Doodles into buildings.

June 20, 2018 5:56 AM

Visions of the fantastic. From robots to Pinocchio to spaceships to kindergartens with secret messages, Seoul-based architect Moon Hoon designs fantastic structures. Moon Hoon sees no boundaries – he says that while there’s a place for serious, functional architecture, it is also important to have variety in the country’s buildings. “Like if you go under the sea” he says, “you see so many colours and so many strange animals. Do you think anybody actually says that one is more better than the other? They exist even though they look ugly or good or bad.”
posted by korej (11 comments total)

Love it.
posted by signal at 5:59 AM on June 20, 2018

Love the Pinocchio. I wonder what he means by "functional" and what he sees as the place for "serious." There's a playfulness to his work (especially in the exteriors), but he does seem to give thought to the ergonomics of interior space (e.g. the placement of windows in the school or the inclusion of a slide in a staircase).
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 10:16 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is great and inspiring. I feel like beauty and variety are actually important human needs that too much of contemporary architecture ignores. I definitely want more reminders to be present with the sensory physicality of the world, more invitations to imagination and even to awe.

And what he said about the annexation of Korea being like an amputation and one response to amputation is to create a new limb that looks like anything was a really striking, interesting metaphor. Makes me think of the concept of post-traumatic growth.
posted by overglow at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

(The video wasn't working for me, so if anyone want so to see some pictures of his work, quite a few can be seen here.)
posted by dendritejungle at 11:45 AM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

Whenever an architect buildings are called "playful", the engineer in me automatically translates that into "expensive, hard to build, and hard to maintain". There's a reason why buildings aren't playful. They're fundamentally serious undertakings.

I recognise I'm making a Chesterton's fence argument here, but I've been in too many situations like this one.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:04 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I would say, sure, there's a cost to certain styles of buildings. There's also a cost to maintaining parks and gardens and historical sites and museums--if we only considered purely utilitarian facets in our structures and cities, the world would be a much more drab place.
posted by overglow at 12:37 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

True, but we maintain parks and gardens because of their functionality, not their style.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:47 PM on June 20, 2018

I love playful buildings like this. Would so love to live in one of them.
posted by arcticseal at 1:05 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I love these! Thank you dendritejungle for posting the link to pictures.

This house called 's_mahal' is my Jetzons meets mid-century modern DREAM HOUSE. I would hang out in the upper prayer room/observation space all-day.
posted by sweetjane at 1:11 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

True, but we maintain parks and gardens because of their functionality, not their style.

Nope, we maintain parks and gardens because they make people happy.
It's the same reason not all buildings are featureless rectangles made out of concrete blocks.
posted by signal at 2:14 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Awesome! I really enjoyed the video; his thoughtfulness really comes through, and that amputation metaphor's going to stick with me.

I also love that he cites Star Wars, Legos, and robots as part of his formal language of architecture.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 4:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]