Perpetual Spring, designed by Obra Architects, was recognized as Best of Best in the Exhibition category, as well as in the Public Space category. The display features a thought-provoking look at the current and future state of climate change.
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The full name is “Perpetual Spring, the Climate-Correcting Machine” and was awarded the Architecture MasterPrize (AMP) for various disciplines of architecture. The project was commissioned by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul and the jury-judged competition aimed to connect outdoor and indoor spaces. As a winning exhibition, Perpetual Spring opened to the public in fall 2019 with the goal of honoring Seoul’s heritage while putting a focus on modern issues, including the state of the environment. The team wanted to engage the public and encourage it to act in favor of the environment in the face of climate change, especially in regard to the impact of cities.
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Perpetual Spring provides a pavilion that is temperature controlled to represent a never-ending spring. Poetically, spring represents hope, new life and change. With that in mind, the designers stated, “the Climate-Correcting Machine presented both a platform for awareness and an invitation to action.” The venue promoted social gatherings with a free space to use for public speeches, club meetings, art, music, lectures and more. Organizers said, “Also featured were talks on issues related to the intersection between the emergency global climate crisis and prospects for the unlikely rise of authentic democratic rule and universal justice.”
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The central placement of the display in the city was meant to expose as many people as possible in a public way, making it a focal point in a highly visible and heavily frequented location.
“The pavilion was disassembled in May 2020 after the closing of the exhibition. It is scheduled for further development and reopening as the public space venue in a model urban agritech community currently in development in Jincheon, approximately two hours outside of Seoul,” reported a press release.
Pablo Castro, FAIA, cofounder of Obra Architects, describes the project intent: “Perpetual Spring is an installation that aspires to artificially perpetuate, into fall and winter, climatic conditions propitious to progressive social change, artificially creating a climate for human interaction, community organization and the debate of ideas: clear skies, pleasant temperatures and abundant flowering greenery. Perpetual Spring is a work of optimism, posing that the current weather crisis affecting the planet does not have to inevitably end in catastrophic global disaster if we organize to take rational care of the planet, our shared home.”
Images via Obra Architects