the book of sleep

What is sleep? Who are we when we are asleep? What happens if we could, for once, control every single incident, movement, idea and dream in our sleep? How can we visualize something that, even us, who experience it everyday, cannot begin to explain? And most importantly, how can one link such peculiar topic, with all its blurriness and obscurity to something that requires utmost attention and control?
This book was submitted to the Department of Architecture and Design for the Final Year project. The idea was to allow the user to take full control in roaming the different realms of sleep: paralysis, dreaming, faith and finally death — the eternal slumber.
Case Study | polysomnography diagnosing sleep disorders (above)​​​​​​​
Case Study | hypnograph revealing the disorders as a function of time
Case Study | hypnograph revealing the disorders as a function of time
Case Study | hallucinating person sees insects when lights are off
Case Study | hallucinating person sees insects when lights are off
The book introduces the notion of play and mystery, allowing the user to navigate in slumber from a third person’s point of view in a game of sealing and revealing. The play is implemented in the stories, puns and illusions in the form of typographic references and explorations. Acetate paper was used to enhance the notion of play, sometimes hiding, sometimes exposing, and other times playing tricks. What you see at first is not what you see, but what you want to see. Every paper flip is a story, an experience on its own, changing the way one looks at sleep as a something dormant, when it actually can be significantly chaotic.

Sleep and Dreams | dreaming of losing our teeth | a pun on the "teeth" of the letter seen س in Arabic and actual teeth

Sleep and Dreams | being naked in public | represents the person's insecurities and revealing his other self in his/her dream | words are stripped from their dots to represent their other selves | highlighting the dynamism of the Arabic script

Sleep and Dreams | i can fly | the circular rotation movement birds use in order to fly
Sleep and Dreams | i can fly | the circular rotation movement birds use in order to fly

Sleep and Death | death as a form of eternal separation from the waking state | emphasizing the connectivity and the efficiency present in the Arabic script

Sleep and Faith | a human-size talisman designed to protect the sleeper from any form of threat or evil

Sleep and Faith is a chapter that touches upon faith, religion and even sorcery. Talismans have long been used to provide luck and safety to those who carry them and believe in their powers, as they have a great role in protecting the slumberer. Most of them are spells that have hidden meanings; only the person who cast them would know what they mean. They are usually handwritten on small pieces of parchment or animal skin, then folded, sealed and never to be opened again. Talismans are distinguished by their infinite variety of shapes and patterns that interlace with typography to form a module or a spell.​​​​​​​
The book of Sleep features an oversized talisman that combines different modules put together in a human body form. For the first time, the user gets to dive and get lost in the mystery of the charm and unfold it in an attempt — just an attempt  to decode its meaning up close.

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