NAP GAP - 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial, Turkey

J.MAYER.H. und Partner, Architekten
Jürgen Mayer H., Team: Wilko Hoffmann, Marcus Blum, Julien Sarale

Sound: J.MAYER.H and Electric Canyon Studios, Chico, California, USA

Location: “The future is not what it used to be”, 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial, Turkey
Date: November 1st – December 14th 2014

Director of Istanbul Design Biennial Deniz Ova
Curator Zoë Ryan

In the future… will you sleep more often?

Nap Gap places “pink noise” (a noise-cancelling sound frequency often misnamed “white noise”) in public spaces to encourage sleeping where and when we like. As the boundary between work time and social time becomes increasingly elastic, why not also blur the boundaries of waking time and sleeping time?

Nap Gap is a prototype created for the biennial, made up of glowing pink light, some comfortable pillows, carpet, and a sound system broadcasting pink noise, which research suggest might foster a deeper and more stable sleep condition. Pink noise is a uniform, full-octave, repeating sound like rain falling or leaves rustling.

Through this minimal intervention, the team of J.MAYER.H creates an architectural framework that gives people the opportunity to restructure their sleep time. Loitering and sleeping are both public behaviors that are often discouraged, instead the Nap Gap asks: would you “sleep around?”