Centreefugal Forest Park

Lab D+H teamed with Lifethings for their Young Architects Program (YAP) 2017 at MMCA, Seoul. The architect questioned about heaviness of past installations which had brought up cost and sustainability issues by using excessive materials and installation efforts. The proposed canopy device ‘Centreefuge(遠心木)’ is a simple mechanical tree-like device using a single motor and eight large leaves made with plastic mesh. The plastic mesh provides just the right balance of rigidity and flexibility for the Centreefuge to bloom only using the centrifugal force from the motor. A simple wind sensor at the top makes sure that the Centreefuge is not in bloom when wind is excessive, making it an independently-controlled module that can easily be adjustable and maintained. These light module devices with thin metal rod trunk and vivid green mesh leaves spread throughout the meseum courtyard and create a forestpark-like environment. In this park, Centreefuges rotate, bloom and fall randomly to create ever-changing shadowscape on the ground. The rotation of the large leaves send gentle, pleasant breeze as a byproduct, a perfect remedy for harsh heatwave of Seoul. Ornamental grasses and grassy groundcovers are responding to the movement of the wind. Visitors can manually rotate and rearrange the benches and platforms around Centreefuges to create their own small park—a game of catch with the shadow and breeze. Landscape areas under the canopy zoned into 4 different micro-climate/tactiltiy areas—dry, wet, course, fine. Tall grasses berm, aquatic plants garden, rock garden, and sand playground are featured landscape elements that enrich experiences of the visitors.