Experience & Interaction
Rediscovering Sensory Engagement: The Whimsical Kitchen
Skills
User Experience DesignPrototyping
INtro

A sensory experience designed to reignite imagination and engage our senses.

Timeline
October - December 2023
Setting

In our fast-paced, digitally saturated world, we often neglect the joy of sensory experiences. The everyday hustle leaves little room for mindful engagement with our surroundings, leading to a disconnection from our senses.

In the US..

75%

of adults report symptoms of stress, including headache, tiredness,
or sleeping problems

80%

of workers say they experience stress
on the job

49%

of adults say that stress has negatively affected their behavior

User Need

The lack of mindful sensory engagement affects our well-being, creativity, and appreciation for everyday experiences. We need spaces that encourage us to pause, immerse ourselves, and rediscover the magic hidden within our daily rituals.

Children are a perfect example of what it means to be mindful as it comes naturally to them. They stop to smell the flowers, become enchanted by butterflies flapping past, and throw temper tantrums in the moment when things don’t go their way, only to stop crying when given a toy that distracts them. Children engage in all their senses in play.

Solution

Taking inspiration from children’s toys and my personal favorite - I transformed the Toy Kitchen into the Whimsical Kitchen - a surreal yet tangible immersive experience designed to revive wonder and engage often overlooked senses, such as hearing and touch, in adult practices. It's a space where the act of pouring water triggers an immersive symphony, creating an illusion that transcends the ordinary.

Why a kitchen?

It 's my favorite toy as a child, and kitchens remain very relevant in adulthood. Kitchens are also usually the heart of a home where many sensory experiences naturally occur - hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching the ingredients.

How is it magical?

The magic displayed by the Whimsical Kitchen is the rediscovery of the extraordinary in the ordinary. By intentionally engaging many of our senses at play, the player unlocks the ability to transform mundane activities into delightful sensory experiences, awakening a sense of wonder and creativity. This, in turn helped me foster a deeper appreciation for the beauty of everyday life, while enhancing my creativity.

Potential use cases

The Whimsical Kitchen has potential use in:

  • Sensory activity for dementia care
  • Physical rehabilitation therapy
Process
01 Ideation

The ideation process commenced with an exploration of children's toys, where the toy kitchen emerged as profoundly relevant to adulthood, and reminiscent of my cherished childhood memories. I then curated a mood board envisioning an all-white palette to accentuate the underlying enchantment.

Opting for a life-sized rendition, the aim was to seamlessly blend a playful concept into an adult setting. Through numerous sketches and iterations, the design journey navigated varied possibilities before coming into its final form.

02 Technology Interface

To craft the technological interface, I selected Adafruit's QtPy ESP32 microcontroller as the foundation. For the stove, an LED Strip coupled with a potentiometer was integrated. While originally intending to utilize RFID for the pot, technical complications led to a streamlined solution via a simple button.

Activating the faucet involved another potentiometer, while the teapot incorporated an ADXL345 3-Axis Accelerometer. The auditory elements were generated using an MP3-TF-16P Arduino Player interconnected with a speaker to deliver the immersive soundscape.

03 Build

To materialize my initial sketches, I began by creating a half-scale cardboard prototype. This miniature model provided invaluable insights into the layout and placement of various kitchen elements, serving as a guide for the full-scale build.

Transitioning to the full-scale construction, I repurposed an unused shelf cart as the foundational structure, providing stability and mobility with added wheels. Building upon this framework, I utilized foam core to sculpt the intricate details of the kitchen. The choice of foam core allowed for maximum customization and imparted a deliberate lower fidelity, preserving the essence of a prototype without detracting from the enchanting experience.

Concurrently, I integrated the previously developed technology into the kitchen setup, discreetly embedding it beneath the countertop. This strategic integration aimed to maintain the kitchen's outward appearance as conventional, while the underlying magic remained hidden, offering an unexpected surprise. Additionally, I designed the layout to encourage exploration, allowing participants to organically discover each enchanting element as they navigate through the space at their own pace.

Lesson Learned

Through building the Whimsical Kitchen, I’ve learned the power of imagination by reflecting on childhood play and the loss of that childlike sense of wonder in adulthood. This project also invites me to reflect on my own routines in the kitchen as I continue to explore additional interactions for the Whimsical Kitchen

Other Works
Design is Around You: Highlighting Design's Role In Everyday Life
ESG Transformation: Empowering a Taiwanese Supermarket
© 2023 by Adelyn Soetyono

Indonesia
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