HYPERSPANDREL SOLUTIONS AND ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES

Toronto, Seoul, Atlanta
+82 (010) 2439 1144
mail@hyperspandrel.com


ABOUT

HYPERSPANDREL is a architecture and design studio.


HYPERSPANDREL is an architecture and design studio. We create fantastic spaces that are fun to clean and easy to ventilate. This is because while we, like most people, crave intricate interior decors, dramatic architectural blurring between inside and outside, and displays of exotic materials, when we actually do encounter them, we can’t help but think – “man these spaces are almost too perfect for our messy bodies”. We mean, the most beautiful porcelain bathtub is marred by body hair after the shower. Sorry to sound like a party-pooper: we don’t mean to invalidate any architecture by fussing over some dirt. For us though, mopping, sweeping, scrubbing, and disinfecting are not only tedious chores, but a spatial act that delineate the pristine and the unpolished. As much as we like to consume space, we also need to spend copious amounts of time in its upkeep. This fact, which Modernism seeks to hide from view, is a hidden corporeal joy, and one which we feel we need to embrace. Maintenance is thus a fundamental domain of architecture; it’s constitutive act. We are interested in exploring and agonizing over the rituals of everyday maintenance, and how they inform the spaces that we inhabit.  


GENESIS. IN THE BEGINNING...

Hyperspandrel began as a joke.
The name was originally conceived in 2017, for several reasons:

a. Being an Asian, we could not use our last names. “ Chon Lee Chow Studio” would easily be confused as local Chinese restaurant.

b. It deviated from the epidemic of using three-letter acronoyms or generic catch-phrases like BUREAU or OFFICE.

c. “Hyper” added that extra pizazz, just like Hyperdrive, Hyperspace, Hyperreality, Hyperbeam. 

The name remained inside a Google spreadsheet, then later as a placeholder Instagram account, until it became registered as an official legal entity in 2020, as pipeline of real work became associated with the name. The entity exists as a fluid network of loosely committed alliances forged in between emails, Google Hangouts, coffee sessions that ultimately accomplish sophisticated architectural and design insight. Current accomplices are Jaewoo Chon and Antariksh Tandon.

In September 2021, we will be participating in the Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism, and will showcase, Coats for Philly, and The Rest of America. It will explore the possiblities of the facade(both as object and as processes) swollen to the inhabitable scale.

We are an emerging office, and we are excited to work and collaborate with those who are equally passionate about design. If you are bold enough to entrust us on a project or would like to collaborate with us, please reach out at mail@hyperspandrel.com