Room of the rest by yeongkeun Jeong from korea

Being surrounded by countless people and buildings in an urban environment can be
overwhelming. The purpose of the “room of the rest” is to provide a moment of peace. The box limits the distracting auditory and visual senses around you to help you relax and take a momentary break while you focus your thoughts and senses within the box.

People living in the city are exposed to many senses but they’re mostly unpleasant and unwelcome. It’s always ‘Too much’ in the urban environment. Too many advertisings trying to attract our eyes with giant billboards and shocking images, too many options in the clothing shop so it takes too long to choose the one thing you came for until you realize that you don’t really know what you wanted to buy in the first place. Suddenly you are squeezed with three new bags sitting between anonymous people rubbing arms on the busy subway.

But these are unavoidable situations that we need to confront as city dwellers, and we all agree that getting rid of all these things suddenly cannot be the smartest solution. Then maybe we can solve this problem by changing the way to perceive those senses from ‘Too much things’.

So I strived to achieve this by making a small private resting space in the city. Most of the unpleasant senses you receive in the city are loud sounds and visual pollution. By covering your head with the small box can block hearing and sight; you can enjoy the outside view through the small frame while having a rest like you are viewing a photograph or watching a movie. I tried to make this installation as compact as possible because the busy city doesn’t really have enough space so it’s more space efficient being compact. It can be installed between two building walls or or in any tight gap among the urban landscape. I also tried to make it half-open so it can be included in the public space but it’s still a private space at the same time. Four legs are making marks of the small private space while they support the box portion above and make an opened space below.

‘Room of the Rest’ is made up of 3 different materials in a simple process. The main materials are a particleboard from building waste and a bamboo tree. These two main parts are tied together with straw string. It can be easily assembled, disassembled and installed and moved to the other area in the city thanks to its simple design.