A communal furniture informed by the deprivation of Mauritian beach

• Main Author: Fok Kow, Fok-Chi-Seng
• Other Authors: Chalit Kongsuwan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Visual arts and music::Design::Product
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140791
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Having lived near to a beach and creating childhood memories of the place, to later witness its deterioration due to erosion is something unbearable, especially when climate change is one of the major reasons. Even if one didn’t have any personal connection to it, the sight of the beach with its golden sand followed by the sea stretching into the horizon is something that awes people. Prompted by the erosion of what was once a pristine beach in Mauritius, this project aims to stimulate sympathy in beachgoers by revealing the natural and increasing human activities that are accelerating this phenomenon across the beaches of the island and most likely all over the world. To achieve this aim, rigorous on-site observations and surveys were conducted to understand the impact of beach erosion on the society and the economy. Through literature reviews, the understanding of the beach’s impermanence led to the conservation of the beach instead of its preservation. Informed by observations along the coast of Mauritius and Singapore, a bench has hence been designed as a destructive representation of the Mauritian beach. By placing it next to the beach, the piece allows its users to observe the shore, watching the sand slowly flow away as the waves wash over the beach. From far away, the tapered form of the bench seat signifies a natural erosion, while a closer look reveals footprint-like texture on the lower half-end of the bench, symbolising human invasion.