Table of contents for N. 577 in Space

The exhibition, ‘From a 9 Pyeong Hope to Our City’, which planned to view the flow of the city through the changes in residential buildings, and from a broader perspective, it also portrays how social and historical events effect even the smallest living spaces in our daily lives. After the Korean War, Korea has built the country it is today from the ground up, and this exhibition portrays the residencies of the last 70 years as mirroring our history. The exhibition then poses a question to the audience: ‘Where in history does my residence come from? In what form will the next residence come about?’ The exhibition was planned to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Korea’s Liberation Day, and it puts together residential buildings scattered across the country with historical…

Reviewer A It considered a three level composition for the upper, lower and lower park, facing the streets. The street serves an important role for the urban environment because it is open to the public and also gives the identity to the building. Reviewer B The logic of composing the work space at the lower level and the residential space at the upper level may be simple, but it definitely created a new type of residential/commercial complex. It brings a new mood to the cityscape. Architect: TRU Architects (Cho Sungik) Design team: Choi Jaeil, Yoon Kyungok, Park Joonho Location: 246-12, Neung-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Korea Programme: neighborhood living facility, multi-family housing Site area: 444.6m2 Building area: 215.17m2 Gross floor area: 1,231.49m2 Building to land ratio: 48.39% Floor area ratio: 220.86% Building scope: B1, 6F…

‘Architecture means to visualize the genius loci, and the task of the architect is to create meaningful places, whereby he helps man to dwell.’ _ Christian Norberg-Schulz, Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture Master Plan Architecture means to create a certain lifestyle; where man and nature can coexist. It draws us into the beauty of our surrounding natural environment. Our concepts accentuate progressive design; to perceive and experience the very essence of nature and offer new conditions through the architectural intervention and effective master planning of the site: the Genius Loci. The villages at Southcape are not limited by the typology of a Golf Course Resort. The villas are brought into harmony with the natural elements of Namhae. A rhythm will be created between the multifarious slopes and dynamic…

Reviewer A Although there are interesting aspects in the disposition of the building, the house also seems unorganized. It lacks architectural completion despite its intriguing positioning. Reviewer B I assume that the client would have been very pleased. However, the design is somewhat excessive. The decoration on the ceiling and the intrusion of the mass is not sophisticated and is not permissive. I give high marks to the interior finishing and concrete finishing, which would have been challenging tasks. Architect: architect-k (Lee Kichul) Design Team: Lee Miseon, Park Kyungsoon, Yu Chagsun Location: 143-1, Song-do Haebyeonro-gil, Seo-gu, Busan, Korea Programme: house Site area: 1,111.53m2 Building area: 454.02m2 Gross floor area: 1,644.72m2 Building scope: B2, 2F Parking: 9 Height: 15.5m Building to land ratio: 40.85% Floor area ratio: 61.72% Structure: RC Exterior finishing: exposed concrete…

Constructing a new city cannot be a solution to the problems faced by the ailing city left behind. It merely removes the problematic areas, dispersing or transplanting people to other sites or contexts. The hardship of the people displaced in between the periods of destruction and creation can only be repeated again and again, floating between the cracks of the old and new cities. Although one may distance themselves from such reckless development, attempts have been made to restore the city to its original foundations, and these interventions are the big stories of today. It is also associated with Urban Acupuncture, the urban restoration theory suggested by Jaime Lerner. As the term states, the theory combines traditional Chinese acupuncture with urban design. Instead of pushing around the city’s problems in…

Infrastructure of the Virtual City, Data Centre It is hard for users in their experience of the internet through the display screen to recognize the existence of a data centre (DC), which is the physical manifestation of the internet service. A DC is, so to speak, an IT infrastructure that operates a huge virtual city, as a aggregate of a server facility, the network, and storage space. The quantities of data have soared as the production of knowledge information and patterns of consumption have been extended into an Internet-based economy since the 2000s. For example, NAVER is visited by over 18 million referrals from search portal services with 1.2 billion page views every day. 7,400 searches, 2,500 emails, 450 image uploads to NAVER Cloud are made every second. (Data based…

Host Korean Institute of Architects, UIA Organizer Korean Institute of Architects International Affairs Committee, SPACE magazine Sponsor Novelis, Samhyun Urban & Architecture group, Hana Financial Group, Group of Architecture & Urbanism, Geo Hyun Construction Co., Ltd., eFree, Dae Jeong Construction, Archipoly Corporation, Mooyoung Group, Baum Architects Eligiblity All foreign architects participating need to acquire the official recommendation from their national architect institute recognized by UIA. Timeline Registration: June 22 – September 18, 2015 | Submission of Entries: September 4 - 21, 2015 | Exhibition: October 21 – 25, 2015 ‘100 Architects of the Year 2015’ hosted by Korean Institute of Architects (KIA) is the world first official international exhibition approved by UIA, and has taken place every year since 2012. In the first exhibition, 131 domestic and foreign architects from…

Over two days from Oct. 26 a symposium was held for the first time since the announcement of the Seoul International Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism (SIBAU). The symposium was planned to be a ‘research-driven Biennale’ with the SIBAU at its heart, focusing on urban aspects, and exploring possible survival strategies among other biennales, by assessing the regional strengths of Seoul. Aaron Betsky (dean, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin), Mark Wigley (professor and dean, Columbia University), Cho Minsuk (principal, Mass Studies), who have been biennale directors before, and experts who have participated in crucial roles in urban public projects such as Weiwen Huang (director, Shenzhen Center for Public Art), Hans Stimmann (former building director, Berlin Department for Building and Urban Development) participated in the symposium, and discussed…

Covered in about 500 thousand, more precisely, 489,400 CDs, the exhibition venue of the Cheongju International Craft Biennale used to be a tobacco factory. Built in 1946, the tobacco plant reached its peak of productivity in the 1970s. However, it closed down in 1999, the factory building began to take a totally different path. In 2004 the tobacco factory finally closed its doors, and the empty concrete building from which the HVAC and electric facilities had been extracted became a squatter’s site. But, since Cheongju City purchased part of the factory building and used it to host the International Craft Biennale in 2011 and 2013, the building has turned into a cultural venue. In fact, ByeongSam Jeon, director of a CD Façade who proposed the idea of this projcet, sees…

Technological developments change the city and reset relations between people. Where are the edges of the potential capabilities of technology? From science-fiction to mobile phones, technology slowly enlarges the two axis of imagination and reality. Meanwhile the properties of technology have begun to change. Art Center Nabi presents an exhibition ‘Makeable City’, showing an imaginary city that would be able to dream of its own technological advances and the appearances of new technology. EunJung Park, a chief curator of Art Center Nabi, states that ‘there is a culture of openness and sharing that exploded onto the scene start from Web 2.0. This spreads across a bilateral platform such as a User Created Content (UCC), blog, Wikipedia, strengthened individual influence into society, has tore down a border of monopoly and control’.…

During the closing ceremony of the Expo Milano 2015 on Oct. 31, the Korean pavilion received the Silver Prize for Expo exhibition design out of all 2,000m2 pavilions. It also received a Class EXPO Pavilion Heritage Award. The Korean pavilion hosted 2.3 million people over 184 days. This number exceeds that of the Expo Hanover 2000’s Korea pavilion of 2.22 million. The Korean restaurants and sovenir shop also each received 190,000 people, and 220,000 people. The intended goal was achieved, but we need to think about the change to the status of Expos and the participation of the Korean pavilion (refer to July 2014 issue). In October, Busan announced that they will try to attract the Registered Expo in 2030, and the 2020 Dubai Expo is scheduled to have its…

The Evolution of Memories of the Quince Tree and the Toad The quince tree is usually bulky with a good scent, but it does not taste so good and also does not have an appetizing look. The tree has long been beloved by many classical scholars in China and Korea, serving as a fruit tree in many houses with its good scent. The story of the toad is also interesting. You probably will remember the song, ‘toad, toad, I will give you an old house, please give me a new house.’ Toads are known to give birth by being eaten by a poisonous snake—which it usually avoids, killing the snake by spitting the poison of its own while eaten, therefore providing nutrition of the dead snake and the body of…

Modular architecture is a method of construction in which interior materials, machinery and electricity are first constructed dependent on cubic unit modules in the factory, which are then simply assembled for use, and can easily be disassembled again. It is increasingly drawing attention from many areas, along with residential and commercial buildings for its rapidity and economic feasibility. The URBANTAINER, which was established in 2009, has been creating a modular architecture platform, utilizing branding for entertainment spaces and containers familiar to us, claiming to stand for a ‘pleasant container of a city.’ Meanwhile, Common Ground and the NTCK Social Space have recently been designed with containers. The Common Ground is the Korea’s first container multi shop in the building site of 5,060m2 with 110m in length and 46m in width,…

The film Wonangsori, which has attracted over 200 thousand views—an uncommonly high number of viewers for a documentary film—features an old man and an ox as the main characters. It chronicles the story of a crippled old man who builds a lifelong friendship with his beloved ox, instead of with his wife. In the film, he talks to the ox and sometimes even gets upset with him, and sadly in the end the ox dies and the barn is left empty. While weeping at this touching story, I couldn’t help but feel disturbed by the container that was placed on the farm. I needed an explanation for this strange scene. Isn’t the farming village supposed to convey a cerain nostalgia, traditional culture, or affection? Although it may be the imaginary…

Reviewer A Its use of materials and composition of sectional space is interesting. Yet, the sensual quality of time and space seems not to be authentic enough. The architect realized that the roof inclined at various angles with the use of concrete, but there is a project that created the similar type of roof more naturally with dry construction method. Reviewer B The material on the front façade is so eye catching. However, it’s regrettable to see that the design doesn’t actively embrace the outdoor space and the arboretum located at the rear. Regarding the conditions of the site, the architecture should have revealed more gestures towards attracting the great surrounding context into the interior of the building. Architect: Cheon Janghwan (Kyung Hee University) + Studio I (Lee Taeyoung) Design…

The upright pole that supports the the ceiling is on a single wheel (Rooftoe), while a barricade lies in the middle of the space between buildings (Bilnd Alley). Looking at Kim’s work, Anthony Dunne’s para-functionality flashes through my mind. Functions spin off to distort or reverse the original functions of existing objects. For Minae Kim, function is the most suitable material in inverting the pre-existing order and paradoxically exposing the contradictions. Why is she making a portion of the space almost useless? Objects question the function of art or look like a part of the museum building rather than an artwork. Now it is time to find out how these can really be understood. interviewed by Woo Hyunjung | materials provided by the artist Woo Hyunjung (Woo): In ‘Conditional Drawings’,…

Yeojoo Park’s exhibition, ‘Stranger than Paradise’ was on show at the Songwon Art Center, a distinctive space bathed in red light. The centre has two floors, and in the middle of the upper storey there is a square hole in the middle of the floor, so that the audience can look straight down through the opening to the activity below. Park utilized the spatial peculiarity of the centre to change it into Amsterdam’s red-light district (Stranger than Paradise), and the background of Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation (A Place for Annunciation II). How were these two periods, that do not naturally go together and make sense in entirely different contexts, brought together? Stranger than Paradise is the exhibition’s title, but is also the title of James Jarmusch’s movie, and Lee Jangwook’s…

Kicking off on Oct. 28, the 17th Seoul International Architecture Film Festival (SIAFF) ran until Nov. 2. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of KIRA (Korea Institute of Registered Architects), the opening ceremony was held in the KIRA office. Under the theme of ‘Architecture Bring Harmony between Generations’, the opening film was Concrete Love directed by Maurizius Staerkle-Drux. It was a documentary about life of Gottfried Böhm, the winner of Pritzker Architectural Prize in 1986, and his family who are four-generations of architects. In this film festival, 19 films invited from 14 countries were grouped into four sections: ‘Masters & Masterpiece’, the ‘Rediscovery of Architectural Heritage’, ‘Urbanscape’, and ‘Beyond’. The films were very well received by audiences as the theatre maintained an average of over 70% occupancy. This was an audience composed…

The Rolex Arts Weekend is to be held in Centro Cultural del Bosque, Mexico City for two days from Dec. 5 – 6. This biannual event, held in Latin America for the first time, will include presentations from seven areas — dance, film, literature, music, play, fine arts, and architecture, marking the end of the 7th ‘Rolex Mentor & Protege Arts Initiative’. Peter Zumthor is going to give a presentation about his ongoing tea chapel project near Seoul in collaboration with his apprentice, Gloria Cabral. Rolex Mentor & Protege Arts Initiative, Rolex’s biannual programme supporting young talented artists since 2002, gives young artists from seven fields the opportunity to be taught by master of the same field for one year. In May of last year, seven new artists for the…

Reviewer A The properties of the various materials are efficiently portrayed. The selection of materials and the details of the finishing are all high in detail. However, there are no signs that show that the architect has made any progressive steps. If the work had created a more specialised architectural stimulation by harmonizing with the surrounding scenery, the project would have been more meaningful. Reviewer B From a distance, the four types of shapes including the gable and the flat surface, each portray their characteristics, however the surrounding environment ends up taking centre stage. The work is architecturally a success. The approach of capturing the horizon of Namhae and the heaving surrounding scenery, which go along with the work nicely, is a well-made decision. Architect: BCHO Architects Associates (Byoung Cho)…

Baik Jiwon (CEO, URBANTAINER) Shin Minjae (principal, AnL studio) Lee Kangsoo (principal, thinkTREE Architects and Partners) Lee Changjae (researcher, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology) On the 30th of last month, Baik Jiwon, Shin Minjae, Lee Kangsoo and Lee Changjae got together to discuss the present situation of in modular architecture and its future. Baik Jiwon (Baik): Common Ground is the world’s largest container shopping mall, built on a 5,132m² abandoned site owned by a Korean taxi company. It is made up of 200 containers and took five months to build. Our assignment was to renew the old brand and to create CSV (Creating Shared Value) with the mobile circulation platform. It is a plaza and a market for teens and young professionals in their twenties. In the…

Reviewer A The building is of a very simple formation, but the structure at the lower level and the usage of the materials are well-organized and selected. This is a result of correctly interpreting the nearby buildings, and it seems to be completed in a manner that encompasses the unique environment of Bugahyeon-dong. Reviewer B From the pathway to the entrance, the parking arrangements, and the frame that emphasizes the ground floor, the building is neatly planned out. To overcome the inclined plane, the division of the ground level and the above floor’s mass is an excellent approach. The building is naturally harmonized with the existing environment. Architect: Leehong Kim Architects (Leehong Kim) Location: Bugahyeon-dong 1-532, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea Programme: commercial (restaurant, cafe, artist studio) Site area: 175m2 Building area: 69.75m2 Gross…

Letters written through the city, the city written through the letters ‘Typojanchi 2015: The 4th International Typography Biennale’ (hosted by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, organized by Korea Craft & Design Foundation and Korean Society of Typography) with ‘city and typography’ as its theme, opened on the 11th centring on the Cultural Station Seoul 284. As the logo ‘C ( ) T ( )’ shows, the verbs that denote cities have been replaced by parentheses. This is a visualization of the message that an aspect of a city can be understood and signalled through typography. The subject of the verb is, in its narrowest sense, the designers and artists that participate in the Biennale and, in a broader sense, the visitors to the exhibit and even the passersby. Cities…