The Idea of a Wall

RESEARCH BACKGROUND I was invited to be judge of the Korean Institute of Interior Design (KIID) Space Design Award Contest as part of the institute's annual conference hosted in 2016 at Hongik University, Seoul, Korea. The project involved the development of the design brief, the shortlisting of the entries, the in-person judging of presentations made by the top contestants and subsequent awarding of the prizes, the giving of a public lecture as part of the KIID annual conference and the writing of the forward for the exhibition catalogue. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION The project called for a reconsideration of the physical manifestation and role of the wall in contemporary Interior and Architectural design. Traditionally the wall is thought of as the primary tool in the definition of interior space. The brief asked participants to reconsider and rethink the role of the wall and to extend its potential so as to generate new typologies of space. This brief asked for a consideration of the wall beyond its conventional conception as a finite physical boundary and invited approaches in which boundary conditions were understood as complex organisations of fields of sensory information. In this undertaking the choice of site and program of the space in which the wall is situated was vital in defining it's parameters as a spatial device. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE The contest was seen as a hotly contested prize between competing Schools of Interior Design across Korea. The contest attracted over 250 entries from universities across South Korea. From these, ten entrants were asked to present expanded versions of their initial proposals. These presentations were highly refined versions of the design and practice their presentation techniques. Ultimately the quality of the finished proposals, displayed a depth of critical thinking toward social and cultural issues within the act of design and were a testament to the high standard of Interior Design education in South Korea.