inside numen / for use’s strange spaces sculpted from tape and tensioned nets

dreamlike spaces that shift under pressure

Numen / For Use is a design collective working across Europe and internationally, known for building inhabitable installations from tape, netting, and tensioned textiles. Their projects turn existing spaces into elastic environments that shift under the presence of the body.

Stepping into one of these installations, the ground gives slightly, the surface pulls back, and the surrounding volume adjusts in response. Movement leaves a trace for a moment, then disappears as the material resets. That exchange between body and structure is at the core of the studio’s work. Space is continuously re-shaped by those moving through it, and leaves the impression of a dream that takes form through motion 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 named Numen / For Use, the collective formed 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 work that moved beyond product design into conceptual and spatial territory. That split remains productive. One side maintains a discipline of construction and logic, while the other allows experimentation to expand into architecture, scenography, and installation.

Early projects focused on stripping objects down to their essential conditions. Function was set aside, and form was treated as a system rather than a solution. This approach continues across their installations, where the question shifts from what something does to how it behaves. In that sense, their work carries forward a modernist interest in structure while loosening its attachment to fixed outcomes.

String Bratislava, Slovakia, 2019. image © Numen / For Use

shaping conditions instead of outcomes

Numen / For Use’s process begins with subtraction. Elements are reduced until only the necessary lines of force remain. From there, a framework is established that can respond to use rather than dictate it. This produces spaces that change through occupation, where movement generates form rather than simply passing through it.

In projects like Void in Seoul (2017), a suspended textile path opens and closes around the visitor. The body creates a temporary cavity that travels with it, while the space behind quietly resets. Orientation fades, and perception shifts toward sensation alone.

Net Prostoria, Meštrović Pavilion, Zagreb, Croatia, 2021. image © Numen / For Use

surfaces in tension create floating landscapes

Tape, netting, rope, and technical textiles recur throughout the work of Numen / For Use. These materials are chosen for their capacity to stretch, sag, and maintain tension across distance. Their visual lightness carries structural intensity, allowing large volumes to emerge from minimal means.

In Tape Paris at Palais de Tokyo (2014), layers of adhesive film wrap around concrete columns and extend outward into a continuous surface. The structure grows through accumulation, each pass of tape reinforcing the next. The process recalls a form of spatial recording, where a single line thickens into an inhabitable volume. Visitors move through cavities formed by that buildup so that the material can be understood as both surface and structure together.

The Net Pavilion (2021) in Zagreb evolves this logic by translating a furniture concept into a public structure that supports collective use. Here, a steel framework 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 at different levels, creating a layered field of activity that changes throughout the day. The installation operates as an extension of public space, offering an alternative way to inhabit 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 project. Participation is structural, since the installation depends on occupation to activate its spatial logic. Balance, hesitation, and adjustment become part of the architecture itself.

Tube London (2019), created for a car park during London Fashion Week, demonstrates this collective dimension. Hundreds of visitors climbed through a suspended net over several days, transforming the installation into a shared terrain. Each movement altered the field for others, creating a continuous feedback loop between individuals and the larger system. The space becomes a social instrument, 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 beneath the stage and expands into a shifting landscape behind the actors. Its scale and movement translate the internal state of the character into a spatial condition that evolves throughout the performance.

This approach carries into their installations, where atmosphere plays a central role. The environment communicates through texture, light, and motion rather than representation. Space becomes a medium for emotional states, capable of holding tension and release in a way that aligns with the logic of a dream.