MDes Interior Design School of Design
Yushi Chen
I am Yushi Chen, an exhibition design student from Shanghai, China. After graduating from my undergraduate degree, I came to GSA to pursue a Master’s degree in Interior Design. During my studies I mainly developed project research skills and critical thinking.
My work focus on expanding the definition of cultural preservation and attempts to preserve spatial information and culture using digital manipulation.
A Cat person.
The Long Goodbye-Strategies for Preserving Culture in a Drastic transition of living space
This study explores the unique cultural heritage and evolving living spaces of the boat-dwelling people, or Tanka, who traditionally inhabited the coastal regions of China. Originating as war refugees during the Qin Dynasty, the Tanka developed a distinct culture due to their prolonged isolation at sea. However, modern challenges, such as climate change, urbanization, and environmental degradation, have forced these communities to transition to land, leading to the gradual disappearance of their traditional lifestyle. This research examines the impact of these changes on cultural preservation, proposing innovative methods to document and retain the Tanka’s cultural identity through interior design and digitization. By expanding the definition of cultural preservation beyond static forms, the study aims to capture the dynamic evolution of the Tanka’s living spaces, ensuring that their heritage remains accessible even as their way of life fades. This work highlights the importance of integrating modern technology with cultural conservation, offering new insights into how endangered cultures and imgrant communities can be preserved in a rapidly changing world.
It is not only boat-dwellers who have to change their living space drastically due to social and natural environmental factors, but also other communities on the planet who have to move away from their original place of living due to wars or harsh environments or urban development. The results of this study are applicable to all those who are interested in preserving their culture through the study of interior spaces.
Research questions:
- What are the reasons for the drastic transformation of the living space of boat-dwelling families?
- What are the existing methods of cultural preservation and are there any gaps in them?
- How new technologies can be used to process interior information to compensate for the gaps of existing cultural preservation methods?
- How to use digitisation in the interior design process to preserve culture?
Impact of natural environment, urbanisation
The transition of Tanka people's living space.Interactive display presentation.
This video present the process of interaction with hand gesture. According to the interoperability between the different senses produced by synesthesia, the dynamics of culture can be better perceived through the movement of the hands.