Table of contents for January 2020 in Space

The generation of electricity allowed factories to increase their productivity, and the city evolved into a place in which people could spend more time. Electricity, which arguably marks the dawn of the modern age, has now become an essential resource in our lives. ‘Electric Universe’, which reinterprets electricity as enabling various activities from artistic points of view, was on display until Dec. 13 2019 at Culture Station Seoul 284. The exhibition shows how electricity has expanded all aspects of life and culture over time, contemplating the coincidence of electrical development and historical events. When one enters Culture Station Seoul 284, one is overwhelmed by the large photo of the Seoul Power Station positioned in front of the entrance. Although it is no longer in operation, the oppressive feeling of a…

Ever since it was announced that Seoul Metropolitan Government’s plans to revamp Gwanghwamun Square would be put on hold, a string of public hearings, debates and forums have taken place to discuss the future of the project. One such event was at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History (NMKCH) on Dec. 5, at which a panel of experts engaged in a discussion of the significance of Gwanghwamun Square in Korean modern history. Opening the debates was a keynote speech that revisited Gwanghwamun neighborhood’s experiences and history to suggest the possibility of new research. The presenter, Song Eunyoung (professor, Sungkonghoe University), explained the location’s current landscape through a lens that incorporates the liberal arts, societal conditions and everyday life circumstances stretching back to the 1960s. She emphasised the need for…

In Nov. 2019, Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) revealed that they had selected the design co-submitted by Jadric Architektur ZT GmbH and 1990 urban architecture office as the finalist for the Seoul Photographic Art Museum International Design Competition. This design competition was conducted with the aim of establishing the first photographic art museum in Korea, and the conditions outlined for the building were to express the property and symbolic quality of the photograph, to allow for installation of a media façade and to show consideration towards the surrounding regional context of Changdong and Sanggye. This design competition was conducted digitally. This was because SMG is currently pushing for digital competitions in which all data and documents needed for the public architecture design competition are provided online in digital format. SMG announced…

A shared space project at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), entitled ‘SeMA-Project S’ has been launched. For the next decade, ‘SeMA-Project S’ will be hosted biennially to encourage the dynamic collaborations between artists, architects, graphic designers and audiences. As the first participants to open the event this year, Mire Lee (sculptor) and Han Seungjae (co-principal, FHHHfriends) have transformed the SeMA’s Seosomun main building. Mire Lee is showing a kinetic mobile, ‘Devouring’, suspended from the ceiling that slowly revolves and resembles a shape that’s swallowing multiple objects. Han Seungjae’s work converts the gaping void that runs through the old historic building renovated as the current museum into a ‘mediating space’, introducing a white colonnade as a façade that confronts the former structure and prevents the pre-existing marbled walls from creating…

Samsung C&T Corporation’s apartment brand, Raemian, has launched a new brand concept that will address the lifestyle needs of the millennial generation, named Next Raemian Life. Samsung C&T Corporation has long been at the forefront of the industry’s latest innovations, such as branding for apartments and establishing a housing complex as ubiquitous as an environment. This time, the company has developed the ‘Raemian Virtual Reality Unit Plan Experience Program’ to demonstrate this brand concept. The programme will provide potential buyers with the opportunity to experience individual units via a virtual reality device, and function as a service that can do away with the need for a physical show home. Everyone will be able to wear a head-mounted display that will reveal the interior of their unit of interest, all with…

In June 2019, a gallery and residence renovated by the Japanese architect Sakaushi Taku officially opened. ‘FUJIHIMURO’ is a combination of the city’s name ‘Fujiyoshida’, where the project is located, and the Japanese word ‘himuro’ which indicates the icehouse used in existing buildings. What is noteworthy in this project is the tunnel within the galleries, where the architect engaged in the construction as well as the design. We are joined by the architect to hear more about the project and how he came to realise his vision. Choi Eunhwa (Choi): How did you begin the FUJIHIMURO project? Sakaushi Taku (Sakaushi): The project is a part of a wider town planning project that has been ongoing for about five years. My lab, the Sakaushi laboratory of Tokyo University of Science, has…

The architect Kim Dongjin (professor, Hongik University) compared architecture to a constellation. A work derived from story that connects constantly moving stars in different spaces and times; a work that embroiders a constellation with its own story in the sky; so is the architect’s duty. In Kim Dongin’s three recent works, we are witness to the unique stories that his architecture grants to human life. Let’s follow the course of these three projects: Diaspora, which addresses community life in a rural area, Self Stack_ Flow & Stay, which embraces the aging tree as part of the family, and Patema Inverted which stands tall while lighting up the bustling market of the city.…

The SongEun Art and Cultural Foundation hosts the exhibition of the 19th SongEun Art Award. The SongEun Art Award was established in 2001 to foster new Korean artists. From 2001 to 2010, about ten winners were given accolades, and from 2011, four winners (one grand prize and three winners) were awarded annually. This year, a total of 260 applicants applied and 29 artists who passed the online portfolio screening reviewed one additional entry and finally selected the four winners of SongEun Art Award including Eve Kwak, Hyewon Kwon, Eunsil Lee, and Cha Ji Ryang. First, Eve Kwak presents three-dimensional and installation works that reorganise the reality touching the city, architecture and people. Her new work, Between Small and Large, visualises a scene in life while experimenting with a sense of…

A pond, located in the northern garden of Gyeongbokgung Palace, is in the shadow of a two-storey pavilion in the centre of a small island. Hyangwonjeong, which means ‘the fragrance spreads far away’, is a pavilion in which the King and his family can enjoy the scenery and rest in shady areas. It is believed to have been built between 1867 and 1873, during the building of Gyeongbokgung Palace. Designated as treasure no. 1761 in 2012, it was informed by geometric spatial compositions, such as the hexagonal cornerstone, hexagonal floor plan and six-sided roof, as well as delicately refined architectural elements. Hyangwonjeong is a rare example of a pavilion with an agungi (fireplace). The experts speculated that there was an ondol (Korean floor heating system), but it has never been…

The winners of architectural competitions hosted by central and local governments were recently announced. The Korea Tourism Organization selected the Oceano Resort Hotel in Haenam for the design co-submitted by Apparat-C and todo architects, while the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s International Invited Design Competition for an Ecological and Leisure-Cultural Waterfront Space in Seoul International District (SID) chose the work of NOW Architects, and Seongju-gun decided upon Hyunjoon Yoo Architects as winner of its Simsan cultural theme park. The Oceano Resort Hotel in Haenam is part of a plan to reinvigorate the regional economy by developing the infrastructure for tourism in the southwest part of Jeollanam-do. Apparat-C and todo architects’s joint creation was reviewed by the committee of judges as ‘a design that respects Haenam’s natural environment by assimilating itself into the…

The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) had secured the original sound diagnosis technology to determine the safety of concrete facilities. This technology is a Acoustic Emission that measures and analyses seismic waves via a sensor, and it was co-developed by its affiliated Sustainable Infrastructure Research Center and Acoustic Emission analysis system company Rectuson Co., Ltd. As a type of wave that is produced when a physical thing deforms or breaks, seismic waves are produced when the tendon in a pre-stressed concrete facility is fractured. By analysing the seismic waves in the monitoring stage, one can determine the fractured state of the tendon within the concrete although obstructed from view. Also, by monitoring through Acoustic Emission technology, concrete facilities can be maintained efficiently even in cases where…

The research forum, ‘Re-inventing Archive: Design, Architecture, Visual Culture’ was held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (MMCA Seoul) on the 29th of November, 2019. The programme had a discussion session on the concept of archives and its associated methodologies, and a review session that reflected upon the meaning of contemporary publications that feature little or no archival work. This report focuses on the first session to examine the relationship between archives and exhibitions. Exhibition Triggered by a Discovery The first session under the theme ‘Exhibition, Archive, History Writing’ included the presentations by and discussions between three exhibition experts, followed by a Q&A. The speakers were Yokoyama Ikko (lead curator, M+), Chung Dahyoung (curator, MMCA), Kim Sang-kyu (professor, Seoul National University of Science and Technology). Yokoyama…

Another Reality Generated Between Virtuality and Reality The constellation is a concept mankind has continuously turned to throughout history, after observing the sky from time immemorial. In fact, the stars that form a constellation are those that constantly move in space individually with their mass, gravity, and orbit. Besides, they are thousands of years or even hundreds of millions of years apart, so the light emitted by each of them does not exist in the same dimension. However, in human life, they are approached as intense wavelengths and influences physically and emotionally. Above all, they create a beautiful meaning. They are virtual and real at the same time. I think that the human life – which forms any society or community – and that architecture – which is a place…

Koreans have long yearned for and worked towards the notion of a bountiful suburban life. In the early days of constructing suburban housing estates, many of the new owners were those eager to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and to pursue a quiet life after they retired. Recently, the main focus behind suburban housing construction has been to capture a variety of lifestyles that require a more personalised sense of time and space for young parents who want to raise their children in a rural area to those from the creative professions who can choose a work within a relatively flexible schedule. The WeBrickBird project started to address the needs for spaces with a different rhythm that are not available in the downtown areas. The client, who…

For the purpose of sharing concerns and information over the crucial role played by statistics in the Building Service Industry, and the outcomes offered by statistics in similar industries, the ‘2019 Building Service Industry Discussion: Directions and Strategies to Establish a Statistical System for the Building Service Industry’ was held on Nov. 26, 2019. Under the Architecture & Urban Research Institute (AURI), this session was organised to discuss improvements to the statistical system used by the Building Service Industry. Kim Eunhee (researcher, AURI) opened the discussion by presenting a paper on the current statistical system used by industries related to architecture. She pointed out the lack of an immediate statistical data for the Building Service Industry despite the presence of the census and the Service Industry Survey. Although the e-Architectural…

In tandem with the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) revitalising the areas located around Seoul Station, Jungnimdong, Hoehyeon-dong, Seogye-dong, and Namdaemun Market, in progress since Dec. 2017 as part of the Seoul Station Vicinities Urban Revitalization Project, the eight proposed anchor facilities opened in Nov. 2019. To create anchor facilities around Seoul station, SMG picked key locations in 2016 to 2018 and purchased a total of 10 facilities composed of houses and buildings. Residents’ opinions were collected through regional residential collective bodies, and workshops were conducted by professionals and other involved parties to adjust the purpose and management directives of the anchor facilities. At the construction stage, the public architect collected the residents’ opinions and considered the building’s conditions before going for either renovation or a new construction. The eight anchor…

With the advancements made in information processing and film technology, Virtual Reality(VR) content is become ever more pervasive in our everyday lives. In architecture, this trend has manifested itself in the form of content that transports viewers to faraway buildings and spaces. One such example is ‘Experiencing Juxtaposition: Réflexion Reality’, an exhibition held on the third floor of piknic, a complex cultural space, until Dec. 19, 2019. The show, which was hosted by the Young Architects Forum Korea (YAF Korea), allowed structures filmed in 360VR to be viewed through a head-mounted display. Cosmo40 (Lifethings), The House of Three Threes (Jae Kim Architects & Researchers), ANDCloud (AND), and Hoehyeon Community Center (Yong Ju Lee Architecture) were among the ten teams of young architects whose works were displayed in the exhibition. On…

Seoul, which became the capital as Hanyang in 1394 after the founding of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392, has been through many moments of historical significance and rapid economic growth. After about 600 years, how can we read this city? Rafael Luna shares his vision and thoughts on this difficult question by offering 10 architectural typologies that make up the capital city, Seoul, offering new perspectives on the city. Definitions of Architectural Typologies in Seoul 1. Hanok, unlike that of the western single family suburban building, forms a high density low-rise urban carpet of a unified language. Its organic urban composition can be understood by what Maki Fumihiko describes as the ‘Group Form’. 2. Political form deals with politics on the ground. It forms an enclosure that separates itself from…

Form and Space The architectural scholar Paul Frankl has classified types of architecture into the basic, spatial, and visual. The basic form is defined as a form composed of an interior wall, exterior wall, floor, and roof; the spatial form is a form of empty space surrounded by a wall and roof; the visual form is a form that enhances perception ofinside and outside the building. On the other hand, with regards to the form of architecture, a single object or form has been classified into a core-form and art-form, according to the arguments made by the German archaeologist Karl Bötticher. What constitutes the structure of the building is called the core-form, and the elements that express its symbolic meaning are defined as an art-form. The core-form and art-form can…