suh architects + kolon immerse visitors in kaleidoscopic habitats

suh architects + kolon immerse visitors in kaleidoscopic habitats
photo © kisu park
all images courtesy of suh architects

‘4 habitats’ is the coalescence of kolon corporation’s vision to establish its global identity and suh architects’ understanding of its range of industrial products. the process started with a visit to the korean-based company’s factories, where the architects were introduced to fibers, films, and textiles. this was necessary for the project, as it led to the conscious decision to keep the components in their raw states. after two years of research, spunbond was selected as the main material of choice due to its use of polymer chips that have been cooled, compressed, and bonded into an climate-controlling, energy efficient web.

printed off the roll and hung, 160 layers of the cloth display different ideologies of human profiles that evolve and transform, one person at a time. as visitors travel through each of the constructs, they explore the range of selves we inhabit as solitary and social beings through colorfully massive contours that linearly force perspectives. the overall themes consists of: one to infinity, one to higher self, one to many, and one to only. these habitats are transportable, reconfigurable, and designed to adapt to its host venue.

‘one to only’
photo © kisu park

‘one to higher self’
photo © kisu park

the 4 habitats shown side by side
photo © kisu park

interior view of ‘one to only’
photo © kisu park

interior view of ‘one to many’
photo © kisu park

interior views of ‘one to higher self’
photo © kisu park

interior views of ‘one to infinity’
photo © kisu park

each of the materials were kept in their raw states
photo © kisu park

spunbond furniture workshop
photo © kisu park

diagram of the production process

diagram of formal organizations

project info:

first location: 798 space, 798 art district, beijing, china (2014.04.25-2014.05.04)
second location: DDP, seoul, republic of korea (2014.06.27-2014.07.06)
project: suh architects
client: kolon corporation
designer: kyungen kim of suh architects
design team: eulho suh, kwangchul byun, janice wong, jwagyum kim, mijung lee, sera lim of suh architects
consultants: imagine group / marcel bilow, ulrich knaack, holger techen of imagine group, thomas auer of transsolar
structure: holger techen of imagine structure
art film production: imagebakery
sound: simon pyke of freefarm
exhibition: jaesan kim, jongwook an, jaeyong cha, youngmin lee, jiseob choi of cheil worldwide
fabrication: seongkeun ji, minjun si of AWorks
spunbond production: kolon corporation
spunbond printing: arnova, cheonseong adcom
photography: kisu park

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.