Team B/O reimagines Janghang smokestack as moving sculpture
In the quiet town of Janghang, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea, an unlikely transformation is unfolding. The old chimney of the Janghang Smelter — a major copper refining facility established in 1936 under Japanese colonial rule — has been reimagined as a moving sculpture that rekindles human connection and collective memory. Once a towering emblem of Korea’s rapid industrial growth, the smelter left a complex legacy: while it fueled national development, it also polluted the surrounding environment with heavy metals and dust. The Roaming Chimney, a conceptual project by Seoul-based Team B/O, breathes life into this decommissioned structure, transforming it from a static industrial relic into a living, roaming symbol of shared history and intergenerational dialogue.
all images courtesy of Team B/O
the roaming chimney revives legacy through local memory
Team B/O, led by Jooyong Baek and Seyoung Ok, spent time in Janghang engaging with the local community, especially elders who have lived through the town’s changing landscape. The Korean collective gathered stories in places like Nil Café, the local town office, and Lamp Café, compiling vivid recollections that paint the chimney as more than mere infrastructure. According to residents, it once served as a familiar backdrop to daily life: children played nearby, and some even danced atop its wide rim. These testimonies, carefully documented by the design team, underscore the deep emotional and cultural imprint left by the structure, casting the chimney not only as an industrial artifact, but as a character in its own right.
Yet in the eyes of the younger generation, the chimney has faded into obscurity, becoming an alien monument of a bygone era. In response, The Roaming Chimney envisions the smokestack as a playful, sentient presence. No longer upright or inert, it pauses after decades of nonstop labor, then begins to move — not to pollute, but to reconnect. As it rolls gently through the village of Songrimdonghwa, its curved body becomes both sculpture and storyteller, inviting new encounters with old memories. Through this poetic transformation, Team B/O offers a powerful metaphor for healing, remembrance, and continuity, encouraging viewers to see industrial remnants not as static ruins, but as dynamic vessels of living history.
The Roaming Chimney, a conceptual project by Seoul-based Team B/O
project info:
name: The Roaming Chimney
designer: team B/O (Jooyong Baek & Seyoung Ok)
author site: team B/O (Jooyong Baek & Seyoung Ok)
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