Design for New Paradigms of Sustainable Living and Dwelling: More than a Hammock

The contribution aims to identify a new paradigm for living development expressing one of the most crucial challenges of our time, the need for a ‘solidary’ convergence between the two inescapable instances of ‘innovation’ and ‘sustainability. Ugo La Pietra asserted To inhabit is to be everywhere at home (2019) and the Abito Mediterraneo project born in the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design of the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", then extended from 2020 also to the Planet Life Design CdS of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of moves in this direction. “More than a hammock" was the payoff indicated to the students to work on the project and the creation of hammocks, microcosms of peace for peace, dismountable, for possible and impossible journeys, also following the directions of ecodesign themes, made with recycled materials, , support elements, ropes, lacing, and hooks from forgotten objects, ready to be thrown away, instead ready to give rise to new artifacts. The hammock, but also other small dismountable artifacts, thus become an expression of a new social and environmental sustainability, as an offshoots, grafts, inclusions for play, rest, leisure, and break aimed at improving the personal and social well-being of human beings, in relation to life for and on the Planet. The hammock is a simple, comfortable, space-saving object synonymous with relaxation, calm and inner peace. An artifact native to South America and the Caribbean, it originated in response to the climatic conditions of these tropical areas. It served and still serves as a resting place, and being raised off the ground, it protects against moisture, snakes, insects and pests. The first hammocks were made from the fibrous bark of the Hamack tree, a plant that grows throughout Central America, hence precisely the name “hammock.” It was later Christopher Columbus who introduced this convenient solution to Europe; in fact, he used it to rest his sailors so they would not have to lie on the floor of the ships. For travelers of the past, accustomed to having to sleep al fresco, it proved to be an indispensable piece of luggage, precisely because it easily allowed them to stay raised off the ground to the desired height, because it was simple to make, because it folded up and took up little space once stowed away. The design experience presented by this research, outcome of the teachings of the Master's Degree Course in Planet Life Design at UNIPG and the teaching of Design and Comunication and Design for Fashion UNICAMPANIA, intends to interpret the hammock in a modern key as an artifact expression of a contemporary way of living and traveling. A microcosm of peace for peace's sake, disassemblable, for possible and impossible journeys, made from reclaimed materials, the hammock thus becomes an expression of a new social and environmental sustainability, as an offshoot, graft, inclusion, for play, rest, recreation, pause, as an example of the application of design research aimed at improving the personal and social well-being of human beings, in relation to life for and on the Planet. The contribution aims to identify a renewed driving force for a new paradigm development that expresses one of the most crucial challenges of our time and the need for a 'solidary' convergence between the two inescapable instances of 'innovation' and 'sustainability': beyond the term employed, in a historical moment characterized by environmental, social and economic emergencies, Humanity promotes one of its prerogatives, the use of the 'things' that nature makes available to us to make them other than their primary function, identifying new forms of well-being of living and dwelling, aware that those resources are not inexhaustible.