An Individual Peace of Mind

LASHUP | Concept Design Studio presents the videogame An Individual peace of mind. The condition of forced isolation highlighted the scope for a new possible future: one in which new human dynamics developed rapidly, altering those places dedicated to intimacy and the time we spend in solitude, perhaps forever. Spaces where we are more than willing to spend time.
Within the confines of this reflection, tranquillity is presented as a place of relaxation, through the digital simulation of a condition presented via two channels: on the one hand, the impossibility of physically stepping beyond the confines of one’s own home; on the other, the great appeal of the dolce far niente (happily doing nothing) that manifests itself through a rural, simple and typically Mediterranean environment.
An individual peace of mind provides a take on the ideas behind game-based learning, aimed at letting users understand how to enjoy the moment, with the empathic characteristic typical of digital games that – unlike other media – allow you to immerse yourself in scenarios, providing the luxury of a private space to retreat to and in which to find yourself. The competitive nature does not exist, just as there is no score, no levels, no need to play roles, but just a relaxing space that is part of reality: one conceived, thought out and designed by the LASHUP studio.
The concept revolves around a reinterpretation of those spaces dedicated
to relaxation in times when there is no physical place of detachment from reality, where various frugal environments develop within a typically Mediterranean landscape. The invitation is to take time out, to allow oneself a luxury, to enjoy a moment all to oneself in which there is no time pressure, no commitments or distractions, like treating oneself to a meditative moment or a relaxing, very intimate and special break. The temperature within the game was developed on the basis of the most interesting and satisfying roots and customs of the Italian lifestyle, through a reinterpretation of the archetypes of rural living, mainly inspired by two texts that proved fundamental to the two designers: The Poetry of Architecture by John Ruskin (1937) and Architettura Rurale Italiana by Giuseppe Pagano and Guraniero Daniel (1936), while seeking to recreate the atmospheres of second homes in films starring Monica Vitti and Ugo Tognazzi, and drawing on references from art and design to create spatial harmony.
THIS IS A CONCEPT DESIGN STUDIO / PRESS RELEASE
The space to be found in An Individual Peace of Mind is spartan, insofar as it cannot be perceived as a form of deception in which we are taken unawares, for entering it represents a deliberate choice of solitude, one made in full awareness of oneself and one’s own needs. It is a digital experience made immersively and in the first person: a place where one can start from oneself amid design elements, space and outdoor experience. We could call it a meditative game, in which to experience a quality of time characterised by the scope of sensing everything that we are living through, without distractions, without the continuous stimuli typical of the digital sphere, at least as it is commonly understood today.
An Individual Peace of Mind is offline; it is an essential and frugal virtual
space in which the sole objective is the exploration of the surroundings, the detail and
the present moment. The elements characterising the entire immersive path develop in constant dialogue amid archetypal objects, ancestral choices of material – such as the use of terracotta, ceramics, straw or stone – freely reinterpreted design elements and ad hoc designed interior objects, in a path that unravels among the constituent symbols of Mediterranean living, in which one may immerse oneself and take refuge so as to set off on a path of self-discovery.