This project develops a manifesto with four points of creating sustainable interior design, by evaluating the influence of design interventions on embodied carbon and carbon offset. The interior is designed in a manner that it is a living organism that can respond to its environment, therefore forms a symbiosis with plants and fungi.
School of Design | Graduate Interior Design
Student: Tianli Gu
Faculty: Caleb Crawford
Collage of planter reacting as shades, blocking the direct sunlight of summer afternoon. The interior used to be an enclosed box. On the contrary, a sustainable interior should be a living organism that can respond to changes in the external environment. Climate changes can trigger responsive mechanisms, thereby adjusting the interior living environment including temperature, humidity, air quality, etc.
Collage of interior garden with brise soleil, that allows wind to circulate through the space and create filtration. Humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. the photosynthesis of plants is the opposite, inhaling carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen. So how does the interior as an organism breathe? First, there is a ventilation system that breathes like the nose and mouth, allowing indoor and outdoor air to circulate, thereby reducing the energy consumption generated by temperature-regulating equipment such as air conditioner or heater. Second, the interior has a lung-like filtering vegetation system that converts carbon dioxide into oxygen, thereby offsetting carbon emissions from construction and human activities.
Collage of interior with few fungi tanks, that absorb carbon dioxide and transform solar energy into biofuel that can be burned to offset the embodied carbon. Metabolism refers to the process by which the body changes food and drink into energy. Interior as a living organism, the mechanism of its metabolism means using the photosynthesis of plants and algae to convert light energy into electricity for interior operation.
