Daylight in Buildings

COVID-19 Diary

Students

Meichen Wang, Binfan Xie, Qiuran Bao, Zhaoyang Cui

Teachers

Xin Zhang,

Ning Zhu,

Rong Zhou

School

Tsinghua University

Country

China - Mainland

COVID-19 Diary
Scroll

Project Description

With the outbreak of COVID-19 spreading all over the world, all those arriving in the local city from abroad will be quarantined in designated facilities for 14 days for medical observation. When quarantined in a 3.6*7.2m-hotel room only with food and newspaper delivery every day, anxious people may feel isolated and helpless. Will sunlight be a powerful tool to bring hope back? We select the standard 1.8*2.4m-window of the hotel room in Wuhan, insert a removable rolling bearing and wrap a circle of paper which allows quarantiners to put up the latest newspaper and poke holes of it. The concept, the circle of paper can roll with reels on both sides, comes from the prayer wheel of Tibetan Buddhism to count the times of reciting sutras and sense the passage of time in hope of luckiness. Quarantiners can rotate the paper cylinder, write their diaries, and poke holes on the reports. The quarantining 14 days will have witnessed a dynamic document combing grand narrative and individual himself. If sunlight can transmit both the two holes of each layer of the newspaper, asterism will shine in the small room through the small hole. If sunlight can only transmit the outside layer, the flare will show on the inside layer and form different patterns with the movement of the sun. Such a pocket-sized bundle will no longer be a cage but a light converter, varying from person to person – sunlight flows through the holes and acts as a tailor of the reports, artificial illumination transmits and lights up the streets. It is in such small but hopeful space covered with the information and comment of COVID-19 that quarantiners can interact with the sunlight by poking holes and planting ‘ artificial suns’, from which they will get inspired and complete a person epidemic document. When the last 14th day has eventually come, diffraction of light, bathing in sunlight and rethink the meaning of joint point of light and daily life will become precious memory, especially under regular epidemic prevention and control. With newspapers from different countries put up on the rolling paper, it can also be seen as an epitome of human itself and the world full of uncertainty, sadness, loss, true and false news as along as hope, happiness and moving characters.