The reality of everyday life is that it is boring. We wait for the light to change, for the elevator doors to close, for our laundry to be done. Through my research of Andrew Atwood’s Not Interesting: On the Limits of Criticism in Architecture, ArchHero’s Beautifully Banal, and Mary Mann’s Yawn: Adventures in Boredom i have arrived at concept that invading spaces with excitement for no other purpose than to bring more fun into the minute moments of our lives results in a happier fuller life.
After analysis of many different types of spaces, i have settled on laundromats, specifically Launderland in the Sunset district of San Francisco as the most boring space. My design explorations began by “borifying” fun and reducing it into analytical components to create a technical way to discuss such an undefined idea. this allows the criteria of these programmatic fun spaces to be reimplemented without preconceived notions of the spaces they reside in. by employing these tactics of resistance to boringness through fun, a hybridized space that is neither a laundromat nor not a laundromat results . it is instead a hub for community involvement, joy, entertainment, gardening, eating, reading, and washing your clothes.
By interweaving spaces for enjoyment and fun in traditionally mundane and boring space, the moments of our lives that seem a burden and a bore can instead be celebrated and appreciated. bringing surprise and intrigue into a laundromat transforms something banal into a source of inspiration and fascination.
