SO-IL

We think we know architecture. We think that architecture has a vernacular; it has a look, a typical approach. New York base architecture firm SO-IL, has created a new architecture, a language that is fluid, tactile and literally stretching boundaries.

Kukje Gallery, 2012. Seoul, South Korea.

Established in 2008 by Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg, SO-IL is a New York based architecture firm that works beyond the boundaries of New York. This idea of ‘boundaries’ is what triggered my interest in their work.

Architecture is grounded in a heritage stemming from the practical need by us all to protect and establish a base in which to live and thrive. Given this, an architectural design language (both in appearance, use of materials and general conventions) has evolved over the centuries. SO-IL seems intent on redefining that architectural heritage and pushing towards a more abstract representation of form, derived from the idea that space is not linear but morphic and evolving. Seoul art gallery Kukje Gallery stretches a metal mesh veil around itself, extending the gallery building beyond the boundaries of its walls.

Breathe - Mini residence, Milan, Italy.

The Breathe – Mini living residence reads as a infill somehow growing off the adjacent Milanese streetscape. Designed to be disassemble, this home looks as much an installation as a house, an incubator of sustainable ideas, questioning how we can live differently in our cities moving forward.

Logan workplace, New York, U.S.

Perhaps most interestingly is SO-IL’s embracing of non-linear, abstract forms to reflect a tension that is both permeable but also fragile and delicate. Moving away from the grounded, weighty gravitas of traditional architectural expression, SO-IL blurs the line; questioning our preconceived ideas of a shelter and what those elements (including threshold, privacy, texture and form) could be. As SO-IL says in their own words “SO–IL creates spaces and objects for future culture”.

SW.