Labotory, a design studio based in Seoul, South Korea, has overcome spatial limitations through joyful, free-spirited interpretation and design by pursuing the realization of the space of dreams. Not satisfied with visual aesthetics, the studio uses a unique design language, impression and spatial nuance to express more mature values.
Labotory's Musinsa Standard, a retail space project located in Hongdae district, set up the slogan of "tearing time", interpreting the concept of time in space as their own design language, aiming at eternity.
Musinsa Standard Hongdae consists of one to two floors underground and one anda half floors in the middle. The cycle from the first floor to the present first floor, the future 1.5 floors, the present second floor and the past first basement is expressed as a narrative of time. In particular, the media tower, which runs from one floor underground to two floors above ground, reminds us of the "Rock" in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the same time, it expresses time in three design languages: material, structure and light.
First, over time, from the past to the present to the future, it changes from a rough, tactile material with traces of the past to a smooth metal material, changing the expression of time in each layer. Secondly, through the overlapping and division of the structure of the large and small volumes, the dispersion of time is expressed, and the connection between time is abstractly expressed through the structural form of the staircase.
Third, Labotory expresses light in different ways, which is an element that shows the passage of time. Steel shutters and fabric filters on the ceiling express dreamlike and fuzzy feelings that reveal the present. The direct projection of light rises from the bottom of the 1.5 layer and expresses the past through a layer of light fragments.
- Interiors: Labotory
- Photos: Choi Yongjoon
- Words: Gina