Daniel Marks
As a spatial practitioner I am passionate about creating poignant spaces which seek to inform people about an important yet potentially forgotten social issue. I have a strong interest in exploring how the interior can be manipulated and how intentional design choices can be made to leave an impact on visitors even after they have left the space encouraging them to think about the importance of addressing a specific social issue.

Millions Missing - Have You Seen Me?

Millions Missing illustrates how spatial design can bring awareness to the heavily stigmatised invisible illness ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Millions Missing acts as storytelling arena, providing ME/CFS sufferers with the forum to have their poignant stories shared with the general public in audio form in an intimate and evocative setting. Shoes of the individual whose story is being told are displayed, evocatively representing that person and their pre-illness lives. This design decision was inspired by the annual Millions Missing March which is done to raise awareness for ME/CFS.

Plan

The concrete clad storytelling arena features 81 individually shaped pods, memorialising those living with ME/CFS and the loss of their previous selves. Each pod houses the digital story of an Australian living with the life-altering condition and are slightly different in form, representing how everyone's experience living with ME/CFS is different.

Sections

The haunting subterranean uncannily resembles a gravesite situated, memorialising those living with the condition, trapped in their sick bodies without any approved treatment or cure. The space seeks to elicit empathy and increase levels of importance in visitors through evocative design choices and the use of digital storytelling.

Pod Entrances

Participants enter the individual pods through loud automatic roller doors which close after they have sat down in the dark and claustrophobic space before the audio commences playing.

Sectional Render of Pod

Once in the pod, a harrowing story in the form of audio is played within the insulated and soundproof space through speakers embedded in the seats. Immersed in the darkness, visitors listen to the personal account of one individual’s devastating descent into the terrifying and lonely world of ME/CFS.
Play

Media Component

One of the stories displayed within one of the pods is that of fictional persona Celeste, a ballet dancer, who’s story of her descent into the terrifying and lonely illness ME/CFS is an example of the types of stories in audio form featured within this spatial intervention.
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