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naïve practice reimagines 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 a designer and researcher exploring informality and uncertainty in architectural construction. His areas of interest include material-based design, digital fabrication, and the relationship between labor and technology. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, and director of architecture design studio naïve practice.

He previously worked at the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT, Link Arkitektur in Oslo, Kjellander Sjöberg Arkitektkontor in Stockholm, and BIG in NYC. Kim holds a Master of Science in Architecture Studies degree from MIT and a B.Arch from IIT.

In other words, I design, research, and teach.