Table of contents for June 2020 in Space

A gongpo (bracket system) supports eaves that descend to the ground. Eyes remain on the faded dancheong, a traditional multicoloured paintwork on wooden buildings, and the worn and cracked traces left by wind and frost, the rough grain of the wood, and its sturdy structures. The object on the slide during the Korean architectural history class reveals itself to spectators’ eyes. It was initially located in Daeungbo-jeon Hall of Beopjusa Temple, treasure no. 915. If it was still in its original place, would it have been looked at with such a protracted gaze as it is today? Just a few seconds and several touches to take photos with a smartphone camera for a social media post would not be enough to investigate the full details of the object. ‘Collecting Architecture…

The DMZ is a place that symbolises the pain of division that resulted from the Korean War, but it is also a home for local people. On show until May 10, ‘DMZ Landscape, Cheorwon’, an exhibition at the Underground Gallery in the Hotel Yeonnam presented various perspectives of the landscape of demilitarised zone and its residents. The setting of this exhibitionis Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do, where the local residents’ daily lives coexist with the tensions caused by military presence and confrontation. Interdisciplinary researchers and artists from landscape architecture, sociology, and architecture participated in the show to reinterpret the unique scenery and culture of this region through photographs, videos, and models. Showing mountains, plains, and rivers, Cheorwon, Topos, a map spread out on the floor of the exhibition entrance suggests that the content…

Several municipalities recently released the results of design competitions concerning their social overhead capital facilities. On May 6, Incheon announced the winner of an intergenerational mixed-use complex project to be constructed in Seochang-dong, Namdong-gu. The building will be used as a community space designed to encouraging interaction across different socioeconomic strata and age groups, and will include a sports facility, cultural centre, health promotion centre, and a library. Although the project initially got off to a rough start in 2012, when a land purchase fell through and the programme’s profitability was questioned, it was designated social overhead capital this year and rediscovered its momentum. The winning design is usun Engineering & Architecture Co., Ltd (principal, Cho Youngdon)’s submission, entitled ‘The Eoulim Community Center’, which won points for the way it…

COVID-19, New Religious Movements in the Outskirts of Cities Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) has unintentionally exposed the most pressing societal issues and inequalities in many countries around the globe. In Korean society, deep-rooted discrimination has been cast into new light by making distinctions between full-timers and part-timers when distributing masks, and by excluding foreign workers when providing emergency disaster support funds. Another aspect that cannot go unacknowledged is the emphasis on certain religious groups. In the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, there were many media reports that some of the religious sects, most specifically the Shincheonji Church of Jesus (hereinafter Shincheonji) believers were super-spreaders of COVID-19. ▼1 It was also revealed that many of the church’s congregation lived in apartments made exclusive to career women, built on the outskirts of…

Design Requirements for Medical Facilities Medical spaces are visited by sick people, whose needs vary from slight, in the case of common colds, to severe, those on transplant lists or undergoing chemotherapy. Many people fully recover following treatment, but ironically, some become sicker and even die because of the care given to them, from secondary infections or accidents. Thus, architectural design for healthcare spaces must be based on objective scientific facts, instead of the architect’s individual experiences. With this in mind, the American non-profit organization, the Center for Health Design, administers Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) in order to develop processes that accredit architects, healthcare executives, technicians, and researchers as practicing data-driven design. The Korean equivalent is fulfilled by the Medical Planner, who specialises in the design of medical…

‘AU MAGASIN DE NOUVEAUTES’, an exhibition reinterpreting Yi Sang’s poem, the architect and writer, is now on show at Atelier Hermès near Dosan Park. This exhibition featured Jun Sojung’s works completed during her four-month residency in Paris after winning the 18th Hermès Foundation Missulsang. Drawing on the poet’s early works as the basis for her exhibition, she expresses them using a diverse range of media including video, sculpture, and print. The title ‘AU MAGASIN DE NOUVEAUTES’ is the first poem in Yi Sang’s poetical volume Architecture Infinite Hexahedron (1932), which attends to the ways in which colonial capital changed the appearance of Gyeongseong in the 1930s. Jun Sojung interpreted the poem and connects completely different spaces and times through the Mitsukoshi Department Store, a Japanese version of Le Bon Marché,…

Kim Yeram (Kim): The old St. Nicholas Church has been transformed for its new life as Sinan Books. Please detail the church’s historical significance. Yu Ting (Yu): This former Orthodox Church at no. 16 Gaolan Road is the second in a grouping of outstanding historical buildings in Shanghai. It was built in 1932, but has not been used as church for a long time. Over the past few decades, it was used an office space, factory, warehouse, canteen, residential building, and later a club and restaurant. Finally was abandoned and slowly fell into disrepair. Various traces of the additions and decorations made to this old church over its many different lives have been overlaid and integrated as one. Kim: Why was this building chosen as the site most suited to…

Transportation systems have developed to such an extent that it is possible to travel anywhere in the world. Global mobility has enhanced exchange and communication, but the subsequent increase in random contact between strangers has exposed our cities to greater risk of infection. Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is highly transmissible, even in mild and asymptomatic cases. This has raised extreme concern for communal and public places, such as hospitals, schools, and workplaces, and an increased need for new architectural devices that will stem the tide of infection. This report looks to historic respiratory infectious diseases and the responses to them, and to the present the architectural and urban planning responses devised in Korea and abroad to deal with COVID-19. COVID-19 and the History of Respiratory Viruses Even before COVID-19, the world…

Kwak Chulan has created biomorphic furniture and sculpture by bending and knotting wood and metal. Pursuing experiment-centred works on form, he considers himself a form-giver rather than a furniture designer. Choi Eunhwa (Choi): You have presented a series of works under the titles ‘Cursive Structure’ and ‘Cuboid Stroke’. Re-interpreting the design principles of calligraphy, you have created chairs and tables. What prompted you to start these works? Kwak Chulan (Kwak): It is difficult to cite calligraphy as the starting point, as a combination of several factors have influenced on my works. By referring to my college days, I learned to carve forms from a lump of stacked wood. It was not an efficient method, and I found the overall mindset toward woodwork to be rather violent. While pondering this problem,…

There is a newly-coined word ‘JiOkGo’. It is a word that combines banjiha (a semi-basement), oktabbang (a rooftop house), and gosiwon (accommodation for students studying for their exams). This reveals something of the reality of youth housing. Although a housing welfare policy is in place to improve the housing problem for young people, the fact remains that the supply is simply inadequate to fill the demand. Then, how can this problem be solved? How many new buildings can be built to solve this problem? There is a group that proposes the reversal of the idea and to use the existing space. The co-living house startup GUERRILLAZ suggests that we turn obsolete accommodation into residential spaces for young people. The new residential model Guerrilla House of GUERRILLAZ was introduced at Artspace…

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) plans to remodel subway stations along Line 1 – Seoul Station, Jonggak Station, Jongno 3-ga Station, Cheongnyangni Station, and Jegi-dong Station – and has just announced the winning design for the competition held to find the best design solution. Throughout the project, SMG will renew an outdated transportation infrastructure, and breathe new life into these spaces to offer various cultural experiences. Seoul Station will be based on the design by So Wall Architecture & Design (principal, Choi Sunyong) and Kook Hyounggul (professor, Ewha Womans University). The plan adds an outdoor area to the station that connects four different lines to the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, and thereby helps the station to feel airier and more pleasant. The entryway from the direction of the Seoul Station Square…

The Virus, Infection Rates and the City Scenes of panic and confusion in superstores as the last few rolls of toilet paper and bottles of disinfectant are spirited away, empty European plazas following confinement measures, mass burials in Hart Island, New York: these are the startling and shocking scenes witnessed in the months since the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19). After confirmation of the first casein Wuhan, China, in early December 2019, 4.56 million confirmed cases and 310 thousand deaths have been reported worldwide as of mid-May 2020. As the virus continues to tighten its grip, with an impact on our lifestyles that stretches into more than half a year, national responses to the COVID-19 continue to vary widely. India, with its 1.3 billion strong population, has declared a de…

With the present Coronavirus outbreak and rapid adoption of non-face-to-face means of interaction, digital transformation is spreading throughout society. The work-from-home approach has now been reactivated, and the term ‘remote’ has been added to most of our daily activities. A similar shift is evident in the field of architecture. Beginning in the second half of last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government began to hold a design competition for public buildings as using the format of a digital competition. Some construction companies and architectural design offices introduced a system that would remotely manage construction sites to improve the quality of construction and productivity. The design process has been digitised – from hand-drawn architectural drawings and actual models to Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and 3D printing – and the presentations are being delivered…