AI imagines surreal structures that fuse arctic land with living forms and mythical figures

yongwook seong celebrates inuit culture and traditions

Expanding his exploration of the intersection between design, architecture, and emerging tools of technology, Canadian designer Yongwook Seong returns with another AI-generated series, this time journeying to Inuit Nunangat — the tribe’s homeland in Canada. With the help of Midjourney, the ‘Nuna’ series imagines fictional architecture that celebrates the stamp of these people on the built environment across Arctic and Sub-Arctic landscapes. From contemporary vaults with organic rounded contours and pavilions inspired by marine life to dens clad in the fur ‘coats’ of its inhabitants, the surreal renderings celebrate the roots of Inuit history, culture, and traditions.

Amauti House: Amauti (parka) grows into a house on her burial site | all images by Yongwook Seong

architecture infused with land, life, and mythology

Over a millennium, the indigenous civilization has treated the land as a sacred being, considering every animate and inanimate entity to be bonded with it. Likewise, they believe, a human being is deeply attached to the land and must therefore treat it as part of oneself. Drawing on this to devise architectural solutions across the land, water, and ice of Inuit Nunangat, designer Yongwook Seong generates a series of habitable structures, public cultural spaces, and pavilions that root living forms and mythical creatures firmly into their landscape.

In one frame, ‘Nuna’ depicts the Aiviq House, wherein a walrus has transformed itself into a habitable cabin. Meanwhile, the Issitoq Observatory draws on the Inuit myth of a flying eye deity to plant an eye-shaped volume carved from snow in search of taboo breakers. Elsewhere in Inuit Nunangat, Yongwook Seong places an ear canal-shaped ice vault that invites visitors deep into an archive to explore the rich histories of cultures in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic, while a shapeshifting Amauti parka morphs into a home on her burial site.

Nanuq Den: as the polar benter enters its den, it removes its fur and transforms into a human being inside

Issitoq Observatory: a mythological flying eye deity lands on the ground in search of taboo breakers

Nunangat Vault: an archive of Arctic and Sub-Arctic storytelling of Inuit cultures and traditions

Aiviq House: Aiviq walrus turns itself into a house

a bowhead whale pavilion celebrates the return of the revered Arviq and abundance of marine life

mythical Ijiraq transforms into a giant caribou to lure and hunt another caribou

Stargazing Tepee: this snow hut provides a warm and intimate space for stargazing amid the ice

Mosaic Igloo is an architectural aspiration for ‘Cultural Mosaic’

Ceremonial House

project info:

name: Nuna
designer: Yongwook Seong

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom