sukchulmok studio looks to children’s building blocks

SukChulMok Studio places a vast block-shaped building in Daejeon, South Korea, which integrates PTFE tents onto concrete walls, resulting in a space that exudes flexibility and showcases geometric shapes in a fusion of materiality and form. With sweeping interiors, a minimalist palette, and an optical illusion guiding the eye, Curving Block serves as a hub for employee welfare spaces within the baby products industry, offering both relaxation and filming facilities.

The complex’s design concept is a celebration of purity, deriving from childhood memories of building with toy blocks. Further encapsulating this simplicity, the design team limited the materiality to four key elements — red bricks, concrete, PTFE tents, and steel – which enabled them to maintain the integrity of the building’s curving shape and achieve a tent-like interior while concealing functional elements.

Curving Block from afar | all images by Hong Seokgyu

‘curving block’ celebrates simplicity with tent-like interior

Situated in Anyeong-dong, Daejeon, an industrial complex known for its developed logistics and distribution industries, Curving Block emerges as a symbol of communication between spaces. Adjacent to an interchange, the complex is neighbored by numerous factory buildings. In response to the client’s request for a design that facilitates product photography and creative and recreational activities, SukChulMok Studio transformed an empty space between existing headquarters into a multi-functional zone encompassing a private outdoor garden, a high-ceilinged internal hall, and a cyclorama wall which doubles as a product shooting studio.

two entrances formed between curved gaps induce internal and external circulation

to maintain the purity of the shape, the architects stuck to a refined image by hiding functional elements

tents and concrete separated by a height of 3 meters

red brick flooring following the gestures of the building, blurring internal and external boundaries

a space completed with a reference point gives a two-dimensional feel at a particular viewpoint

semi-circular toilet wall made by casting at the same time as the external bar table

the studio interior and a hall with a semicircular arch space

bocking outside light by blackout curtains

inside the studio

floor stand lighting with oval head

project info:

name: Curving Block

architecture: SukChulMok Studio
lead designer: Park Hyunhee

location: Daejeon, South Korea

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edited by: ravail khan | designboom