• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 2012

Contemporary society maintains mass-product system that keeps endless cycle of making and consuming. In this vein, everyday life becomes to be under the control of function and efficiency. On the contrary, the people are getting to have a desire of escaping from this everydayness, that is, the desire for non-everydayness. British architect, Nigel Coates understood the potentiality of contemporary metropolis which produce new experiences through their heterogeneities. During 1980s, Japanese economic bubble provided rich nourishment to the desire for non-everydayness based on consumers' tastes. Nigel Coates snatched this phenomena and designed commercial spaces aligned to the non-everydayness. He shows very eloquent version of escaping sense. We can find the exquisite quality of non-everydayness through design vocabulary of object's form and arrangement. In the viewpoint of object form, Coates adopted classical statues of Greek, that is antique, and modern gadgets such as airplane wings and seats. Also, we can find abundant gestures of curvilineal contours throughout the objects he designed. As for the objects' arrangement, he introduced repetition and curved composition that can stimulate human interaction with interior scape.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.108-116
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• 2014

Postmodernism, a cultural movement which occurred in the mid-20th century, avoided functional form, one of the features of modernism, and pursued post-rational and post-centric pluralistic thought which puts human emotions in importance. Postmodernism set a high value on emotional instincts of humans and focused on creation of empathy. It includes scepticism of rationalism and indicates the significance of emotional and psychological instincts of humans, or 'emotions'. Along with the big change in that time, more dynamic and unprecedented indoor spaces had appeared. Nigel Coates, who had taken various kinds of artistic activity from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, had tried to make a new approach of objet-focused emotional spaces. Such an approach made in the time when science and technology had rapidly developed and social structure had changed was considerably fresh, liberal, and futuristic. He interpreted spaces by escaping from realistic intentions and communicating with drawings, and designed object-focused emotional spaces by actively employing objets on the basis of ideas. He tried to make emotional sharing between the public and spaces through objet, and showed unique spaces in his own way by reinterpreting the meanings of spaces and stimulating human emotion. This study was intended to look into his artworks to show his way of approaching objets, and to find an application plan and the future possibility of the plan.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.108-116
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• 2014

This study is based on the arguments of Sofia Sarah and concept of 'Sequence Narrative' of Nigel Coates, the founder of Nato. Specifically, this study was conducted under the premise that narrative exhibition space will affect the engagement of viewers. As a result of this study, a method of analyzing a science museum's exhibition space was presented using the narrative structure and the following attributes of visuals: sequence of viewing; spatial tension; spatial pace. The findings are as follows. In terms of 'spatial tension', the exhibiton space with the following progression was more likely to provide viewers with in-depth experience: 'raise of tension' - 'change of pace' - detente.' Although the limited sample doesn't lead to verification of the analysis method and conclusion of its significance, the following was clearly revealed: Exhibiton space that utilizes the structure and attributes of a narrative that provides progression and dramatic tension, as if the viewers were watching a film, is more likely to offer in-depth experience than other spaces. In terms of 'phase transition', the following was revealed: Pace variation around the space with the strongest spatial tension could affect the concentration and engagement of viewers. It suggests the following fact: Spatial rhythm and speed variation in the area with the strongest visual emphasis encourage viewers to feel the spatial changes, maintain their concentration, and continue their viewing.