The Cage:

A dining space for 8 people

Type:
Competition Entry for COOK8: International Design Competition for the interior of a dining space 24-30m² for 8 people, 14th Position

Date:
February 2018

Design Team:
Eva Lavranou
Chaido Kaproulia
Eirini Psarrou
Elefteria Keramianaki

The cage is a structure of rods that is used to restrict and entrap birds or other animals. Marilyn Frye, a philosopher speaking of oppression in her article ‘Oppression’, uses a metaphor of the concept of cage. As she describes, only when someone moves away and sees all the bars and the whole cage becomes obvious that the bird is trapped. A single bar does not have the ability to limit it, it is the sequence of bars and the relationships created between them that make the cage rails look like walls and ultimately prevent the movement in it. A total new culture of digital networks has shaped the habits of the contemporary society. Social media influence the way people search, evaluate and decide to attend an event. 

The dining room has always been a point of gathering and interaction. The paradox is that most of the times people ignore each other around the table and devote themselves to using their mobile phones. Thus, direct social interaction is greatly lost, and a climate of alienation is cultivated. The world of the Internet works like the cage of the modern human. Within the network, loneliness and insecurity cannot exist since the transmission of information is uninterrupted. The proposed dining area is a table-free area where people eat in their cages and they can reserve a spot and decide the menu online. The chef prepares food on a counter and serves each one separately. In a 30-square-meter space, eight different people eat in their cages. How close are they with each other?