work. Building on these limitations, the next research phase will: (a) prototype alternative layer-reuse algorithms to test different closed-loop topologies; and (b) examine how gallery or hospitality installations might alter patterns of long-term engagement compared to domestic settings.
Bibliography
Bedarf, P., Dutto, A., Zanini, M., & Dillenburger, B. (2021). Foam 3D printing for construction: A review of applications, materials, and processes. In Automation in Construction (Vol. 130). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103861
Chapman, J. (2010). Subject/object relationships and emotionally durable design. In T. Cooper (Ed.), Longer lasting products (1st ed., pp. 61–77). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315592930
Mugge, R., Schoormans, J. P. L., & Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2005). Design strategies to postpone consumers’ product replacement: the value of a strong person-product relationship. The Design Journal, 8(2), 38–48. https://doi.org/10.2752/146069205789331637