DIY furniture hello, I'm a lost space by ash nel

‘hello, I’m a lost space’ by ash nel

new zealand designer ash nel explores the occupation of neglected areas with his project ‘hello, I’m a lost space’. as our urban population becomes denser in the modern age, space seems to be diminishing – shortages of land mean constructing high density and high-rise buildings have become the best solution for addressing the demand for housing and businesses within the city to prevent urban sprawl. despite developers creating the most out of the vacant – and not so vacant – parts of the city, their efforts result in capsules of unusable sections. these secluded locations are often claimed back by the original green inhabitants or remain harsh and bare by the barriers of modern day architecture. fascinated by what these spaces can tell us, nel’s design hints at contemporary DIY plywood furniture, which is something people already recognize as quirky and innovative, and plays on these already perceived notions towards these types of objects to intrigue passersby.

rethinking space and how it’s occupied

the ‘bench’ layout shows the flow of the components when they are fully extended and how it integrates with its environment

this is the ‘lean to’ configuration which illustrates the ad-hoc functions the furniture adopts and how it can change in form styling to adapt to its surroundings

the DIY furniture is easy to pack-up and carry

all components are easily sourced and relatively cheap as they are intended to leave them in their new found spaces

the hope is that individuals will begin to see their own potential use for the furniture

perhaps as a magazine rack?

or a  clothes horse?

‘hello, I’m a lost space’ – a speculative project on occupying lost areas of the cityvideo courtesy of katman krothers

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.