The Blur Table: An investigation of the virtual experience through the social act of the meal

Abstract

The social distancing of the Covid-19 pandemic challenged the performance of the home. A blurry tangle of states of minds was left on the dinner table when the spatial transitions between private and public activities suddenly disappeared. Myriads of formal and informal activities could be conducted from the same spot, often with the computer as tool. Today, most are back in physical facilities, but traces from the pandemic are left in the way of working. This project investigates the relationship between virtual space, physical objects, and the user in a domestic context. Rather than improving the home and its interior, the project suggests ways of working with the virtual from an architectural point of view. The space-investigating tools of the architect are used not to illustrate thought, but to constitute thought. By intersecting the findings on the virtual with the social act of the meal, the virtual is given a context and can thereby be understood from a phenomenological perspective. The meal remains central throughout the project as it enables spatial activation and creates tension between the virtual and the physical. The notions explored in the project are synthesised in The Blur Table: the border-less furniture.