The Condition of Seoul Architecture

Seoul is just behind Mumbai and Lagos in the list of the most extreme density cities in the world. From a population of 3.5 million in 1965, the city exceeded 25 million in 2019, hosting 50% of the population in an area as large as 12% of South Korea. The central areas have seen the cost of land rising by 680 times since the Korean War, reaching the prohibitive $80,000 per square meter.
This extreme situation in which architects must operate, design, and build, creates the theoretical basis of "The Condition of Seoul Architecture". The research insists on the point of view of 18 of the most innovative South Korean architects, showing their projects and analyzing their position on the built environment of Seoul; while experts, professors, and curators frame urban issues, through descriptions of nostalgia for tradition, minimalism and empty spaces; opportunities arising from the 2008 crisis; and the traditional concept of facade used to bend the rules of the F.A.R. Game.

© 2019 TCA Think Tank
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The Condition of Seoul Architecture
Pier Alessio Rizzardi

Interviewees
Moon Hoon, Moon Hoon Architects
Gyoo Jang-yoon, UnSangDong
Kim Dong-jin & Kim Yoo-jung, L'EAU design
Cho Min-suk, Mass Studies
Kim Young-joon, YO2 Architects
Hwang Doo-jin, Doojin Hwang Architects
Kim In-cheurl, Archium
Cho Byoung-soo, BCHO Architects
Kim Min-ji, ISON Architects
Kim Hyo-man, Iroje KHM Architects
Kim Jun-sung, Architecture Studio hANd
Choi Moon-gyu, GaA Architects
Choi Wook, ONE O ONE Architects
Kim Jong-kyu, M.A.R.U. network
Ken Sungjin-min, SKM Architects
Kim Chan-joong, THE_SYSTEM LAB
Kim Seung-hoy, KYWC Architects
Lee Jeong-hoon, JOHO Architecture

Contributing Authors
Choi Won-Joon, John Hon, Caroline Maniaque, Rafael Luna

Photographers
Iwan Baan, Kim Yong-kwan, Sun Nam-goong, Hwang Woo-seop