LEVITATION
Washington University in St. Louis
Sungho Kim Studio
1/2019-5/2019
In 2015, a Silicon Valley technology company Arx Pax were awarded the patent for (MFA) Magnetic Field Architecture. Arx Pax produced the first commercial hoverboard that floats on air using their patent. Its production can transform structural isolation, recreation, and entertainment, industrial automation, and transportation. This four-year-old company has expanded the technology market within the last two years with endless possibilities of inventions.
Located beside the Chicago River, the project are a full-scale research laboratory and regional headquarters for Arx Pax. it will only accommodate only 50 employees and mainly works as a showcase of the company’s unique technologies.
Physical experimental model: Levitated by the electromagnetic force.
Urban Strategy
Chicago is famous for its iconic skyscrapers, and this project, in some respects, is responding to the context. The project has a cuboid steel frame, symbolically representing typical highrises in Chicago, especially Mies van der Rohe’s masterpieces. This project is like a “gutted” version of Mies’s work, and circulations were brought out as escalators wrapping around the frame. Additionally, the building acts like a watchtower where some spaces stick out from inside to create places for people to admire the city from above.
Programs
The project has three parts. At the top, it’s a laboratory for the company’s researches. which is being levitated by the electromagnetic force. In the middle is a platform where located the mechanical room that contains the force generator. It also functions as a tourist attraction that showcases the company’s cutting-edge technologies. Down to the bottom, It is where the company headquarter is. Besides the main entry hall for employees, there is another lobby outside where tourists can buy tickets and access the escalators to go up.
Sections
Site plan
Escalators' organizations
Streetview
Catalog of different positions of attached escalators