studio in( )ir is a design and research practice based in Los Angeles, CA. Intentionally non-specialized, we believe in the universal language of craft, striving to create both beautiful objects and spaces that endure time. We strive to create meaningful relationships in the community and are always open to engaging important conversations at the intersection of art, design, and architecture.
Inhwan Ivan Tae is a Korean American architectural designer and co-founding principal of studio in( )ir. Prior to founding studio in( )ir, he practiced in New York, Boston, and Providence. Designing immersive spaces with attention to material expressions, he supports his work through processes of making, exploring concepts of cultural multiplicities and material cultures in both built environments and ceramic sculptures. He was a Center for Collaborative Art and Media Studio Fellow.
Ivan earned a Master of Architecture II from Yale University, where he was awarded the William Wirt Winchester Fellowship, and a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Ivan has taught summer programs at RISD, served on various reviews, and is currently Assistant Teaching Professor of Architecture at Ball State University.
Iris Minna Kim is a second-generation Korean American designer and co-founding principal of studio in( )ir. Prior to founding studio in( )ir she practiced in Boston and Los Angeles. Her research and drawings explore the multifaceted identities of diasporic communities, their cultural expressions of identity in the built environment, and the significance of ethnic enclaves. Her drawings have been exhibited as part of the Venice Biennale 2023, and she was awarded the 2024 AWAF Mid-Career Fellowship.
Iris earned a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She has taught at the Wentworth Institute of Technology and served on reviews at many universities including Harvard GSD, USC, Cal Poly Pomona, RISD, WIT, and Roger Williams University.
Located within Koreatown Plaza, Koreatown's largest shopping center, a design-build installation uses approx. 400 customized milk crates to create a flexible, cost-effective, and engaging alternative to traditional shopping mall kiosks. Services include design-build and project management. Millwork provided by Object Space LA.
A contemporary reinterpretation of traditional Korean beauty or 미(美), O.Beem is a new cafe in the heart of Koreatown. O.Beem serving modern interpretations of the traditional Korean flavors in a playful space where past and present Korean design elements coexist. Services provided include interior design and branding.
Transforming a vacant former retail big box into a mixed-use typology that prioritizes visitor experience, the project seeks to propose a series of hybridized programs for a new curated immersive experience. Services provided include: Programming, Schematic Design, and Speculative Design Report
A liminal space, expressive of a hyphenated culture, exaggerates iconographical qualities of two cultures on two facing sides. Together the front facade collaging American-ness and a rear side collaging Korean-ness create an ambiguous but alluded space that is neither distinctively Korean nor American. The liminal space is abstractive and open to all.
An investigation of translations from one's physical experience to memory, memory to digital experience, and back to another's memory, this piece transforms physical rocks to digital media characters. Orbiting in their own time paths, the rocks, three suns, and the viewer are in "intra-action" within the digital world. This piece was exhibited at the "Machine as Medium" Symposium at Yale CCAM, and was published in Retrospecta 45: Yale School of Architecture 2021-22.
Physical elements are translated to the digital space. To what extent is the digital experience impacted? Can we call this a hybrid experience if the process is hybrid but the outcome and experience is purely digital?
InDialogue is a visual synopsis of quantitative and qualitative concerns written and represented during the coronavirus pandemic. Its series of data visualizations and illustrations translate the often overwhelming medical statistics into comparisons and visualizations legible to a larger public, documenting the events, statistics, and protocols that surfaced change consistently during the pandemic. The research was supported by the 2020 Summer Research Fund from Harvard School of Design. Data and statistics research provided by epidemiologist Joyce Pak and computer science engineer Joshua Sungin Park.
A pavilion built of materials found within the studio and host city of Rome, the installation exhibits several pieces by artist Se Young Park. The project investigates the cultural discourse and ambiguity of what it means and feels to be a foreigner, using Roman found materials to create traditionally Korean patterns and sequences.
(12) one inch by one inch concept models are created reflecting memories of specific spaces and elements that define home. Objectified and simplified into one inch pieces, together the (12) inches play homage to collective whole.
materials: clay, paper, wood, metal, foliage, misc. materials
Castelvecchio Calvisio, Italy was hit by a large earthquake in 2009 leaving traces of ruins throughout the old city. Revealing a deep and uncanny underground space, it re-connects what was once a solid home, framing spaces that were once whole. Confined to using found materials, the installation is compiled of stones, bricks, hay, and wood found within and near the home. What was once a simply broken building, is momentarily a framed moment of interaction between light, natural materials, built space, and people.
ceramic plate, mug (small), tea cup (medium), and vase.
Anagama fired clay
Architectural site model, 1/64" scale.
Materials: clay, wood, metal pins
Architectural Building Model, 1/4" scale.
Materials: clay, wood, wood sticks, cardboard