About
Root Bench is the realisation of a winning entry for an art competition in the South Korean capital Seoul. It is a circular piece of public furniture with a diameter of 30 m that was installed in the grass.
Root Bench shows the dynamic shape of a root spreading throughout the park. The design comes from Yong Ju Lee Architecture.
Hangang Art Park
It provides visual stimulus creating strong contrast to the background of spacious outdoor park. The main concept continued from the winning proposal is that the organic shape sprawling out from the center creates spatial connectivity.
The competition was organised by the Hangang Art Park initiative. Hangang Art Park is continuously engaged in raising awareness of the Hangang River and its riverside areas through competitions and installations.
Algorithm
The art piece designed by computer algorithm presents dynamicity from three-dimensional geometry. The metal frame with concrete footing supports the overall form as main structure and wooden deck covers it. By applying familiar material for finishing, it is easy to use and maintain as a comfort seat.
As well as suggesting complete shape of circle, Root Bench is fused into the grass and blurs the boundary between artificial installation and natural environment. While communicating each other, visitors can feel comfortable in resting space and enjoy the art piece at the same time.
Conclusion
Root Bench is not only art, but also furniture — and people can use this furniture: You can rest with it, sit on it and lean against it. Root Bench offers three different heights: child chair (250mm), adult chair (450mm) and table (75mm). The rhythmical shape can suggest fresh stimulation to Hangang Park and provide various aspects of pleasure.
To articulate spreading-out branch intensively, reaction-diffusion system is applied to design process. This mathematical model describes the change in space and time of the concentration of one or more chemical substances: local chemical reactions in which the substances are transformed into each other, and diffusion which causes the substances to spread out over a surface in space.
Through the algorithm from it, overall radial form is generated with the foreground (installation) merging into its background (grass).
You don’t have to understand that. Loving the project is easier in any case.
We did this.
Project data
Architect
Yong Ju Lee Architecture
Client
Hangang Art Park
Project team
Seung Joon Lee, HyeokJun Dong, Seongmin MoonA
Physical address
302–17 Ichon-dong
Yongsan-gu
KOR — Seoul
Opening
2018
Photograph
Kyungsub Shin, Dae Won Lee, Kyung Mo Choi, Yong Ju Lee Architecture
Author
Johannes Bühlbecker
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