Rebecca Kinzer

DEPRESSION? IN MY HOME? IT’S MORE LIKELY THAN YOU THINK

PSYCHOLOGY BASED EXHIBIT DESIGN UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI REBECCA KINZER

DEPRESSION? IN MY HOME?

BACKGROUND Adapting our spaces is becoming a more common interest in our society with HGTV and Pinterest. However, interior environments have intense effects on the health of people inhabiting them, and many don’t even realize it.

At a young age, I found interior design as a passion because I noticed how I was affected through different designs. I would always switch up my room when I needed a refresh, and it actually helped.

I want to create a way to share this knowledge with those that need to change their spaces to manage depression.

Why? Because “It (depression) was ranked as the second leading cause of global burden of disease in 2010 and expected to be first by 2030” (Barnett et al., 2018).

DEPRESSION? IN MY HOME?

HOW MIGHT W EDUCATE ON ENVIRONMEN CAN BE ALTER AFFECT DEPR SYMPTOMS?

WE HOW INTERIOR NTAL FACTORS RED TO RESSION

DEPRESSION? IN MY HOME?

ORDER OF CONTENTS - TARGET USERS - RESEARCH - SITE ANALYSIS - CONCEPT EXPLORATION - CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT - IMPLEMENTATION

WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM THIS KNOWLEDGE? All three of these users would benefit from my design. Those who experience depression will gain solutions and resources. Caregivers will receive more understanding and support. Counselors will be used as a professional connection and will receive a reliable resource to advise clients with. Though products will be used often, this will be an affordable service. The items will be kept low in cost for the highest effectiveness.

Pain relievers for each group will be acknowledged, as well as overall pain relievers such as: realistic solutions, resources provided, bringing nature in, an easy to use interface, building routines, and education.

DEMOGRAPHIC PRIMARILY INCLUDES YOUNG ADULTS AND THOSE LIVING WITH OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS

INSIGHT: COVID-19 is affecting our mental health in a negative way, especially for those who stay at home

through research, I broke down a realistic process into

EIGHT DESIGN TOPICS OF INTEREST

UNION TERMINAL / SITE ANALYSIS

This building is quite iconic for providing entertaining and educational spaces.

Which led my project to develop into an immersive, interactive museum exhibit.

I chose the Cincinnati Museum Center for my site for many reasons. The most important being that I had full control over the space, as it was basically a neutral room in a basement.

No natural light or sounds, allowing me to work with a difficult living situation. If I could make this a healthy living space, that would be inspiring for almost any others.

SITE CONNECTIVITY

My exhibit is in the basement mezzanine level of the Cincinnati Museum Center. This diagram shows an exploded views of how one would reach my space. It also includes a digital portal tied to my exhibit, and the online world of resources available.

ENTRY RENDERINGS

Banners line the exterior facade, grabbing attention from all passersby.

Arriving to the mezzanine level, guests are met with large wall graphics and a chance to interact with an immersive sensory pod encouraging creative solutions in their own home.

CONCEPT EXPLORATION I did an exercise where I selected different function driven words and then diagrammed them. All of these diagrams shaped the way the exhibit developed and served as a foundation for what was important moving forward.

The next exercise was referencing Richard Serra’s verb list. I selected words and used those to transform my concept. Many pushed my concept even further and were later translated into a big aspect of my design. TO ROLL, for example, explored rolling my exhibit into pods, which became a real function of my exhibit later on.

After I selected which functional and transformative diagrams were most influential, I merged them into an overall composite.

It shows some factors that are absolutely necessary in creating my overall design.

COMPOSITE: PROGRAM ACTIVITY USER BENEFIT USER EMOTION TO SURROUND TO ROLL OF TIME

COMPOSITE

USER EXPERIENCE PLAN

This floor plan starts to highlights the topics used throughout the program.

Each room in a home has a very specific function, and the practices will be used to highlight those. For example, the bedroom will be highly focused on an effective sleeping environment for a healthy circadian rhythm.

RENDERED FLOOR PLAN

The concept was then translated into furniture and materials.

The intent was expressed into real life objects such as plants, lighting fixtures, appropriate materiality, and organizational pieces. The layout begins in the most public areas of a home (living room, kitchen, home office), then the most private (bedroom and bathroom). Intermediate spaces are placed throughout to enrich the overall understanding.

EXHIBIT EXAMPLE

By applying our 8 topics to the unhealthy space, we can make it a much healthier one, actively combating common symptoms of depression Guests will start in an unhealthy version of the room. They will have enough time to take it all in, maybe recognize some similarities in their own home. Then after the time is up, the doors will open to the healthy version. This way, users will get to feel every difference. They may not notice everything that has changed, so an interactive button system will help teach them what exactly is going on.

Stepping on a button will activate the corresponding topics’ spot light and narration. Each topic covered has a button.

IMPLEMENTATION I drew some rooms in axon views to show the full function and breadth of this exhibit.

This covers most, but not every single space.

Scale figures are shown with their emotion.

Red meaning upset, green meaning pleasant, and blue meaning neutral. You can see throughout that some spaces are intentionally uncomfortable, while others are meant to be enjoyed.

Drawings are organized by how they are experienced in person, starting off in the lobby.

Drawings of rooms include: LOBBY HEALTHY LIVING ROOM HEALTHY KITCHEN MATERIALS ROOM HOME OFFICE INTERACTIVE DISPLAY ROOM GOOD BEDROOM BATHROOMS SHOP

LOBBY

Guests will be met objects referred to break the preconce

with large wall display of common household design as their “tools” to create their space. This is intended to eived notion of what these pieces’ full potentials are.

HEALTHY LIVING ROOM AND KITCHEN These are both examples of healthy rooms accompanied with their topical floor buttons. Each were preceded by unhealthy versions of that space.

MATERIALS ROOM AND HOME OFFICE In the materials room, users can take a style quiz to find out what they like best. Then, the are able to grab a take home tray and taught how to build a palette based on their functions and aesthetics.

Next a healthy home office is shown without an unhealthy version. Working from home is still very popular, so having the best possible conditions is necessary.

INTERACTIVE DISPLAY ROOM AND BEDROOM The interactive display room will allow people to anonymously answer if they experience certain depressive symptoms. The display will update randomly so as not to out anyones answers. This will show just how common these issues are This shows a healthy bedroom, with topical buttons and an unhealthy version just before it.

BATHROOMS AND SHOP The unhealthy and healthy bathrooms will be open as to follow social distancing guidelines, and separated with a wall. Topical buttons will still be present in the healthy versions The shop will be fully stocked with items used in the healthy versions of rooms. Guest can buy directly there products already approved, cutting down on hassle and taking full advantage of the motivation of change.

RENDERS AND SECTIONS The material palette is shown most in the following renders. It was chosen based off of the psychological implications, rather than aesthetics alone.

You are able to see the ceiling lights which were used as directional guides

RENDERS AND SECTIONS

LOBBY

HEALTHY LIVING ROOM

RENDERS AND SECTIONS

MATERIALS ROOM

HEALTHY BEDROOM

RENDERS AND SECTIONS

HEALTHY BEDROOM

SHOP

The pods are scattered all throughout the exhibit and focus on one of eight exhibit topics.

The possibilities are endless within the topics as show on the bottom row. Enough room for one person comfortable, but two if needed. The walls are touch screen activated, with curved walls for maximum immersion.

The button system is present in every healthy version of a room.

This shows the lights highlighting different spaces once they are activated. The height requires minimal lift, allowing it to be accessible to most participants without transferring germs from user to user.

This drawing shows the fixture in the materials room.

It has draws, shelves, and a counter top allowing for easy material board building. The accompanying trays are fold-able, and once your board is built, you can fold it up and easily transport it with you for free.

Fixtures in the shop have many displays and heights for all users.

Constructed from wood, this display holds various types of items, and has a variety of heights so that many are able to shop easily.

THANK YOU

DEPRESSION? IN MY HOME? PSYCHOLOGY BASED EXHIBIT DESIGN UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI REBECCA KINZER