Wasted Wonders: The Aesthetic of Waste in the Age of Hyperconsumption
Wasted Wonders: The Aesthetic of Waste in the Age of Hyperconsumption
Fatma Ibrahim
The project’s concept centres on the design of a gantry structure that critically addresses issues related to advertising, overconsumption, and food waste. Gantries, due to their large and prominent physical presence, are typically used for out-of-home advertising. These advertisements have broad reach, influencing many individuals to make excessive purchases, many of which result in unnecessary food waste, increased packaging disposal, and a greater depletion of natural resources.
The core aim of the project is to raise awareness about the environmental consequences of unchecked consumer behavior. It encourages reflection on the ways mass consumption affects the environment and emphasizes the potential of waste materials to be repurposed into something both beautiful and functional. In doing so, the project not only critiques the culture of overconsumption but also offers an alternative narrative — one of reuse, sustainability, and creative transformation.
During the site visit, this sensory imbalance was strongly felt. The constant noise of traffic, honking, rapid movement, and flashing digital billboards created a chaotic atmosphere. These stimuli contributed to feelings of stress and discomfort, reinforcing Pallasmaa’s critique of vision-centred design.
Overall, these observations became essential in shaping my interior design concept. Rather than focusing solely on the visual, I began considering how to integrate sound, smell, and other sensory elements to create a more immersive and emotionally engaging space. Additionally, the site featured a range of muted colours and rough materials such as concrete, asphalt, and metal, contributing to a dull, desaturated atmosphere. This contrast inspired a design direction that intentionally rejects muted palettes, opting instead for vibrant hyperpop aesthetics to create an overwhelming, sensorially rich environment.
The gantry was observed to be a visually dominant and imposing structure within its environment. Its role extends beyond functionality, aiming to create a striking visual presence through its large scale and monumental form. Positioned prominently along the roadway, the gantry commands attention from both drivers and pedestrians, making it an unavoidable element in the landscape. Its height, solidity, and strategic placement ensure it captures the visual field, asserting itself as more than just infrastructure.
Due to the overpowering characteristics of the gantries, they are not just used for road signage but also for out-of-home advertising. OOH advertising gantries are designed to support large-format billboards, digital screens, and signage placed over roads, highways, and high-traffic areas. Advertising ranges from consumer products and brands such as soft drinks, fast food, fashion, beauty, entertainment, and media.
The aggressive promotion of food via digital billboards contributes to a culture of excess. Consumers, bombarded with enticing offers and glossy images of quick, ready-to-eat meals, may end up with more food than they can consume. This overproduction and overconsumption lead to significant amounts of food waste, which in turn affects not only landfill volumes but also resource use, from water to energy, that went into producing that food. The discarded food, its packaging, and the residual waste from food production become part of a narrative about unsustainable practices. The waste isn’t simply gone; it becomes a material record of the lifecycle of consumer goods, mirroring the discarded gantry components or outdated advertising screens that litter our industrial landscapes.
Consumerism is the “Hyperobject” the key non-human element influencing the project’s design, inspired by Timothy Morton’s concept. Consumerism exists in various interconnected layers, embedded in advertising, corporate practices, societal values, and environmental impacts. It affects both the global and local, the past, present, and future. Its effects are often invisible yet all-encompassing, making it hard to escape and even harder to fully comprehend.
Viewing consumerism as a hyperobject highlights its pervasive and overwhelming nature, emphasizing the need for collective awareness and systemic change. The project seeks to raise awareness of how overconsumption — particularly food waste — can be reimagined through sustainable practices. For instance, supermarkets often rely on excessive plastic packaging, even for naturally protected produce. This leads to simultaneous food and plastic waste.
With plastic now more prevalent than food in some systems, the problem of waste has become severe. A plastic bag may only be used for 12 minutes, yet it takes up to 450 years to decompose. Alarmingly, only 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled.
Vending machines are chosen as my objects of analysis because they represent the intersection of consumerism, and environmental impact in a highly visible and accessible form. Found in high-traffic urban locations such as transit hubs, malls, and hospitals, vending machines promote immediate gratification and round-the-clock access to food and beverages. Their convenience-driven design reflects the consumer desire for speed and ease, often at the cost of sustainability. Items sold are typically packaged in single-use, non-recyclable materials like plastic and foil, contributing significantly to packaging waste.
This project focuses on creating an interior space that promotes sustainable living by motivating individuals to minimize consumption and find new uses for food waste. Instead of promoting consumer products, the gantry encourages creativity and innovation by showcasing how discarded food can be repurposed into new objects. The gantry within the space functions as a transformative machine, turning food waste into functional materials, offering a hands-on experience that demonstrates the power of reimagining waste.
The hyperpop aesthetic is chosen as its sensory overload mirrors the chaos of modern consumerism. The two are deeply connected in the way they amplify excess, artificiality, and instant gratification. Bright neon aesthetics and glitch effects, mimic the way brands compete for attention with over-the-top marketing and hyper-targeted ads. Both hyperpop and consumerism glorify the fake, the synthetic, and the mass-produced. Hyperpop is both a critique of and a product of hyper consumerism, it celebrates excess while exposing its absurdity.
The Illusion of Abundance
Zone 1 presents an intentionally overwhelming environment, dominated by flashy advertisement boards and augmented reality overlays. High-pitched, glitchy sounds and intermittent robotic voiceovers shouting phrases like “LIMITED TIME!” and “BUY NOW!” mirror the aggressive tactics of consumer advertising. The scent in this zone is sweet and artificial, candy-like and enticing, creating a disorienting mix of attraction and overstimulation.
The Aftermath: Discarded Waste
Zone 2 offers a stark contrast with its minimal pink tones and dim lighting, allowing AR projections to take centre stage. The atmosphere is eerie, filled with the buzzing of flies, the crunch of plastic, and distant echoes of advertisement soundbites. Timed scent dispensers release realistic yet tolerable smells of rotting fruit and stale bread, grounding the visitor in the sensory consequences of food waste and expired goods.
Giving Waste New Life
Zone 3 transforms into a more contemplative, monochromatic exhibition space. Subtle colour palettes and cool ambient lighting highlight the displayed materials. The soundscape is soft and calm, while delicate scents like coffee or banana correspond to the biomaterials on display, reinforcing the connection between object and origin. The wall on the left features barcodes that visitors can scan to access links demonstrating how items created using food waste.
Hyperlab: Hand-on Interactive Experience
Zone 4 shifts into a lively, experimental hyper-lab. This zone is filled with vibrant colours and adjustable lighting suited for hands-on work. Sounds of 3D printer motors and tools in use add to the immersive atmosphere. Scent is again used purposefully, each biomaterial sample emits a distinct aroma, such as a roasted scent from a coffee-based material, further enhancing the multisensory experience and deepening the visitor’s engagement with sustainable production processes.
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