Play Cruise (2023) | Byun Kyung Min Archive

Play Cruise

2023, Personal Work

Architecture

Design Studio

Do you remember the old banggu-car from childhood? Searching the word brings up images of children full of excitement, running with all their energy driven by pure curiosity. Today’s children, however, no longer venture out in search of fun; instead, fun comes to them in the digital age. Their emotions are shaped by whatever content finds them, often leaving them confined within the glow of a monitor. Play Cruise was conceived as a new kind of banggu-car—a playful vessel to draw children back into the world. From the moment of discovering it, gathering friends, and setting off together, every step is designed to feel like an adventure. The pavilion can rotate freely in any direction, powered even by the small efforts of children through a worm gear mechanism.

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Mechanism Studies

Behind

To realize a moving pavilion, I studied all sorts of mechanisms. For the joints, I used underground 7-Eleven straws… haha.

The more I made, the more I felt the need for a 3D printer. To produce more complex and precise parts, I bought one. Getting it early was really the right choice.

The first time unboxing and running the 3D Benchy test. Back then it took 30 minutes just to print one, but I watched in awe. Honestly, before buying, I thought the printer would handle everything automatically—but not at all. It required lots of study and turned out to be a very sensitive machine.

Through studying things like leveling, bed temperature, nozzle temperature, filament types, print speed, and moisture control, I gradually built up experience in this field.

Looking back now, I could’ve just bought white filament, but for some reason I printed in red and spray-painted it.

A simple booth I made to photograph study models. Just three black foam boards. I could’ve bought black film sheets instead, but I was excited to make even this.

The rotation mechanism. By adjusting gear ratios, I added fun. In Rhino modeling, you can’t actually check how something moves. I tried Fusion 360 too, but its workflow and tools weren’t great for design. If I had to learn something new, Grasshopper + Kangaroo might’ve been a better choice.

With little experience in part printing and not much time to study during finals season, I really made this one in a rough, trial-and-error way. I didn’t know how to give tolerances, so I just printed, then ground or melted with a lighter to fit.

During assembly. My printing skills weren’t great, but even so, the mechanisms for moving such a large pavilion and its way of traveling still look impressive to me.