Softening Boundaries: Reflections on Objects, Bodies and Design
Where Design Meets Existential Questions
I didn’t start with architecture. My interest in design actually began with the social sciences—specifically subfields such as Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and the anthropology of the body. These fields caught my attention because they speak to existential inquiries at the most fundamental level and problematize what is taken for granted. I was drawn to ambiguous zones where boundaries blur: objects that don’t speak but still shape what we do, and the body, which quietly governs how we sense and interact with the world, even as we tend to privilege the mind.
This is a blurry, in-between space where categories break down: self and other, subject and object. It’s an oddly beautiful feeling when you notice how the boundary between yourself and the world around you softens—or melts—into this web of interconnected relationships. Suddenly, an object doesn’t seem so passive. It has agency, too, and starts to feel like less of a thing and more of a collaborator.
Designing Together: The Role of Prototypes
In the spring semester of 2023, I took a seminar on participatory design. Initially, I was interested in reflecting on the architectural profession and exploring more democratic approaches to design. But as the semester progressed, I found myself reconnecting with the existential inquiries that had first bridged the social sciences to design for me. The course culminated in an essay where I explored the materiality of prototypes and their role in participatory design processes.
Prototypes are more than physical representations of ideas; they are dynamic, provisional objects that foster communication and negotiation. They enable participants to interact tangibly with design concepts, uncovering possibilities that might otherwise remain hidden in mere verbal exchanges.
For example, full-scale mock-ups in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) design allow healthcare workers to physically move through a proposed space, simulating emergencies or daily routines. These mock-ups reveal tacit, embodied knowledge—such as how the placement of equipment impacts movement or whether there is enough clearance for comfortable and efficient work. Prototypes ask questions, provoke reactions, and guide conversations. My essay argued that prototypes do their own kind of work, manifesting their agency in the design process as much as a human collaborator does.
Bringing It All Together: My Perspective on Design
Reflecting on this project, I see how it connects to my broader interests in architecture, sociology, and anthropology. Prototypes, with their intentionally devised materiality, remind me that design is not just about creating objects or spaces—it’s about understanding the interactions and relationships they enable and making intentional decisions through that understanding. Design, to me, is a practice of softening boundaries: between people and objects, between ideas and realities.