A Journey of Self- inspiration
Yuan Yu Jung
Taiwan
© Yuan Yu Jung
© Yuan Yu Jung
© Yuan Yu Jung
In Asia, young people between the ages of 20 and 30 grow up in accordance with the expectations of society and their elders, resulting in a sense of emptiness and doubt when they start to plan their future development, such as employment, life and marriage, because they have no ideas or lack the will to resist the environment.
This social phenomenon is even more serious in Japan, where there is an astringent public sentiment. Therefore, the site for this project is Tokyo, a highly competitive city in Asia, where a certain kind of space experiment has been started with the aim of healing young people's minds and bodies and helping them to find their motivation and originality in life.
The design concept was inspired by fairy tales. Behind each meaningful story there is a moral and a spirit to be learnt by the young people of today. At the same time, the stories are childish and every adult has read fairy tales as a child, so I hope that through these fables I can help them to find their originality and motivation.
The fables refer to elements of the mindset of a successful person, including the bravery in Jack & the Beanstalk, the focus in Corpo senza l'anima and the confidence in Azur et Asmar. Before developing these mindsets, the participants will first engage in self-awareness from The Snow Queen and adversity from Ali Baba & Forty Thieves.
During the experience, I use different techniques in each space so that the participant is guided through different feelings as the space changes.
1. In The Snow Queen area, as a self-awareness area, I set up mirrored columns so that people passing by could see their current expressions and find out how and why they were feeling at the moment, and begin to think about themselves.
2.In the Ali Baba & Forty Thieves area, as an area of adversity, the main purpose of the space is to provoke fear in the experiencer. The space combines a promenade and a spherical space combined with a suspended walkway, the former allowing the experiencer to not easily find an exit, while the latter mainly eliminates the boundaries of the space, allowing people to experience an eerie sense of emptiness and floating inside.
3. In the Jack & the Beanstalk area, in order to induce a sense of bravery, the experience does not directly know how long it will take to get to the top of the building; only when they have the courage to walk down can they experience the benefits of bravery. Within the space, the vertical movement is divided into three types: a lift, a direct staircase and a staircase with a connection to the outdoor terrace. The outermost step, the terrace, is the most time-consuming, but the experience allows the participants to relax and enjoy the fruits of this bravery and hard work by browsing the streetscape from the terrace. The staircase is the second most time-consuming route, but through the windows, the experience participants are still able to interact with and enjoy the view from outside the walls. Those who took the lift spent the least amount of time, but were unable to experience the role that bravery plays in life.
4.In the Corpo senza l'anima area, in order to allow visitors to learn to concentrate, I have used large open windows and lighting to combine the central-spiral configuration of the square to attract visitors' attention. The lights in the space surrounding the opening intents to guide visitors to stay focus. The visitor is first attracted to the lights, which change colour regularly, and spends time gazing at the opening. As they spend time in this act, they have developed the mood when concentrate.
5.In the Azur et Asmar area, as a confidence building area, there are three identical doors in the space that allow the visitor to choose which one to access. The three doors lead to the same exit in order to show people that they do not have to be afraid of their own choices and that if they trust their own abilities and intuition, either way will lead to a good outcome. The mirrored column before the exit is another reminder of the importance of self-awareness and the gifts that this journey brings, which are part of developing confidence.