As a conclusion to the research process for the MASTER Arquétipo award, studium was at the Concreta fair to present the PEG.GO prototype. You can find the product catalogue here.
proposal description
The proposal meets contemporary needs for flexibility and adaptation by presenting more than a product, a system.
PEGGO is thus a system of design, choice and decision, where creativity, play and answering questions yet to be formulated are the creative operators.
When we think of a multifunctional partition, we have an expectation of the functions that this piece will fulfil.
In the case of the PEGGO system, this dynamic is completely reversed.
Our most basic expectation of the piece is that it can accommodate certain functions and spatial organisation.
It’s natural to think that this same piece can receive additional elements that support these primary functions, such as being able to support, display or suspend other elements using certain accessories. In this way, other uses are allowed, whether in a domestic or professional environment.
But the inversion of the logic of use arises in the way that the functional dynamic is directed towards a system of other pieces and, as components of a more comprehensive system of elements, configures other pieces and other uses and so on.
Instead of receiving expectations, it emits a set of possibilities that lead to expected and unexpected uses.
A partition that is intended to be part of a bookcase, a desk or an acoustic booth is in itself a new relationship between design, the user and the useful life of a product.
It goes beyond a transformation mechanism and sees itself as a blank canvas available to its user.
research development process and results
This period of research is now complete.
More than 30 solutions have been developed from the initial partition and the system of standardised solutions.
However, at the root of this process is the unpredictability of use by the user.
In other words, research can move in the direction of the user themselves and the solutions that the use of the solution may demonstrate.
Research provides for this design on the imponderable in both the user and the industry. In the user because the appropriation of use will teach me new and unexpected things, and in industry because the technical system’s ability to adapt to markets and consumers is total.
In terms of materials, there is a clear commitment to ecology and innovation in the circular economy, where any material that is structurally stable and can be laminated into sheets and perforated to the core is accepted for mass production.
There are no limits except mentality and creativity.
And there the industry has to match the creative potential of the solutions. It’s a shared responsibility that both the author and the producer have towards society. An economistic and conformist attitude will not be the answer to the necessary advances.
the experience and career opportunity of obtaining a Master’s Research Award
An award in this field is no longer a new experience for me.
The issues of the project and design process in a research environment are simple to identify because there is a clear need to justify innovation and originality on the basis of valid and current arguments.
Sustainability and flexibility are only practicable by admitting disciplinary responsibility within and beyond the field of architecture. this critical thinking relates the robust structures of design to society and industry and assumes that a conformist approach will not suffice.
This award recognises the need to apply a divergent practice to architecture and design, where industry can only play its role as a medium through which to disseminate this position on our built habitat.
This award, but above all the people I work with and the group experiences in each situation, confirm that a career dedicated to a divergent way of thinking is possible and impactful enough to be more than a profession and position itself as a vocation to be part of a better world.
Photos © Egídio Santos / OASRN
Video © Miguel C. Tavares / OASRN
