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.
