Theodora Kalamatianou
virtual reality / Ariadne & the mythical grid
This video is supported by virtual reality googles
Ariadne is a young interior designer, who is guiding us in a virtual journey. In this journey, she narrates her personal story. She talks about how designing and experiencing (interior) spaces has changed in the digital era that we live. The whole story is plotted on the axis of the mythical grid, this powerful tool that made all this virtual environment possible.
The aim of the project is to address the new tool that designers have in their disposal –to explain their ideas and make them accessible–, the virtual reality and the contribution of the grid form in it. Finally, it seeks to communicate the idea of coexisting in virtual as well as in physical spaces in the near future.
Master Thesis
July 2018 / Rotterdam, the Netherlands
master of interior architecture, research, and design
Piet Zwart Institute
How did this project start ?
Through the research that I conducted on the emblematic form of the grid -due to my master thesis project-, I came across several opinions on it. Many authors, like Rosalind Krauss and Alan Waterhouse, were referring to the grid as a mythical form. This, in combination with my (greek) cultural background, inspired me to blend the grid form with Greek mythology for the development of my design project.
Mythodology (myth + methodology)
I am using the mythology as it was used in the first place; to provide knowledge, to explain beliefs and phenomena, which were impossible to be explained in any other way. The design process started by analyzing the myth of the Cretan Labyrinth. I focused on two key elements of the myth, Ariadne and her thread, which became my design tool, my way to narrate, to explain my point of view regarding the grid form and its contribution to the way we design and experience (interior) spaces today.
of the labyrinth. Similarly, the application of the powerful tool of the grid opened new ways and gave solutions in the field of design. The reason why I selected this particular myth is the connection -as it appears to me- between Ariadne’s thread and the tool of the grid. The thread was an everyday tool that the women of the Minoan society were using on a daily basis. The simple way in which this tool was applied had, as a result, the solving of the riddle of the labyrinth. Similarly, the application of the powerful tool of the grid opened new ways and gave solutions in the field of design.
