This year’s UIA World Congress was held in Durban, South Africa, and saw the participation of many well-respected firms. Representing South Korea were Kang Jun Lee and Yung A Kim of Studio Origin, whose pavilion highlighted the city of Seoul. Meant to herald the city as the host for the 2017 World Congress, their carefully arranged design offers space for a number of different promotional displays. See the details on this unique structure, after the break.
The construction of the pavilion is a waffle structure, forming a 6m by 6m by 3.5m exhibition space. It is self-standing, and constructed of shallow beams held together with notches situated every 10mm along each member. This grid structure is reminiscent of Seoul’s street layout. The walls of the pavilion are punctuated by niches in which exhibition material can be displayed. The contrast between these materials, and the semi-transparency of the pavilion walls is meant to represent the dynamism of Seoul as both an old city and a new city. The sides of the pavilion's beams are painted a red-brown color, also representative of the city. Visitors to the installation will be treated to projected images directly onto the waffle-structure walls, creating a direct connection between the content and the architecture of the pavilion.