Opening Chronometry (이화여대캠퍼스조형물)

Site-Specific Installation, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 2012.08

*Collaboration with prof.Hyundai Kim, Ewha Womans University

Exhibiting at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, Opening Chronometry investigates the new potential of digital tectonics with contemporary computer-aided-design and other manufacturing processes. Designed by Hyoung-Gul Kook and Hyundai Kim, this installation translates the primitive shell structure into a modern pavilion of varying units with maximum optimization.

Installed nearby the front gate of the university, this project was designed to create a symbolic identity for Ewha Womans University, while offering an attraction for the community and tourists. Since the meaning of Ewha is closely associated with the flower, the symbolic representation of the inflorescence was infused with the design concept by a series of rings transforming into double-layered cones. The collective panorama generated by the varying units is a metaphor of the chronometric photographs of the blooming flower. Through the structural analysis of the form, 10 minimal substructures were designed to compliment the pliable polycarbonate shell structure, which is also a metaphorical expression of flower stalks.

As the prototypical units of this installation, the cone-shape unit was devised to simplify 3-dimensional surface structure with three points of load distribution system. A radial grid has been applied to the system to optimize constant proportion of hexagonal assembly, which readjusts the local variation of the whole geometry. Through the collective process from design to fabrication, this project establishes a new analytic mechanism for four inter-related structural elements: grid, density, scale, and load.

Led by professors, and fabricated by the students of Ewha Womans University, this collaborative work was designed for three months as part of academic research in digital tectonics. After two weeks of CNC manufacturing processing, partially assembled pieces were brought on site and built in 14 hours. This structure is composed of 545 pieces of Polycarbonate cones, 2630 pieces of metal rivets, 39 pieces of plywood panels for the base, and 10 PVC pipes for the substructure.