1. On Comfort
R-Value Acessories
2024
Collaborators: Emily Wissemann + Sam Sheffer + Charles Kim
R-Value Accessories is a research project in pursuit of identifying and cataloging the history of garment design as a material precedent for additive layers of systematic adjustable insulation. Simply put, if clothing is a form of wearable shelter, we ask what shelter can learn from clothing. The project aims to explore the concept of a "house jacket" as an additive approach to improving the performance of existing low-performing buildings and creating adaptable expressive structures. By studying insulating wearables we will create architectural additions that reflect how we express, maintain, and take agency over our bodies. The deliverables will include prototypes and design concepts that demonstrate the application of adjustable insulation principles for climate sensitive house jackets such as Rain Coats, Sunscreens, Parkas and other R-Value Accessories.
Each layer of enclosure separates skin from air, from weather and from sight. When we think of architecture as dress, we embrace the idea that buildings are all about our bodies. Architecture is a device for preserving the body, a layer separated, moved outward, from the body, it is a form of clothing. Architecture is a device of preservation, and we are creating devices to preserve architecture itself.
