The results of an extensive exploration with shadows, the One Day Poem Pavilion demonstrates the poetic, transitory, site-sensitive and time-based nature of light and shadow.
Using a complex array of perforations, the pavilion’s surface allows light to pass through creating shifting patterns, which–during specific times of the year–transform into the legible text of a poem. The specific arrangements of the perforations reveal different shadow-poems according to the solar calendar: a theme of new-life during the summer solstice, a reflection on the passing of time at the period of the winter solstice. The time-based nature of the poem–and the visitor’s time-based encounters with it–allow viewers to have different experiences either seeing a stanza of the poem or getting the whole poem. All of these possible experiences are equally valuable and have meanings unique to the individual. This technique has the potential for producing particular effects and meanings within an architectural environment. Without the use of a source of power other than the sun, this project uses light and shadow to push the boundaries of communication and experiential delight.

description
Using a complex array of perforations, light passing through the pavilion’s surface produces shifting patterns, which transform into the legible text of a poem.
The specific arrangements of the perforations reveal different poems according to the solar calendar: a theme of new-life during the summer solstice. During the summer solstice, the poem will contain the theme of “new life”. During the winter solstice, the poem will be on “reflection and the passing of time.”
The pavilion is reminiscent of a geodesic dome. When daylight filters through the perforations on the surface, a poem becomes revealed on the ground as a projection.
The resulting effect is inviting and magical. Within the pavilion, the poem can be seen between 8 AM and 4PM. The poem consists of 5 lines with each line lasting about an hour. The slowness of message offers us a meditative moment within our hectic lives.

about poem: Sijo
Our life is finite. There are many things we can only do in a certain moment of the life, such as loving, forgiving, giving, helping, etc. Through the poem in the pavilion, I am offering a moment for people to rethink their values about life. In the One Day Poem Pavilion, I delivered a Sijo.
The Sijo is classical Korean poetry that usually explores rustic, metaphysical, and cosmological themes about nature and human life.
The reason why I choose a Sijo is because it has a lot of metaphor. Furthermore, most Sijos don’t have titles on them, since Sijo poets believe that a title prevents readers from creative interpretations and experiences.
This character of Sijo is best fit for the One Day Poem Pavilion which conveys each stanza through the Sun’s movement so that each visitor’s time-based experience allows multiple interpretations of meaning. The Sijo that I have chosen is written by Kim Ch'on-taek (1725-1766) and speaks about the finite nature of human life.
This poem talks about our finite lives and includes profound questions that allow one to be engaged in the message: each individual can create an experience by thinking and meditating upon the meaning of the poem.

future direction
   The One Day Poem Pavilion demonstrates the use of light and shadows to deliver messages with a delightful experience. Light and shadows were the medium I selected for my thesis research. However, other media could be explored to create new methods of communication. Since I used an open-ended experimental study as a methodology, other designer could develop its own mediums.
   An experimental study doesn’t have final and concrete results. It is an open-ended design practice that can lead to other levels inquiry. It is true that experimental study often causes designer to have fear of not knowing what can be created in the process. However, the process of experimental study has its own value for design academia.
   The technique I’ve developed in the process of the One Day Poem Pavilion can be applied to various fields including architectural developments.
   This method can be used in many contexts to create a narrative experience that is engaging and delightful. It can be an artistic environment or a commercial context. Either way, I want to continue to develop this project and hopefully collaborate with architects and other designers from different fields.
   This study has significances in both design academia and our society. For design academia, it shows the importance of interdisciplinary role, how the failure of the study can be used in productive ways and it pushes the boundaries of communication with organic and delightful experience.
  In our society, this project shows the importance of slowness with invented Slow Media.