Tubascular – Prosthetic Aesthetics is a research project looking into the expressive possibilities of the body as a site for installation. The design process began with the question of how different ideas of the body give rise to different ways of relating the body to architecture. The hypothesis of the project is that the body as a living system and the morphological principles of architecture are moving towards a new form of convergence.

The project is based on the idea of body transformation and the associated effects on spatial experience. Tubascular is a 3 dimensional prosthetic installation, which follows the landscape of the body. The installation is wearable and serves to extend the interior vascular system to an added exterior one. The additional vascularity, externalises a system that is very delicate and vital in the human body. It enhances the skin by a specialised liquid flowing in the tubes injecting it to the internal arteries. The liquid causes a doping transformation. The skin becomes younger, healthier and more sensitive to stimulus, thus enhancing bodily experiences. The project challenges the boundaries of the body, creating a new interface between the self and the world, by re-defining the body schema.

Design: Daphnie Costi
University: The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Advisors: Marcos Cruz, Marjan Colletti, and Richard Beckett