2021
2026

In Through the Out Door : Reimagining the Traditional Korean Architecture Through Light

Konnor Hong

Konnor Hong

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

2021
2026

In Through the Out Door : Reimagining the Traditional Korean Architecture Through Light

Konnor Hong

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

2021
2026

In Through the Out Door : Reimagining the Traditional Korean Architecture Through Light

Konnor Hong

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

The beginning of *Through the Out Door* is marked by a contradictory image: a door that no longer opens. It is taken from traditional Korean architecture, specifically from Hanok, and instead of being a movable boundary between inside and outside, it is statically positioned in a layered form that challenges our perception and understanding of space. The traditional Korean Hanok architecture has more than one function. It not only divides inside and outside space but, through the lattice and the paper, also filters light. This work takes that concept and applies it in a new way. Instead of moving and opening, it is statically positioned and no longer divides inside and outside space through movement and opening, but through light, reflection, and the dynamic positioning of the viewer in space. Within the narrow gaps of the frames, mirrors catch partial views of the surrounding environment-fragments that are familiar, yet rarely noticed. There is light that goes through these materials, through these openings, and reflects off the mirrors, and in that sense, these doors can now open up space. As visitors move through the installation, reflections and illumination shift together, revealing space as layered, unstable, and newly perceived. What once mediated passage between interior and exterior is recast here as an instrument of awareness. Reconfigured as a luminous structure for spatial perception, the Hanok door generates unfamiliar encounters with space and suggests that the old becomes new not by changing what it is, but by changing how it is seen, lit, and experienced.

In Through the Out Door : Reimagining the Traditional Korean Architecture Through Light