View of the skulpture at the Hwanho Park, Pohang, South Korea

SpaceWalk

A large-scale climbing sculpture, galvanised steel, stainless steel, LED illumination, grid floor, cement foundations.

(Height x width x depth = 24.6 m x 60 m x 57 m. Length of track: approx. 333 m. Highest accessible point above sea level: approx. 70 m)

© Heike Mutter & Ulrich Genth 2021


------->Press images / Press release
 

SpaceWalk was designed as a spectacular large-scale traversable sculpture for the hills of Hwanho Park in the South Korean coastal city of Pohang. This 333-metre-long, gleaming silver track looks like a rollercoaster when seen from a distance. Seen at closer quarters, it reveals itself to be a winding stair, curving through space in spectacular undulations. Visitors ascend by means of a central access stair, and can then climb along the track in one of two directions. On one side, a gently rising passage awaits, leading to a broad curve at 20 metres above the hilltop. From here, they have a magnificent view of the sea. In the other direction, the walkway leads more steeply upward, as visitors traverse a helix that, seen from a distance, appears to be an exact circle form. Both of these walks feed into a central loop that cannot be walked on and is meant purely to be looked at.

With its dialectic of acceleration and deceleration, this sculpture was developed as a commentary upon the structural transformation of the industrial city of Pohang, and to prompt questions concerning the designing of our future.
At night in particular, the brightly-illuminated walkway appears like a sigil drawn in the sky, appearing to represent different things depending on where one is standing. Thus, the sculpture also references local mythology and a tradition of sky-gazing, and also makes playful use of relativity.

 

Design:
Heike Mutter / Ulrich Genth, (Hamburg, Germany)

Project coordination / Organisation:
The Ton (Seoul, South Korea)

Architects:
3-D parametric planning / geometry, digital planning specialist:
Designtoproduction (Arnold Walz, Philipp Rumpf) (Stuttgart, Germany)

Production planning, local architect and consultant:
9DIRECTORS & COMPANY+9ARCHITECTUS (Seoul, South Korea)

Structural engeneering:
str.ucture GmbH, (Stuttgart, Germany)
The Naeun Structural Engineering co.ltd., (Seoul, South Korea)

Construction, production management, assembly:
PPOSCO E&C (Pohang, South Korea)

Funding: This project is a gift from POSCO to the city of Pohang.