Model Apartment: The Microcosm (2025)
La Biennale di Venezia di Architettura 2025
<Intelligens: Artificial, Natural, Collective>Β
Invited Exhibitor
Team: Jangmin Choi, and Onejea Lee
Role: Team Leader
Role: Team Leader
The Regenerative Home is not a utopian vision but a reality that already exists. However, the concept has yet to be universally adopted across countries. This project seeks to shift perceptions of regenerative homes through the Model Apateu Living Lab. At the intersection of everyday life and experimentation, individuals are invited to reflect on the essence of apartment living.
The Model Apartment, a variation of traditional model houses, functions as a regenerative living lab. While a typical model house is a simulated dwelling used to promote and sell new apartments, the Model Apartment expands on this idea. Despite criticisms, model houses remain important as residential microcosms, enabling people to envision not only apartments and complexes but also new lifestyles within a single building. Operated as a Housing-as-a-Service (HaaS), the Model Apartment embodies the sharing economy. Residents live, experience, and co-create immersive regenerative homes. Once regenerative lifestyles gain wider acceptance, the Model Apartment will be retrofitted into the next Apartment.
In Seoul, 60% of the population lives in concrete apartment buildings, known locally as Apateu. In Korean society, these apartments symbolize social status and are highly sought-after housing products. With the constant influx of capital, existing apartments are often reconstructed after 30 years, reinforcing the cycle of demolition and rebuilding. Within these complexesβa closed concrete utopiaβresidents enjoy the convenience of meeting all daily needs while remaining disconnected from the outside world. For regenerative living to take root in Seoul, it is essential to confront the limitations of the apartment housing model.
The envisioned future emphasizes the careful realization of regenerative visions rather than the pursuit of novelty. Achieving regenerative futures requires inclusive sharing platforms and collaborative corporate activism to spread ideas and engage individuals. As regenerative homes move from early adopters to the early majority, it is crucial to respect each countryβs unique cultural context rather than relying on conventional multinational approaches. Developing effective strategies and systems to apply regenerative concepts will become increasingly important.
The Model Apartment, a variation of traditional model houses, functions as a regenerative living lab. While a typical model house is a simulated dwelling used to promote and sell new apartments, the Model Apartment expands on this idea. Despite criticisms, model houses remain important as residential microcosms, enabling people to envision not only apartments and complexes but also new lifestyles within a single building. Operated as a Housing-as-a-Service (HaaS), the Model Apartment embodies the sharing economy. Residents live, experience, and co-create immersive regenerative homes. Once regenerative lifestyles gain wider acceptance, the Model Apartment will be retrofitted into the next Apartment.
In Seoul, 60% of the population lives in concrete apartment buildings, known locally as Apateu. In Korean society, these apartments symbolize social status and are highly sought-after housing products. With the constant influx of capital, existing apartments are often reconstructed after 30 years, reinforcing the cycle of demolition and rebuilding. Within these complexesβa closed concrete utopiaβresidents enjoy the convenience of meeting all daily needs while remaining disconnected from the outside world. For regenerative living to take root in Seoul, it is essential to confront the limitations of the apartment housing model.
The envisioned future emphasizes the careful realization of regenerative visions rather than the pursuit of novelty. Achieving regenerative futures requires inclusive sharing platforms and collaborative corporate activism to spread ideas and engage individuals. As regenerative homes move from early adopters to the early majority, it is crucial to respect each countryβs unique cultural context rather than relying on conventional multinational approaches. Developing effective strategies and systems to apply regenerative concepts will become increasingly important.
Model Apartment Elevation
The Model Apartment is a prefabricated structure built with CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber), embodying low-carbon and sustainable strategies. With interiors exposed like a sectional drawing, it showcases experimental lifestyles and functions as a living lab for regenerative living environments.
The Model Apartment is a prefabricated structure built with CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber), embodying low-carbon and sustainable strategies. With interiors exposed like a sectional drawing, it showcases experimental lifestyles and functions as a living lab for regenerative living environments.
Regenerative Living Lab
As a collective design laboratory, Model Apartment invites citizens to explore Seoulβs apartment landscape and imagine its regenerative future. In the exhibition-education center, a full-scale house, architectural models, immersive simulations, and workshops foster collaboration and creativity. Unlike the current top-down housing system, the lab emphasizes participation and continuous feedback.
As a collective design laboratory, Model Apartment invites citizens to explore Seoulβs apartment landscape and imagine its regenerative future. In the exhibition-education center, a full-scale house, architectural models, immersive simulations, and workshops foster collaboration and creativity. Unlike the current top-down housing system, the lab emphasizes participation and continuous feedback.
Model Apartment Unit
In the Model Apartment unit, operated under a Housing-as-a-Service model that embodies the sharing economy, companion robots and augmented reality (AR) technology actively monitor and guide residents by providing information about the materials, origins, and carbon emissions of everyday objects, as well as the impact of daily lifestyles. This helps residents reduce carbon emissions related to their daily necessities, while fostering regenerative habits in terms of energy, food, and personal belongings.
In the Model Apartment unit, operated under a Housing-as-a-Service model that embodies the sharing economy, companion robots and augmented reality (AR) technology actively monitor and guide residents by providing information about the materials, origins, and carbon emissions of everyday objects, as well as the impact of daily lifestyles. This helps residents reduce carbon emissions related to their daily necessities, while fostering regenerative habits in terms of energy, food, and personal belongings.
Model Apartment's model kit allows visitors to propose their own apartment units. By assembling CLT wall panels, modular floors, windows, and furniture components, users can estimate various environmental metrics, such as the carbon footprint over a building's life cycle. This process activates collective intelligence, potentially making a significant impact on addressing the climate crisis.