dream spaces that shift under pressure
Numen / For use is a design collective working across Europe and internationally, known for manufacturing residential facilities from tape, net and stretched textile products. Their works transform existing spaces into elastic environments that shift under the presence of the body.
Upon entering one of these facilities, the ground gives way slightly, the surface pulls back and the surrounding volume adjusts in response. The motion leaves a trail for a moment, then disappears as the material returns. This exchange between body and structure is at the core of the studio’s work. The space is constantly reshaped by those who move through it and leaves the impression of a dream which takes form through movement and immersion.
Tape Chatham, The Historic Dockyard, United Kingdom, 2023. image © Thierry Bal and Numen / For use
numen / for use: from industrial design to immersive worlds
Before it was called Numen / For Use, the collective was created in 1998 as simply “For Use”, with a background in industrial design that emphasized reduction and precision. A year later, the name Numen emerged to frame the project that moved from product design into conceptual and spatial territory. This split remains productive. One side maintains a discipline of construction and logic, while the other allows experimentation to extend into architecture, scenography and installation.
Early projects focused on stripping objects to their basic conditions. Function was sidelined and form was treated as a system rather than a solution. This approach continues throughout their facilities, where the question shifts from what something does to how it behaves. In this sense, their work promotes a modernist interest in structure while loosening its attachment to fixed results.
String Bratislava, Slovakia, 2019. image © Numen / For use
shaping conditions rather than outcomes
The Numen / For Use process begins with subtraction. Elements are reduced until only the necessary lines of force remain. From there, a framework is created that can respond to usage rather than dictate it. This produces spaces that change through occupation, where movement produces form rather than simply passing through it.
In projects like Empty in Seoul (2017), a suspended fabric path opens and closes around the visitor. The body creates a temporary cavity that travels with it, while the space behind quietly restores. Orientation fades and perception shifts to sensation alone.
Net Prostoria, Meštrović Pavilion, Zagreb, Croatia, 2021. image © Numen / For use
surfaces in tension create floating landscapes
Tape, netting, rope and technical fabrics recur throughout Numen / For Use’s work. These materials are chosen for their ability to stretch, sag and maintain tension throughout the distance. Their visual lightness carries structural tension, allowing large volumes to emerge from minimal means.
In Paris movie at the Palais de Tokyo (2014), layers of adhesive film are wrapped around concrete columns and extend outward in a continuous surface. The structure grows through accumulation, with each film pass reinforcing the next. The process is reminiscent of a form of spatial recording, where a single line condenses into a habitable volume. Visitors move through cavities formed by this accumulation so that the material can be understood as surface and structure together.
THE Net Pavilion (2021) in Zagreb develops this logic by translating a furniture concept into a public structure that supports collective use. Here, a steel frame carries a network of nets that invite climbing, resting and gathering. The geometry is precise, yet the experience remains open. People move through the structure on different levels, creating a multi-layered field of activity that changes throughout the day. The installation works as an extension of public space, offering an alternative way of inhabiting it.
Net Rovinj, Hotel Amarin, Rovinj, Croatia, 2016. image © Numen / For use
the body as co-author
Numen / For Use places the body at the center of each work. Participation is structural, since the facility depends on occupation to activate its spatial logic. Balance, hesitation and adaptation become part of the architecture itself.
London Underground (2019), created for a car park during London Fashion Week, demonstrates this collective dimension. Hundreds of visitors climbed into a suspended net over several days, turning the facility into communal terrain. Each move changed the field for others, creating a continuous feedback loop between individuals and the larger system. The space becomes a social organ, shaped by simultaneous actions.
King Lear, Peiraios 260, Athens, 2015. image © Aljoša Rebolj and Numen / For use
The studio’s work in theater extends these ideas into narrative contexts. In King Lear (2015), staged in Athens, an inflatable form emerges from under the stage and extends into a changing landscape behind the actors. Its scale and movement translate the character’s inner state into a spatial condition that evolves throughout the performance.
This approach also applies to their facilities, where the atmosphere plays a central role. The environment communicates through texture, light and movement rather than representation. Space becomes a medium of emotional states, able to hold tension and release in a way that aligns with the logic of the dream.
