Creatives are always in need of inspiration to generate ideas, but sometimes the world can be a little over stimulating. This is when it becomes necessary to find a space without too many visual cues to get thoughts in order.
Korean architecture practice M4 has made a space that fulfills this purpose while at the same time evoking the desire for a second glance. They were commissioned to create “creative critic space” called Saiji+Kama at the Moonji Cultural Institute in Korea. The room is meant to act as an informal meeting and resting space in the form of a café for artists at the institute; and also as an archive. The space is only a little more than a shell, as if it was started and money ran out halfway through and so it was just left as is. The concrete beams, ceiling and some of the floor are exposed and untreated. One of the walls has its concrete bricks visible while the other walls are finished in no-fuss whitewashed plaster. Untreated pine was used to create bookcases and the bar for the café. Both seem to consist only of their structural skeletons, as if still a work in progress. The bar especially has been clad on the inside with grey, emphasizing the diagonal struts keeping it up. The bookcases are formed in a grid of evenly spaced boxes displaying books. Lighting is provided primarily by fluorescent tubes, laid on the diagonal, contrasting with the right-angled furniture.
By keeping materials and finished simple and built-in furniture stripped to its barest form, M4 has created a pure space. A space to exchange ideas and let your thoughts come together.
