March 3rd, 2010 | By: 
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Element house – Sami Rintala
Project: Element House
Architect: Sami Rintala
Landscape Architects: Eedo Space Architectural Design, Seúl, Republic of Korea
Location: Anyang Park, Anyang, Seúl, Republic of Korea
Construction Date: October-December 2005
Finish Date: January 2006
Constructed Area: 72sqm
Client: Anyang City / Public Art Project
Collaborators: John Roger Holte, Artist, Norway; Finnforest, Wood
Photography: Park Wan Soon, Emil Goh
This architectural structure, situated in a river valley marking an edge of a forest park and the Seoul metropolitan area, is made to offer a shelter and an experience for all senses to the people on their way to nature or returning back to city; it is an invitation space for the users of the Anyang Resort.
The larger main space is a cubical space made of steel. It leads to four smaller wooden rooms situated in four different levels, from a cellar to an attic. Each small space includes a suggestion for use and the symbolic presence of one of the basic elements (fire, water, air, earth). The chosen main materials, rusty steel and wood, imitate the colors of the surrounding nature.
In one of the rooms is an art work made of colored concrete by Norwegian artist John Roger Holte. The project wishes to create an inner world where memories and even dreams may have their moment and place. It is bringing together an archetype of a house, movement in space and the expression of four basic elements into a three-dimensional collage.The Element House is made for passers-by who wish to halt, rest and make their own understanding and use of a simple space made of matter and light. This architectural structure, situated in a river valley marking an edge of a forest park and the Seoul metropolitan area, is made to offer a shelter and an experience for all senses to the people on their way to nature or returning back to city; it is an invitation space for the users of the Anyang Resort.
The larger main space is a cubical space made of steel. It leads to four smaller wooden rooms situated in four different levels, from a cellar to an attic. Each small space includes a suggestion for use and the symbolic presence of one of the basic elements (fire, water, air, earth). The chosen main materials, rusty steel and wood, imitate the colors of the surrounding nature. In one of the rooms is an art work made of colored concrete by Norwegian artist John Roger Holte.The project wishes to create an inner world where memories and even dreams may have their moment and place. It is bringing together an archetype of a house, movement in space and the expression of four basic elements into a three-dimensional collage.
The Element House is made for passers-by who wish to halt, rest and make their own understanding and use of a simple space made of matter and light.
