Catenary Aurora (2017)
Digital Design Studio
Team: Joohyung Lee, Kyungeun Song, Daeun Lee, Jaejin Lee, Sooyeon Kim
Role: Team Leader
Instructor: Hangman Zo
This built project was part of the Digital Design Studio Pavilion Competition. Inspired by indoor camping grounds, our team reimagined a small, obsolete critique room at Seoul National University beneath an aurora-filled night sky, transforming it into a lounge-like space where students could step away from work and rest. Responding to parametric designs that often feel rigid, static, achromatic, and merely ornamentalβas if digital models were copied directly into realityβwe designed a chiffon pavilion in 10 shades of turquoise to embody the auroraβs soft color, light, and form. The installation is simple: brackets are mounted to the ceiling, curtain poles are set in place, and laser-cut fabric pieces are cable-tied at predefined points. Once installed, the fabric naturally forms catenary curves under gravity, revealing a flowing aurora shape that previously lacked fixed form. A total of 508 fabric pieces overlap from three to six layers, swaying and shimmering in the hot-air fanβs breeze to showcase the auroraβs varied and ever-changing qualities.