Young Architects Program International

Hydrologic House takes on the form of an array of Korean traditional doorframes. The frame had been a tool for communicating with people and understanding the environment for our ancestors, who emphasized a harmonious life with others. One of the most popular Korean traditional frames, Ti-sal, not only gives the space the uniqueness of Asian tradition, but also deals with fluidity that defines the physical behavior of natural phenomena that the installation will sense and react to. As Korea has a long monsoon season during summer, rain is an overwhelming environmental phenomenon. The installation will capture fog data that is tangible. The main space consists of two boxes covered by Ti-sal,. Each box deals with two scales of information: global and local (Seoul) data. Funnels at the roof collect rain and supply it to the pool below. Based on precipitation in real time, the fog degree is controlled dynamically.

The walls are 100% recycled post-industrial particle board, of which the manufacturer is the main partner of the "cycling resources" campaign led by the Korean Ministry of Environment. Each 700 x 70 mm panel is fabricated using a cutting‐edge procedure of digital parametric modeling and a computer‐numerically‐controlled machine.

Hydrologic House utilizes processing, the open-source visualization software, to create a data visualization that connects to Yahoo Weather, NASA Earth Observation (NEO), and Twitter APIs. Combined, this software displays the data in fog’s behavior. Visitors interact with Hydrologic House using Twitter to send messages to @MMCAhouse, the wall’s unique Twitter handle, which changes the global weather feed.