The Habitare 97 installation was designed by Kivi Sotamaa and Markus Holmsten. It explored the production of a rich spatial and visual experience through innovative configuration of the constituent elements of the exhibition and use of lighting coupled with effect producing synthetic materials. The installation is based on a loose organization of free-floating elements that is presented as an alternative to the normative orthogonal and grounded organizations conventionally employed for design constructs. The different architectural elements are organized according to an imaginary flow through space. Each element is different yet concurrent to the others; together they form a continuous mixture that is freely distributed in space. The continuously shifting relationship between the constituent systems of the installation - people, transparent suspended surfaces, two landscaped ground surfaces, the exhibits, lighting and graphics – produce a rich spatial experience and give people an unusual point of view to the exhibits themselves.

The suspended architectural elements are made of a steel tubular frame that is sheathed with layers of plastic film and the grounded elements are made of veneer with a matte black finish. The use of varying thicknesses of transparent film together with lighting fixtures that mingle over and under the elements, and the movement of the plastic surfaces caused by airflow in the space produced a complex set of “oceanic” visual effects against which the opaque objects stood out.