Master's degree - Environment design & animation

Thesis - June 2024

Nature and fiction always have been two of my biggest interests and topics of research. The exchanges between the two on the creative aspects, sensibility and technicity are very common and I decided to study them more and find good reasons to associate them.

The topic of this thesis is the use of ecofictional materials for space design. After a short study on the thematic and material place of nature in the fictional space, I presented arguments to explain how the ecofictional materials can be benefical for our own functional space design with three main parts : techniques and conception, perception and materials, and mental aspect.
The importance and relevance of that research lives in its use for both storytellers and architects to make them work together. Nature studied from the specific fictional angle can be valuable and transposed to our own spaces and help us redesign them, such as the Umeå School of Architecture from Umeå University in Sweden, who explain their method and exploration of stop motion for architecture, in a paper called Using Stop Motion Animation to Sketch in Architecture: A practical approach, written by Ru Zarin, Kent Lindbergh and Prof Daniel Fallman.

Discoveries and benefits of that connection aren't only material with the question of ecoconception, but they enrich the way we view the world, our creative process and our conception of space and cities. With that research, I try to guide the reader to ask themselves about the unique bond connecting stories, nature and space.

Animation, nature and environment design

Alongside the thesis, I worked on several practical projects during my master's degree. Based on my thesis, their purpose was to support my research and apply it in a more professional context. We needed to see how they would concretely work for space design.

All projects are linked to each other. I thought of them as being in continuity.

The goal of the "binder" is to experiment a LOT. We had to test all sort of things related to our topic of research. For my binder I worked on the eco-design of stop motion sceneries, and narration by nature.
I built stop motion settings 100% from recycled, handmade and natural materials. I then experimented on the impact of these materials the look of the stop motion settings. I experimented a lot with clay and ochre, some of my favorite materials to work with : ochre paint, ochre glue, house models made of clay...The materials influence the aspect of the spatial design of the houses, which is also made to fit with the environment.

I used my personal professional project to "continue" my binder and explore it deeper. For my professional project, I decided to focus on the concept of transposition : I transposed my stop motion settings into our space and at a human scale.
The first step was the stop motion settings : starting from a small fictional space. The second step was exploring the inside of the houses from the stop motion settings, to imagine how we could live inside of such spaces inspired by nature. The third step was the human scale : I made a street light from my stop motion settings.

This work is meant to help us imagine a future with creative, natural and beautiful cities. Humanity and modernity don't have to be in opposition with nature and ecology. All can coexist, and the solarpunk movement explores these questions really well. Nature blending our cities into the environment to make it sustainable to live for all beings is a topic often brought up in fiction, and I thought it is worth exploring the power ideas and creativity in art can have on the world and humanity.

To help people visualize better characters evolving in the stop motion settings, which could be a source of inspiration for environment design, I made a short 2D animation. I intentionally made a mix of mediums between stop motion environment and digital animation.