Fortune favours the brave by Bethany Wright from united arab emirates

‘Fortune favours the brave’ is anticipation personified in experiential space. A responsive, kinetic architecture designed to both create anticipation and harmonise our addiction to it - in turn helping question our relationship with it.

The concept has grown from my fascination with anticipation in our daily lives. I am addicted to the exhilaration it can create; planning a trip, a new job opportunity, or life event. I struggle to be content and feel frustration with not being able to predict the future. The famous quote by Lucius Annaeus Seneca rings true, “Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow it loses today.”

The work of Dr Robert Sapolsky, a neurologist at Stanford University, is also relevant in relation to human dopamine levels. Dopamine is linked to the reward and pleasure centres in our brains. Sapolsky highlights however that dopamine is about the anticipation of pleasure, “the pursuit of happiness, rather than happiness itself.” (Sapolsky, 2011). This “goal directed behaviour” and the “maybe” involved is what makes it addictive. It keeps us moving through our whole lives searching for the next event or reward; we forget to live in the present.

Fusing this research with the form of the Fortune Teller and responsive architecture, a unique and immersive experience is created. The Fortune Teller is a familiar, origami childhood toy that [to me] symbolises our yearning for answers even from a young age. In order to play, someone else operates the game for the player, revealing colours or numbers that conceal a message.

Designed to be displayed in a public space, ‘Fortune favours the brave’ is a dynamic, lightweight steel structure that moves as passers by approach. Motion sensors trigger elements clad in acrylic to randomly open and close on the façade. Entry to the space is unpredictable and happens at different times each day, with only a small number of visitors allowed in at one time adding to the suspense. Wonder and excitement entice passers by to investigate their fate; if they are patient and brave enough.

Upon entering the dark cylindrical space, movement is encouraged as you are drawn to the light created by the opening and closing forms. This symbolises our addiction to anticipation and how we live in a constant cycle. The experience will be personal for the individual yet will hopefully create anticipation. The central zone in contrast emits a still epicentre. A light, smooth and highly reflective space that directs the viewers’ gaze up towards the sky and to their own reflections. One-way mirror allows glimpses to the surrounding space and moving façade. Colour is used to create a changing atmosphere and represent the colours on the Fortune Teller. The anticipated ‘event’ however doesn’t happen, as answers are not provided but only the experience to live in the current moment and absorb the atmosphere. How people react to this will be part of the interest, and if architecture can create an emotional response.

Anticipation is so important to our experience in life and must be embraced; yet we need to be brave enough to also live in the moment.

Sources

Dr Robert Sapolsky. (2011)
Dopamine Jackpot! Sapolsky on the Science of Pleasure
California Academy of Sciences [Online]
Available from:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh6ceu_dopamine-jackpot-sapolsky-on-the-science-of-pleasure_news

(Accessed October 1st 2015)