Condencity_38 urban rebirth

Rebirth is metaphor for many things in life. The city of Seoul is itself being constantly reborn as old now becomes available and accessible. KIMUSA, today dressed in pink, is undergoing a radical shift, from secret military defense post to the future home of Seoul's new museum of contemporary art. This transformative rebirth began a couple of months back as temporary installations began to initiate the urban site as public and cultural ground. Secrets rarely last forever and KIMUSA is an urban testament to that.

The redevelopment and gathering of ideas for the site began in November with the start of an international design ideas competition for the new museum. Perhaps there is no more significant a place in Seoul as this site situated between the two main historic palaces and one of the last remaining historic residential quarters in the city. It is positioned at a crossroads of progressive culture and deeply rooted history.

City and life moving forward.

berkeley_99

remember
berkeley after dark 
paths cross
east to west
night cool under eucalyptus
walking, pausing


and at that moment i knew
i loved you


remember?

Formless city_ formless seoul

Yesterday I gave a talk at KAADF here in Seoul. It is an organization which meets regularly to discuss the architectural design academic 'climate' here in Seoul and around Korea. I spoke on my past experiences as a student and professional. What I failed to discuss in my very brief introduction has been at the forefront of my mind  these days, particularly with Seoul as backdrop for life. Its latent ideas were part of my talk yesterday, however never surfaced in my words with clarity.  

To quote Italian urban theorist Tafuri.. in the city "it is the struggle for organization against the will of formlessness".. perhaps this can be no more evident than in a city such as Seoul.  I can't help but think here that the future of modernism lies more in our ability to synthesize mass amounts of history and information; repositioning what are arguably environmental 'fragments' in less form dependant ways. We should be critically considering an 'invisible architecture', one that is absorbed by function and processess of the city at large.

Condencity_37 city revealed

More than 2 million trips are made daily on the Seoul Metro. The Metro system is comprised of 9 main lines that reach the farthest corners of the Seoul Metroplitan area. It is one of the most efficient and extensive subway systems in the world. Over 70% of the subway lies underground and only moments of above ground visibility bear rider witness to the cityscape.

I spend my Tuesday's circling Seoul on the 'inner-cirle line'. Stretching for more than 60kms this trip in three segments takes nearly 2 hours. Raised track platforms reveal the city in small fragments. The visibility is but momentary as trains dive quick to metric depths below ground. I view the city in small glimpses and when submerged imagine the city above; keeping time with the speed of train below. 

  

Seoul Today: momentarily

My obsession is the city
absorbed by its folds and corners
hidden
Momentarily you are there
time may erase
but your image
is forever
on my mind

Condencity_34 reclaimed city

For much of the past century there are historically significant locations in Seoul that have remained in isolation from Seoul residents. A number of these places have been associated with political and military activity of foreign occupation and interest. Over the past five years significant political shifts, and some such urban sites, as this one in Samchungdong shown from above, (previously occupied by Japanese and US governments) have once again been returned to the city (at least in theory). While this location in particular remains concealed and impenetrable by a 3 meter perimeter stone wall, its redevelopment will soon introduce this 3.5 hectare area back into the complex fabric of Seoul after decades of isolation.

Condencity_33 dwelling

I am currently buried in housing as project typology both academically and professionally. It is a topic pressing on many levels here in South Korea given physical conditions and ongoing debate. The cityscape in Seoul has been transformed by housing over the last 40 years. Dominant apartment blocks and developments stand uncontested. Comparable to the sprawling American suburb (the Korean apartment development is arguably a vertical 'suburb').

Today, strict laws and codes govern such developments in a manner that leaves little room for deviation. What results are homogeneous tower clusters primarily driven by economic speculation. Regulations are currently being challenged and the continued evolution of dwelling in Korea will certainly bring about another shift in residential life here.

Earth work memorial

Autumn is about memory here. The rural landscape in Korea is reminder of generations past and it is during this time, earth-forms [burial grounds] appear pronounced in the mountainous countryside terrain. At the annual harvest moon, families pay respect to ancestral sites overlooking vast valleys of rice fields and beyond. Like faces from the past these sculpted forms look onward, forever burned in memory.

Condencity_32 Seoul Transformations

Image courtesy Seoul Government archives

To be once again living in a city with seasons brings to mind transformations on many levels. Autumn is quickly approaching here in Seoul and with this comes cooling temperatures, clearing blue skies free of haze and moisture and the shedding of summer vegetative growth. This was a summer of reintroduction for me (and certainly autumn will be as well). The transformative reality of life here in Seoul.

Over the past 40 years the shift and growth of populations has changed the face of the city. Residential areas, once dense horizontal clusters of urban 'Hanok's' have been selectively removed and demolished in areas of the city. Districts of housing considered Seoul's new 'suburbs' were home to many middle class families of the 1960's. The acceptance of speculative apartment developments has erased a number of these communities around the city leaving behind decaying pockets of this once common urban housing type.

The image above from 1966 in Dongamdong district in Seoul is fresh reminder of a past era of neighborhood life. Like many places similar, no longer in existence, the face of this city appears to change as quickly as the sifting of annual seasons.

1930's Seoul_ projecting forward

The Hankok is a centuries old tradition of residential typology here in Korea. It's urban form in Seoul proliferated the city beginning in the early 20th century. It evolved from it's rural roots, providing a kind of suburban neighborhood to Seoulites until the multi-story apartment began to appear in the early 1960's. As a sustainable residential type it has evolved today  as primarily an aesthetic and social icon, disappearing as a once functional neighborhood unit. 

Today, while several districts of the Hanok remain, the transformation of social and physical realities are starkly real and these once vibrant places stand as quiet glimpses of the past. Dwellings are rapidly converted to commercial interest and the remaining residences stand empty as owners choose to live elsewhere with modern comforts and conveniences. Economics have further eroded communities and populations have sold in interest of profits or have been forced to leave due to rising values. What remains is a kind of frozen urban museum; raising questions of the future of a regionally timeless way of building.

Condencity_31 market transformation

Bangkok's markets transform the city day and night. When one pack's up for the day the next one (in some other remote district) is being erected for the night. It is a continuous cycle that momentarily changes the face of the city from district to district and from night to day. Populations and crowds shift from one area to the next in a kind of ebb and flow of urban activity.

Condencity_30 urban ruin

I recently returned from Bangkok. It had been six years since I had visited the steamy tropic metropolis. It is interesting to see how cities such as Bangkok are progress and digress all at once. This could be the case for any city certainly but Bangkok's continuous (and evolving) ruin appears to constantly challenge progress.

Climate and stagnating capital contribute to crumbling pockets in the city center. Heat, moisture, rampant vegetation and pollution cloak these ruins in an accelerated entropic state. Side by side stand ruin and new. The city moves about blindly, oblivious to the beauty of ruin.

YTN Competition

In collaboration with hAND architects in Seoul, we recently completed an international competition for a cable news broadcasting studio and headquarters. The project was an in-depth investigation of new technologies (construction and digital) coupled with natural processes. Our final proposal challenged typical high rise construction by carving out the core of the building allowing light and air to penetrate the entirety of the mass. What is commonly circulation and mechanical service becomes a common public area within the structure. Large voids open to the west and south directing views and light in dialogue with the urban context ('DMC') designated as the new digital media center of Seoul.

Julius Shulman 1910-2009

Images courtesy the LA Observer

This week marked the passing of a truly fascinating man. His early photographs (and those throughout his career) sparked a movement of modern proportions. Images which continue to be burned in our minds eye, representing what modernism means in Southern California and beyond.

I had to write of Mr. Shulman today because as a student I had the great chance to meet him in his Laurel Canyon home and studio. He opened his doors to our class and shared his passion for teaching and architectural photography. At the time of our visit Mr. Shulman was about 90 years old however, his youthful approach to 'work' and life rendered his age irrelevant. His memory will live on through his archive of thousands of inspiring images and the lives he touched through education and beyond.

sa2009 Summer Workshop

Seoul Architects (sa) is once again sponsoring a summer workshop here in the city for students of Architecture. This summer's theme is 'collaboration with nature'. Currently we anticipate over one hundred students from Korea, Japan and China to attend. There will be about 30 tutors conducting the workshop. The summer program is in it's twelfth year (this being my first as a tutor).

Collaboration with nature intends to promote further dialogue of how we as designer's (from an eastern perspective) can continue to explore methods for sustainability in the built environment. My class section will be examining the traditional Hanok (Korean traditional house) as a precedent for designing in today's culture. Students will investigate and document ways in which the Hanok is sustainable and apply these early models to a new form of residential design.

http://collaborationwithnature.org/

Condencity_29 temporary permanence

Street side vendors in their mobile carts and structures have taken up permanent residence in many parts of the city. In some locations these vendors are situated face to face with ‘permanent’ commercial storefronts in designated commercial buildings. It is an interesting dialogue of two opposing conditions; one of supposed temporality and the other of stable fixture along the street front. Competing for customers as they face off, somehow each side manages to thrive.

As night falls the activities and bustle of such commercial zones come to life. In one such area I frequent here near Konkuk University the sidewalk experience fills with students, shoppers and those grabbing a quick bite to eat at any one of the street side vendors. The rush of bodies squeezes the sidewalk to a narrow passing lane. Negotiations along a cyclical path passing change from day to night. I look down to witness deflated vendor cart wheels and a grime crusted sidewalk at the underside of the food vendor cart; conditions suggesting a long term temporality. The street vendors have been and will be here for some time to come, competing in unison with the permanent city.

Architecture Education: Konkuk University

site_body_synthesis was the theme for our graduate level architecture studio this spring semester. The students were challenged to think beyond form making in formulating a basis for a project. We are often forced to reconcile challenging information in establishing the framework for a project. The premise of the studio established a sequential structure for doing just that.

The studio began as an intensive investigation of a complex urban site in Seoul, combined with a selected apparatus representing each individual students perspective of site and the relationship of (apparatus) body to it. The students then synthesized these studies and ideas into a proposal for a fitness club suitable to the contextual establishment of similar commercial interests. The outcome, by nature of the semester long investigation, challenged the status-quo of typical fitness clubs currently existing in this complex part of the city.

Condencity_28 hangang

The Han River (Hangang) in Seoul has through history had a profound impact on the city. For decades, like many other industrialized urban centers, the river boundary has been a source of sustenance and obstacle. In recent years the city has once again reinvested in a renewed waterfront after years of industrial neglect. The challenges of opening the rivers edge to public accessibility is a major undertaking as much of the river is now bound on both sides by primary freeways.

Yesterday I participated in a design review with my colleague Marc Brossa at Konkuk University in Seoul. His Graduate level design class spent the semester investigating the Han River. The premise of the studio was an interpretation of possible scenarios to rethink positions in urban, landscape and architectural design by creating comprehensive solutions to riverfront habitation and experience. The interesting thing regarding the studio was the genuine position of combined disciplines in urban planning (considered with landscape and architectural design) . Natural systems are integral in many aspects of what we do as designers in the built environment and rather than make disciplinary distinctions the discourse becomes inherently unified in approach. Furthermore, the foundation for the studio challenged students to consider more complex relationships with regard to starkly juxtaposed natural and built environments along the rivers edge.

While the projects seemed only to scratch the surface of design potential, the dialogue of ideas was rich with possibility and interest. One student project considered freeway infrastructure and a proposition to excavate beneath it to create a regenerated wetland and extended 'natural' edge. The notion of utilizing the existing transportation infrastructure and allowing it to function beyond its intended purpose (in this case a flood and water release control 'gate') represented the intentions of the initial studio idea.

Some of the work can be viewed at NETWORK + PROCESSES

Condencity_27 threshold

Low rise commercial buildings in Seoul give new meaning to the term 'mixed-use'. Any number of various programs fill small buildings (often 3-4 floors in height avoiding the requirements of elevator service) in the cities densely packed commercial zones. Many of the stores and shops on the upper floors are accessed through a single entry corridor and stair which, in many cases is continuously open to the street.

While these buildings are clearly private places corridor extensions of the public sidewalk create a gray zone not fully private and not totally public. These unconditioned spaces take on an urban appearance becoming caked and coated with the qualities and scars of sidewalk life. They present an interesting argument for an all together publicly accessible city intertwined within privatized constructs.

Seoul Modern

Modern unassuming in Seoul.

Tucked away in the tertiary neighborhood streets of Gangnam is a residence and office mix. 'Tornado House' (as its dubbed) was completed about 15 years ago by Jun Sung Kim. Jun's work may best be described as elemental. A characteristic expressively clear in this structure. Jun is a master of carving space from weighted form and raw material. It is a dialogue of air, light and form giving way to humbling experience.

The front facade of the mixed use house is unassuming; a simple cube with recessed entry and radial wall. The entry conceals a complex internal organization only slightly hinted by the simple curved form on elevation. The portal entry opens to a split stair configuration. The entry landing as Jun has described poses a moment of choice for visitors- the option to go up or down in the seductively light filled open atrium. Each stair clings closely to two opposing, concrete arching walls.

Light penetrates deep through the central courtyard to the partial subterranean spaces below. Four court terraces link in serpentine fashion following the curved stair around the voided central open space. The delicate metal stair cast against the heavy concrete walls establishes an implied bridge between the current reality of structure and a memory of the once steeply sloped site.

The experience of space through light and form become metaphor for a new internalized landscape.

Gangnam_dusk

Rare early summer clear skies over Gangnam in Seoul.

With air that is commonly thick with humid haze, on this night the brilliantly clear blue sky touches the jagged city skyline. Saturated colors of sign-board commerce punctuate the side street experience. Tranquil calm comes momentarily amongst corporate towers and delivery service motor bikes.

Monumental City

Beijing is a city of monuments.

The vastness of the city is punctuated with grand architectural marvel. Separate only by time and distance, numerous structures stand sybolically of a common inginuity. Scale and presense contribute to a saturated experience. With each long repetitive step through Beijing, we laborioulsy cross time with the projected idea of a place amitious to construct a city worth preserving.

Condencity_26 reclaimed city

The Dashanzi Art District (also known as Factory 798) in Beijing is a decommisioned military complex and now home to a thriving artists community in Beijing. The sprawling district of long vacant factories inspires imagination and exhibits profound spaces once host to a Soviet Socialist work/live model and utilitarian architectural expression. In recent years government interest has taken control of the vast network of factory buildings with individual spaces being rented out by artists and exhibiting galleries (to the protest of some).

798 Space

Beijing

is...
soft
covered
available
quiet
anything
yellow

Condencity_25 temporary city

The recently completed Prada Transformer in Seoul is Rem Koolhaas's latest installation. Sited on the grounds of the historic Gyeonghui Palace in Seoul, the Transformer is an exercise in urban transformation. The idea behind the pavilion is to exhibit three different programs (fashion, film, and art) spanning an approximate three month period. With each new show the pavilion is rotated by crane, transforming the tent like structure to suitable position for each of the planned events.

I visited the Transformer on a bright Saturday morning recently. It is a simple steel structure wrapped in a tight elastic, translucent membrane similar to that used in industrial machine storage. On this day the taught fabric shimmered and danced in the brilliant mid-spring sun. The pavilion lightly touches down with steel pin connections onto concrete footings, mindful of the historic temple grounds close behind.

Like so much of Seoul, the installation represents a willingness of change and progress; a delicate balance of fragile history with the reality of today's unlimited possibility.

To read more about the project visit the official website: Prada Transformer Seoul

Condencity_24 opposing centers

new center (left) old center (right)

I have been postulating on the complex development of Seoul's urban centers. While I can't pretend to be anywhere near understanding how this great urban mix has grown so quick, I do have basic observations from an outsiders perspective. I have been meeting and talking with a number of informed people lately on Seoul's rapid growth. It is an urban anamoly the likes of which have not been duplicated anywhere on the planet.

The image on the left (courtesy wiki commons) is of Seoul's new business center, Gangnam (South of the Han River). Amazingly, this view and district in the city did not exist 30 years ago. On the right is Gangbuk, the historic center of the city (North of the river) and cultural nucleus. While both pictures from an aerial vantage depict a modern, vertical city, the pedestrian experience is quite different.

I'm interested in Seoul's split identity; a struggle between two urban halves, divided by river boundary. It is a fascinating polarity exposing physical and social divide. As the city continues to evolve at its frenetic pace a recent interest in public spaces is bringing new life to the common grounds of the city; in doing so, bridging a divide that has given Seoul a double identity.

Konkuk Lecture Spring Series

Awkward syntax...but you get the idea.

Local re_action 3

I have written several times in past months about the work being done by design students from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Just this past week was a groundbreaking for the completion of their latest project. The students, using salvaged lumber from an aging and underutilized barn, reassembled the wood for an addition to a local restaurant.

This new addition recalls history of the town through material reference and construction technique. Its new form and function recapture in some ways what is fading from rural Canadian town life as people transition to nearby urban centers. Abandoned train and agricultural interests reappear symbolically as promising times to come.

The intensity of the process, from deconstruction of existing old structures through construction completion has relied on the resilience and dedication of both students and of local community volunteers. Amazingly, all of the Clearwater projects, including this one, took shape in a matter of days (after months of initial planning).

Condencity_23 Vertical Life

By some estimates more than half of the population in South Korea resides in high rise apartments. It is a vertical life; efficient and stacked, at times reaching more than 50 floors in height. The apartment phenomenon here in Seoul, through government promotion grew exponentially over the past 40 years. It is a commonality today in modern Seoul life; speculatively driven high density apartments. Savvy buyers quickly snatch up apartments for long and short term investment potential. An urban regenerative cycle is fed and new developments rise in place of old apartment blocks.

Condencity_22 Twilight skyline

Sky and skyline meet in the Seoul twilight. The south of the river district where I currently live is punctuated with the rare open urban space to afford resident units limited views. From the 7th floor where I reside the jagged relationship between sky and skyline comes into focus. An edge continuously shifting, it is a clear reminder of the ever evolving form of this mega-city.

Condencity_21 Jongno Transformation

History and today collide in Seoul's historic center. The Jongno district represents at once the history of Seoul and also its ambitious (albeit at times controversial) commercial and financial interests. A form of eastern / local gentrification is erasing parts of the old city to the demise of service providing residents. Struggle for fair representation and compensation ensues regularly as people are forced to move from home and business.

Single story structures sit momentarily idle awaiting demolition. Shuttered and marked for removal, the tattered buildings give emphasis to the stark impermanence of urban form and circumstance.

Yellow Monday (황사)

A fine silty dust coats my apartment window. The stainless steel rail outside of the window has now become a dull luster under the yellow cloaked sun. [Hwang Sa] literally translated yellow dust, has overcome the city of Seoul and my memory of past Korean spring times becomes clear on this obscured Monday morning.

Spring time in Seoul can be a dirty time. Shifting jet stream winds lift and carry fine dust sands from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China to blanket the Korean Peninsula. The air is thick and heavy with this gritty nuisance lasting for several days at a time. As the Gobi Desert continues to expand and contract annually so too is the mirrored alteration on the face of this city hundreds of Kilometers away. 

Departure time_in between

Rift between here, then
now, there
easing moment
casting destiny

memory

Condencity_20 urban love

Yes it's true, I am now a full time resident of Seoul. Consumed in its myriad complexity and infinite mysteries. This aspect to life here never seems to waver. Lucky for me it's usually instant inspiration. Recently, I penned a short piece for Flavorwire on Seoul's (and Korea in general) social addiction to the love hotel. Sure you have heard of them. Possibly from their proliferation in cities such as Tokyo. Here in Seoul they too have a presence as well; being just about everywhere.

The love hotel is a significant part of the urban (and rural landscape) here in Korea; making and defining space. There are districts here in the city with an abundance of these discreet escape accommodations. In their growing numbers, I liken them to being trees in a forest. It can be difficult to find focus on any one as urban density tends to cancel out any single place. Focus falls on knowing your destination.

Flavorwire article link.

Saturdays

At the edge
somewhere between
east and west dreams
San Francisco

Familiar
washed away with
a late day rain
of futures
to come.

Condencity_19 city speak

Every so often I pass this San Francisco civic center intersection and ponder its quoted wisdom. Eye opening sometimes the city speaks of memories...or the future. My most recent and probably last intersection crossing here for some time, reflects less of my present state of mind (upon reading my favorite urban quotes at Kahn and Keville auto-garage).

The city always has a way of projecting future relevance from past foresight.

Kölner Domfenster und 4900 Farben_Gerhard Richter

Images courtesy melekalikimaka

I always seem to be trailing new discoveries but here is one that caught my eye recently by the artist Gerhard Richter. Clearly his art extends well beyond his photo-real paintings which appear to have taken root in the 1970's. His lifetime achievements touch on the everyday. This goes without saying for many artists however it is splendid color, reverence for time and experience which stand out for me in his work.

The Cologne Cathedral plays canvas to this recent project. A remarkable posit of time and place. It is such striking and questionable juxtapositions (objectionable to some) that shape great cities. We are tempted to critically examine history with present view. A side by side reasoning even if through unsettling methods that challenge complacent spirituality.

A few more inspiring Kölner Domfenster images courtesy of melekalikimaka on flickr.

Spire at Cities Edge

You may of heard by now of the recent work by renowned artist Andy Goldsworthy titled 'Spire'. Along San Francisco's distinctive northern edge, where city gives way to defunct military quarter is the Presidio and here you will find his latest installation. The sculpture is a collection of trees; literally. Fallen and slated for removal as part of a reforestation project in the heavily wooded terrain, Goldsworthy collected these gentle giants and has carefully fastened them together. Not soley in the name of nature, but rather city as the name should suggest.

What appears now as distinct, naked form in the landscape will gradually transform over time. As Goldsworthy describes "taking root" in context both physically and metaphorically. Projecting forward some twenty or thirty years from now one can only imagine the disguised relationship between the 'Spire' and a rejuvenated coastal forest. It is as though this latest work, and undoubtedly it was in its creation, had the foresight of incremental change through time.

Spire speaks gracefully of structure and permanence and yet exhibits the fragile reality of natures vulnerability. We view its dialogue with city towers peeking over distant hills and we are also witness to its place among trees. It is the delicate balance between these two conditions that so appropriately defines this work at the cities edge.

To visit 'Spire' travel west on Pacific Avenue along the Presidios southern border. From the southeastern most corner of the park proceed west about 3/4 of a mile to Arguello Blvd. Go right and a foot path to 'Spire' picks up approximately 200 feet from the intersection of Pacific and Arguello just past the parking area of the Presidio golf course. Traveling there on foot (even from the center of the city) is most satisfying.

Condencity_18

Saturday Finales on a late January Seoul morning. Watching the city transact and disseminate in a single urban moment.

Condencity_17 Seoul underground

It's what is hidden from immediate view that makes cities such great places. Disguised and buried we are forced to seek out complex places that can only be discovered with open eyes. Seoul is a city with a double identity. The street life of Seoul and the underground reality coincide at limited junctions.

Buried pedestrian ways mirror streets above. An Underground shopping network extending more than a quarter mile in Seoul's south side links to subway routes tied to just about every corner of the city. It is part of a cryptic network of public spaces that define Seoul.

There are usually two sides to most things. 

Read the entire article on Seoul Underground at Flavorpill

Condencity_16 외국인

Foreigner (외국인)

Looking from the outside in can be an unsettling thing for many. I happen to like it.

Discovery is unencumbered with fresh, unbiased eyes. In the coming weeks and months of 2009 I will be writing brief accounts of urban and architectural experiences in Seoul for an online culture and arts journal. Formulating ideas and opinions in a city such as Seoul feels natural. Loaded context.

See and write at will.

16

Chilly Reception
bites hand

Frozen crystal wind
kisses street

darkness
shimmer

Seoul at 16 degrees 

Economy of Change

The downward economic spiral is being lamented at all corners of the media. If we stop and consider for a moment , this economic slide is a good thing for the profession of architecture. No, really it is. It is long past due for critically rethinking what gets built and how it gets done. Certainly there are good projects that take shape during bustling economic times but the majority of our banal built environments are the product of quick speculation. The excess of bad development both urban and suburban now has the chance to be reconsidered and it most likely will be. For profit housing developments, strip malls, deathly banal corporate office buildings' can take pause for a moment.

Many professionals will go through tough times. Many more jobs will be lost and offices will close. Some may even have to reconsider architecture as a viable profession.

Darkness breeds paradigm shifts. The orgy of excess had to end at some point.