installations by Studio Heech celebrate Korean Pavilion’s 30 years
Part of the Korean Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale, Time for Trees by Heechan Park + Studio Heech presents a series of spatial installations and sensing devices marking the pavilion’s 30th anniversary. The project explores the evolving relationship between the architecture of the Korean Pavilion and the surrounding trees within the Giardini della Biennale, framing this interaction through visual, auditory, and spatial means.
The installations, ‘A Shadow Caster,’ ‘Giardini Travelers,’ and ‘Elevated Gaze 1995,’ operate as observation tools, offering a framework to perceive how the pavilion coexists with its natural surroundings over time. Emphasizing the pavilion’s original integration into the site without displacing any trees, the project highlights the long-term coexistence of built form and landscape. Rather than treating architecture as separate from nature, the installation acknowledges both as equal components in the spatial composition of the Giardini. Developed through collaborations with various Korean workshops, the work reflects on the logistics and implications of constructing international exhibitions. It also addresses the broader conditions of biennale production, positioning the project as both site-responsive and globally connected. Unlike the closed typology of white cube exhibition spaces, the Korean Pavilion remains visually and spatially open to its surroundings. The installations within are designed to interact with environmental conditions such as light, shadow, and sound, reinforcing the role of time and place in the experience of architecture.
Time for Trees celebrates the Korean Pavilion’s 30 years | all images by Yongjoon Choi unless stated otherwise
Time for Trees showcases three site-specific spatial installations
‘A Shadow Caster’ is a site-specific spatial installation that allows visitors to read and experience the shadows cast by the trees around the Korean Pavilion. The work captures the patterns, shades, and subtle movements of the surrounding Giardini environment, evolving with time, seasons, and changing climate conditions. Visitors experience the relationship that the Korean Pavilion has with the vegetal and topographic conditions
Created by Studio Heech’s team in collaboration with a woodworking shop and a metal workshop in Seoul, the ‘Giardini Travelers’ are structural and modular architectural devices created for site-specific events and rituals at the Venice Biennale. Moving through various national pavilions of Giardini, they explore and celebrate the rich and intriguing histories connected to the surrounding trees and natural environment. These adaptable modular trusses can function as an observation deck, ladder, bench, seating area for visitors, stage for special events, or a setting for temporary exhibitions. In particular, in this exhibition, they are used as a ladder and bench, allowing visitors to experience the stories created through relationships with the surrounding trees. ‘Giardini Travelers’ remains an ‘artwork’ that, even in the 21st century, must be created on the other side of the globe and embark on a long journey to Venice. It serves as both a ritualistic tribute and a critical inquiry into the efforts and dedication of those who create national pavilions every year, as well as the long-standing history and traditions of the Biennale.
‘Elevated Gaze 1995’ is inspired by the quote ‘free independence of the human gaze, tied to the human face by a cord so loose, so long, so elastic that it can stray, alone, as far as it may choose,’ from Marcel Proust’s ‘In Search of Lost Time, Swann’s Way.’ In this passage, the human gaze moves freely and independently, experiencing its surroundings. Through this piece, visitors transcend the limits of their own gaze, rising higher to take in the landscape of the Giardini and the sounds of trees and forests. The long-standing story created by the equal symbiosis of architecture and trees in the Giardini is reinterpreted and shared with visitors through ‘Elevated Gaze 1995.’ The exhibition’s title, ‘Time for Trees,’ draws from Sufi Boise’s essay of the same title in Architectural Review (April 2023).
the project explores the relationship between architecture and surrounding trees in the Giardini
three key installations frame the dialogue between built form and landscape
‘A Shadow Caster’ captures the movement and seasonal changes of tree shadows
visitors engage with environmental patterns created by nearby trees
light and shadow define a shifting spatial experience around the pavilion
the human gaze moves freely and independently, experiencing its surroundings
each installation interacts with sound, light, and time to frame natural processes
the project acknowledges the equal presence of nature and structure in the Giardini
‘Giardini Travelers’ are modular structures built for observation and interaction
project info:
name: Time for Trees
architect: Heechan Park – Studio Heech | @studioheech
venue: Korean Pavilion, Giardini, Venice
dates: May 10th – November 23th, 2025
digital interaction collaborator: Yoosuk Kim (RGB lab)
fabrication coordinator: Il Park (Design Lab)
technical advisor: Junhyuk Park, Junghoon Kim (Archi Terre)
fabricator: KD-Art, Catharsis, RGB lab
project assistant: Yurim Kim (Studio Heech)
photographer: Yongjoon Choi, Yongbaek Lee
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom
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