Third Place Winner
A Day, As Usual
Design by
Ju Yeon Hong & Seo An Park
Jury Critique
“An empathetic and poetic design that translates the daily life of visually impaired people into a rich, multi-sensory experience, using spatial narrative and environmental cues to foster understanding and reflection.”
Ju Yeon Hong & Seo An Park
Ju Yeon Hong and Seo An Park graduated from the Department of Interior Architecture and Design at Kaywon Arts University in Korea and are currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree through an intensive major course in Architectural Interior Design. Since the beginning of their studies, they have collaborated on nearly every project, strengthening their teamwork by balancing responsibilities and complementing each other’s strengths.
Juyeon excels at quickly identifying and articulating the core of a concept, while Seo An enriches each project by adding depth, structure, and a distinctive sense of character. Their complementary skills create a strong synergy, consistently elevating the quality of their work.
In both studio classes and competitions, they strive to view space from unconventional and engaging perspectives, enabling them to produce original and expressive architectural outcomes. With this shared vision, they aim to continue exploring forms, spaces, and unique spatial sensibilities in their future work.
Celebrating Creativity & Vision
Winner’s Spotlight: An Exclusive Interview
Discover the story behind the victory — from concept to creation.
1. Concept & Inspiration
What inspired your concept for “Beyond Sight,” and how did you approach the challenge of designing for non-visual sensory experiences?
We envisioned a future museum where anyone, regardless of visual ability, could deeply experience art, and we contemplated a design direction focused on non-visual senses. During this process, an interview with a visually impaired person became a major starting point: “We may not see with our eyes, but we perceive the sounds, smells, and textures of daily life more vividly than anyone else.” We were deeply inspired by how a visually impaired person's day breaks free from the sight-centric experiences we take for granted, instead perceiving time and space through diverse senses like touch, hearing, and smell.
The project began with the question: ‘How do visually impaired individuals perceive time?’ We architecturally reinterpreted how touch, hearing, and smell shape the flow of a day and spatial awareness when sight is excluded. We aimed to expand empathy and understanding by exploring a day read through senses.
We sought to view the world of non-visual senses not as a ‘special experience’ but as ‘their very ordinary day’. This perspective was the core of “Beyond Sight – The Blind Experience”, and our goal was to enable people to directly experience the sensory beauty hidden within everyday life through space.
2. Empathy in Design
How did you immerse yourself in the perspective of the blind and visually impaired while developing your design?
To understand the perspective of the visually impaired, we began by emptying our visual perceptions and preconceptions about them. Recognizing that their daily lives are no different from ours, we sought to convey our thoughts through space. We experienced firsthand how spatial awareness changes and how multisensory imagery, balance, and sense of direction shift by walking through familiar spaces with our eyes closed. We adopted this sensory framework as the core principle for spatial composition.
During the design process, we minimized visual information and researched structures where touch, hearing, and smell could substitute for time and direction. We linked each time period of the day with corresponding senses, enabling users to follow the daily flow of a visually impaired person. The design process intentionally excluded visual information, exploring how senses could convey the passage of time. By constructing sensory experiences corresponding to each time period, we created a flow where users could ‘experience living’ a day in the manner of a visually impaired person. Changes in floor texture, natural sounds, and variations in temperature and scent serve as devices to guide movement without sight, while also acting as metaphorical elements prompting reflection on our narrow visual perspective.
The long concrete structure partially buried underground and its internal V-shaped path serve functional purposes while symbolizing users' attitudes expanding from narrow perception to broader understanding. This conveys the message that while we cannot fully comprehend the life of a visually impaired person, spatial experience allows for deeper reflection.
3. Sensory Experience
Which sensory element—touch, sound, smell, or spatial awareness—played the most significant role in your concept, and how did you integrate it architecturally?
Just as we don't rely solely on one sense in our daily lives, this space is designed to evoke ‘multisensory imagery’ in users. During our research, we confirmed that even visually impaired individuals without residual vision can detect light intensity. Based on this, we strategically placed various sensory elements—such as humidity, scent, temperature, wind, and decibel levels—that respond to time alongside brightness changes. This setup aims to create an experience most closely resembling their perception of a day.
Among these, touch and hearing played the most crucial roles. To enable users to navigate the space without sight, we employed tactile language through floor textures, material contrasts, and surface temperature differences. Simultaneously, we integrated auditory information—such as natural sounds, white noise, and spatial reverberation—into a structure that conveys time and directionality. This allows users to naturally sense “where they are” and “what time it is” even with their eyes closed.
The core of this project was designing the entire route—from the cool dawn air at AM(6:00) signaling the day's start to the end of the day at PM(22:00)—as a single sensory ‘time map’. Textured blocks, similar to tactile paving, function as devices guiding balance and direction, while daily temperature variations and airflow changes allow users to directly experience the constantly shifting environment. These elements combine to create an architectural experience where one can intuitively read the space's atmosphere, direction, and the flow of time without relying on sight. Through this, we gain a deep understanding of their daily lives.
4. Accessibility & Inclusivity
What strategies did you use to ensure your design promotes accessibility and inclusivity for people of all abilities?
We define accessibility and inclusivity not as ‘tailoring for specific users,’ but as creating an environment where everyone can equally engage their senses. To achieve this, we minimized visual cues from the very entrance of the space, ensuring everyone stands on the same starting line where they can focus on their senses without relying on sight.
The mechanism for reaching the pinnacle of this space was to place visitors in the same environment as visually impaired individuals. Instead of relying on handrails or guide signs for safe movement, we introduced a textured floor pattern inspired by tactile paving, allowing visitors to naturally read direction without sight. We also maintained a simple, intuitive, obstacle-free circulation path, making the space predictable even without visual information.
This structure is not merely an assistive device for the visually impaired, but a way for all visitors to understand and experience the space sensorially. By providing an experience of perceiving time and finding one's way through spatial awareness via touch, sound, and smell, independent of specific abilities, it was designed so that accessibility and inclusivity naturally function as the fundamental principles of the space.
5. Innovation & Materials
Were there any innovative materials, technologies, or spatial techniques you used to enhance the sensory experience?
Instead of adding flashy technology to enhance sensory experiences, we chose a strategy of subtraction. While the exterior appears rough-hewn, the interior required more meticulous sensory design than any other space to embody ‘the changing day’ within its elongated path. Rather than complex ornamentation, the inherent properties and contrasts of materials themselves became the key tools for sharpening the senses.
The temperature variations created by the partially buried mass, the tactile contrast of floor textures, the details of soundproofing materials that modulate the space's resonance, and natural materials that absorb scent all functioned as sensory devices, concretely shaping the atmosphere of each time period. Furthermore, elements like the Texture Path, layered natural sounds, variations in spatial density, and controlled temperature, humidity, and light levels served as a kind of ‘sensory interface,’ enabling users to perceive the passage of time even without visual cues.
Outwardly simple, the innovation of this project lay in densely designing subtle sensory shifts throughout the entire space. Its defining feature was the attempt to transform the material properties of the materials and environment itself into sensory techniques and connect them to emotion, rather than relying on special technology.
6. Challenges & Learnings
What was the biggest challenge you faced during the design process, and what did you learn from overcoming it?
The greatest challenge was understanding the environment of visually impaired individuals, which we had never personally experienced. We needed to first set aside our sensory habits, which had taken the visible world for granted. To achieve this, we repeatedly conducted experiments where we walked through familiar spaces with our eyes closed, at different times of day.
This experience became a decisive turning point in determining the design direction. Ultimately, we completed the project by focusing on architecturally reinterpreting the shifts in sensory perception from dawn to night, creating a structure that allows one to read the space without relying on sight. This challenge taught us that sensation itself can become a crucial language for composing space.
7. Emotional Impact
How do you hope visitors—both visually impaired and sighted—will feel or experience the space when they interact with your design?
What we wish to convey through this space is not mere observation, but an experience of fully immersing oneself in the day through the senses. For the visually impaired, we hope it becomes a time when familiar senses expand with heightened clarity. For the non-visually impaired, we hope it becomes a moment to encounter anew the worlds of touch, sound, and scent that are often overlooked in daily life.
Ultimately, we aspire for this space to be a place where everyone, regardless of visual ability, can connect and immerse themselves through their senses. We hope each person can read time at their own pace, understand the day through their senses, and feel the subtle emotions and communion arising between themselves and the space.
Furthermore, this space carries a message: to foster empathy and understanding for the visually impaired and their community, and to break down barriers to empathy and understanding through the senses. As the competition title suggests, we hope you will experience and feel the richness and depth of the unseen world—Beyond Sight—through your senses and this space.
8. Future Vision
How do you see the role of sensory architecture evolving in the future, and what message would you like to share with designers exploring inclusive design?
We believe sensory-focused architecture will play a crucial role in expanding inclusivity moving forward. As technology advances, visual information intensifies, yet people simultaneously crave experiences that allow them to deeply perceive space through other senses. If architecture embraces sound, touch, temperature, and even scent, more people will be able to interpret spaces in their own unique ways. This is because even subtle changes in texture or the flow of sound can significantly expand a space.
We believe sensory architecture can offer comfort and a liberating experience to more people. We envision that as these efforts accumulate, a future will emerge where spaces can be interpreted in increasingly diverse ways.
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