Short Stay: A Reflection on Belonging
What shapes our sense of belonging, even in the most fleeting spaces? This is the question we set out to explore in “Short Stay,” our site-specific installation for Alcova Miami 2024. A reimagined motel room, familiar yet uncanny. Pared down to the essentials, functional yet anonymous. But look closer—a bloom resting on a book, a floor lamp casting a glow over a carefully placed vase. These objects suggest an unseen presence, transforming the space from a waystation into something more. Here, comfort is not about luxury but about the emotional weight of the objects we carry with us—the personal meaning we project onto the spaces we inhabit, even if only for a moment.
Brief
Alcova Miami is a platform for experimental design, known for transforming unexpected locations into immersive exhibitions. For its 2024 edition, Alcova takes over the historic River Inn Motel, Miami’s oldest hotel, originally built in 1908 as a Victorian boarding house. A site defined by its layers of history and impermanence, it serves as the perfect setting for Short Stay—an installation that explores the transient nature of belonging. Motel rooms are carbon copies, designed for impermanence—functional but detached, familiar but impersonal.
With Short Stay, we wanted to ask: How do we create a sense of belonging in spaces meant to be temporary?
What role do objects play in shaping identity within them?
Is comfort found in place, or in what we bring with us?
By subtly shifting the expected, Short Stay transforms an anonymous motel room into an introspective experience—one that challenges the way we think about space, memory, and personal connection.
Architecture & Design
At first glance, Short Stay appears as a standard motel room—the kind seen in movies, roadside stops, or fleeting travel memories. But through careful curation and subtle interventions, the space begins to shift. Anonymity vs. Presence – The space is deliberately unremarkable, yet traces of personal meaning emerge through curated objects. A Dialogue of Light and Texture – Soft lighting creates an atmosphere of nostalgia, making the space feel both familiar and strangely intimate. Objects as Storytellers – A fresh flower, a book, a vase—each item hints at a narrative, leaving room for interpretation.
By making small but intentional changes, we transform a generic, impersonal space into something deeply personal.
Innovation & Technique
Minimal Intervention, Maximum Impact – Instead of altering the physical space, the installation shifts perception through curation and atmosphere.
Subtle Narrative Devices – The selection of objects, textures, and lighting guides visitors toward a quiet sense of connection.
Exploring the Meaning of Objects – “Short Stay” invites reflection on the way possessions shape identity, even in transient settings.
This isn’t about redesigning space—it’s about revealing its emotional undercurrents.
The Experience
Stepping into Short Stay is stepping into something familiar yet unresolved. The room feels like somewhere you’ve been before, yet the careful placement of objects hints at an unseen presence, an untold story. It asks visitors to pause, to notice the details, to consider the quiet traces of life we leave behind in the places we pass through—a meditation on impermanence, memory, and belonging.