In September 2024 studio HB and the design kollektiv were appointed to deliver two major interventions in the Maritime Museum’s day-lit central atrium. This popular visitor space, now renamed and reimagined as Ocean Court. The role encompassed creative direction of two distinct projects, commissioning, graphic design and production management. Working closely with the Maritime Museum’s Design and Curatorial teams we were closely involved in workshops, sampling, testing and going to site throughout the installation process.

Motae - new painted installation

We commissioned award-winning illustrator Yehrin Tong to create a wall-based installation across multiple and, in places, non-connected surfaces in the Maritime Museum’s visitor entrance and the interior walls of the Ocean Court. ‘모태’ (Motae) is a Korean term meaning 'Mother Earth' or 'from the womb'. It evokes the idea of the ocean as the primordial source of life and energy. The graphic approach is abstract and use scale, repetition, dynamic shapes, colour, forms and gestural marks to achieve the oceanic effect. As visitors move through the space they experience moments of calm and moments of intensity as if feeling pushed or pulled by a great wave. They might sometimes feel half in or out of the water, or as if standing on the shoreline, looking at the ocean’s surface or the horizon. The ocean carries the voyager as it circulates, shunting and shifting around the venue. From the entrance, interconnecting cogs of dynamic eddies swirl and spin towards the Ocean Court. Reaching the mezzanine reveals a giant whirlpool: a dramatic optical vortex that leads to waves cascading on either side of the court. Standing within the cross section of the 'Blue Machine', you are at the heart of the planet’s life support system.

The Ocean Map

For the second intervention we were appointed to create a new floor-based map of the ocean (measuring 26m x 15m) for the Ocean Court. Renowned cartographers Lovell Johns were selected to create the map, working closely with studio HB who was responsible for creative direction, graphics, iconography and illustrations. 

The Ocean Map is a giant, 440m2 floor map that turns our view of the world inside out. While most world maps focus on countries and continents, the Ocean Map is all about water. At first glance it looks strange: land mass disappears, familiar features break apart and solid ground shifts. The world map we’re used to seeing is  known as the ‘Mercator projection’, is just one way of mapping the world. It’s a type of map that prioritises land at the expense of the ocean. The Spilhaus projection for the Ocean Map does the opposite. Instead of several separate bodies of water, the map shows us that there is in fact one vast ‘world ocean’. This interconnected system is the hidden driver behind all life on Earth. 

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Studio HB is currently working on the redesign and current object interpretation graphics located all around Ocean Court by bringing the overall visual identity in line with the new tonal and interpretation approach currently developed for the ocean map. 

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