naïve practice imagines architecture as a collaborative ecosystem. We believe the architectural profession has narrowed its scope, creating divisions between design, engineering, and construction that limit the creative potential of building.
Our practice challenges the industrial and legal frameworks that constrain contemporary architecture. Instead of working within these limitations, we understand architecture as a mode of engagement—a dynamic process that brings together diverse voices and expertise throughout the design and construction journey.
Through our architectural research and projects, we engage in a creative and collaborative endeavor that requires active participation and uneasy coordination with various agencies—human and non-human actors that shape the building process.
We embrace this complexity rather than seeking to control it. Our practice thrives in the spaces between disciplines, where friction becomes productive and uncertainty generates new possibilities. By remaining open to the unexpected contributions of all agencies involved, we create architecture that is more responsive, adaptive, and alive.
In other words, we make, think, design, build, and most importantly, we work together.
naive practice LLC, Chicago, 2025.
Kim Il Hwan is an Assistant Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Director of naïve practice, an architecture design and research unit.
Kim explores the interface of construction technology and design, studying old and new building techniques to invent, develop, and reimagine construction methods as design tools. His research focuses on material-based design, construction tools, digital fabrication, and the relationship between labor and technology.
Through naïve practice, he actively designs, builds, and exhibits buildings and products in collaboration with international partners.
He has previously taught at Cornell University and Syracuse University. He gained research experience at the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT and worked at architecture practices including Link Arkitektur in Oslo, Kjellander Sjöberg Arkitektkontor in Stockholm, and Bjarke Ingels Group in New York City. Kim holds a Bachelor of Architecture from IIT and a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT, advised by Skylar Tibbits, Sheila Kennedy, and Mohamed Ismail.
In other words, I design, research, and teach.
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