1DEC | DAY 1
Heyri Art Village
MimesisArt Museum
2DEC | DAY 2
Busan Cinema Centre
Haeundae Blueline Park
3DEC | DAY 3
Gamcheon Cultural Village
4DEC | DAY 4
GyeongBokGung Palace
Bukchon Hanok village
N Seoul Tower
5DEC | DAY 5
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)
Songeun Art Centre
6DEC | DAY 6
Seoullo 7017
Experiencing Architecture | Korea
Seoul is the cultural, economic, and political centre of South Korea. Ch’anggyŏng (Changgyeong) Palace, with downtown Seoul in the background.
It is located on the Han River near the centre of the Korean peninsula with an area of 234 square miles The commercial, cultural, and industrial heart of South Korea, it is a centre of higher education, with several universities including Seoul National University
A type of architecture that evolved over many years in Korea is referred to as Korean architecture Throughout Korea's history, several kingdoms and royal dynasties have created their own distinctive architectural style with elements from Korean Confucianism and Buddhism.
Korean architecture is unique due to its naturalistic inclinations, simplicity, economy of shape, and avoidance of extremes, just like other Korean arts
Upon reaching the airport in South Korea at the first day, we directly departed from Incheon Airport to Heyri Art Village. Although there was an incident happened and led to our travel schedule delayed, but the trip was continuing smoothly It took around 2 hours for us to reach Heyri Art Village in Paju. After reaching the destination, we gathered around at the area and explored the details of architecture by ourselves.
After that, we then rode the bus to next destination, which is Mimesis Art Museum. It took us around 1.5 hours to reach, where it is an amazing museum and exhibit building that inspired by the tale of emperor’s cat and transform it into architecture language of art gallery
Artistic community in the unification hill district of Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju, which was constructed by artists, writers, painters and other creatives. This unique community village integrates concepts that coexist in the fields of production, exhibit, sales, and habitation of cultural art. From a functional perspective, the Heyri Art Valley was planned with an urban form that focused on cultural businesses.
The neighborhood is filling with greeneries context that is feeling calm and cool in the sense. It expanded into an art complex where it is like a masterpiece due to the artworks displayed along the streets in harmony with nature’s beauty.
The buildings were carefully designed as to prevent the manmade structures getting in the way from admiring the surrounding nature. For example, the neighborhood’s streets were designed to follow the curves set by nature without using any asphalt
Cultural and art trail where we started our journey from the entrance and explored the valley
Discovered that there are many other spaces provided in this valley, such as galleries, museums, exhibit halls, concert halls, small theaters, cafes, restaurants, bookstores, guest houses, art shops, and creative living spaces for artists
Mimesis Art Museum is an art museum with three ground floors and one basement floor, which is run by Mimesis, the arts book brand of the publishing company Open Books. The museum building expressed in a simple and elegant form of an open white book was designed by Portuguese architect lvaro Siza The Art Museum is a superb example of Alvaro Siza's architectural philosophy, which focuses on creating buildings that blend in with their surroundings while providing excellent user comfort both inside and out, as opposed to large structure that overpower the community they are in.
Gyeonggi-do, Paju-si, Munbal-ro| Seoul
From own perspective view, the overall building follows its shape and functions. From there, it continues the floating language and applies in both exterior and interior concept, which it is very stunning Both natural and artificial light is seen as essential. Allowing to see without being seen.
*Feels like the floor is lifting up the wall, given the sense of mystery of the wall is floating on the air*
In the basement area, we will have the archives, the service area, maybe an extension to the exhibition area, as is becoming a habit in museums designed by Álvaro Siza.
The ground floor area is a space for arrival and distribution, areas for temporary exhibitions and a café/restaurant with all necessary back up.
Administration areas, staff circulation, area for the administrative archive and staff toilets are located in the mezzanines. The top floor is for exhibition space
In one single gesture, a cat was drawn. The Mimesis is a cat. A cat, all curled up and also open, that stretches and yawns A presentation to the customer, who had already seen other projects but could not hide his amazement at this one, included the initial design, models, drawings, corrections to these, doubts, new drawings, new models, and presentations of all of these to him. The project progressed on through the usual steps, which in Korea are shorter and less bureaucratic after the approval.
On Day 2, we ready our small luggage and gathered at the train station that nearby our staycation in Seoul From there, we depart from Seoul Train Station to Busan It took us approximately 2 5 hours to reach the destination After we reach Busan, we first drop off at Almond Hotel in Busan to place our luggage, then depart to Busan Cinema Centre. We explored around in both interior and exterior spaces, especially the public performance stage area.
Shortly after wandering around the building, we moved to our next destination, which is Haeundae Blueline Park We were being free and easy to wander around and explore the area by ourselves and the streets are well connected that enhance the indoor and outdoor atmosphere With the beautiful scenic view and full of people from variety of age range run along the activity, such as sky capsule and beach train 14
Haeundae-gu, Centum City| Busan
Official and exclusive venue of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), where its opening and closing ceremonies take place The center was designed by the Austrian architectural design firm Coop Himmelb(l)au and constructed by Hanjin Heavy Industries. In its very short history, the building has already won the International Architecture Award and the Chicago Athenaeum in 2007 as well as a Guinness World Record for the "longest cantilever roof" in the world. The Coop Himmelb(l)au team has managed to successfully bring to life an architectural vision of a caliber seldom seen off of the drafting board
The BIFF Hill (Loma del BIFF) was created with the functional needs of the festival in mind Composed of a convention center, a visual arts center and offices for the organizers, on one side that leans the platform will serve to set the audience to attend open air cinema Thanks to the flexible organization can adapt to different uses to operate and be efficient in dayto-day operation
The concept of Coop Himmelb(l)au envisions an urban plaza of overlapping zones: the Double Cone, the Cinema Mountain, the Urban Valley, the Red Carpet Zone, and the BIFF Hill This complex is sheltered by two large roofs that are enabled with computer programmed LED outdoor ceiling surfaces.
The Urban Valley is sheltered by a large sculpted outdoor roof and combines a flexible flat ground surface and large stepped tribunes of the BIFF Hill with 4000 seats.
Artistic lighting programs tailored to events of the BIFF or the Municipality of Busan can be created by visual artists and displayed across the ceiling in full motion graphics, creating a lively urban situation at night, but also visible during the day.
The Double Cone is the only vertical structural support for the large cantilevered roof acting as a large, singular column
The solid blocks of the set for interior spaces are materialized in reinforced concrete finished with metal plates alternated with some fully glazed façade.
The large cantilevered roofs are made of threedimensional structure of steel beams that form a series of trusses connected to each other and in turn to the pillar that gives them continuous support.
The complex has 10 apartments in total, 9 above ground plus a basement A total of 55,000 square meters built a house a series of buildings with various functions.
Ground floor – café
Higher levels - restaurant, bar and lounge overlooking the river.
During the film festival, this space serves as a VIP entrance and can also be used as a setting for events related to it
The Mountain Cinema is a multifunctional building containing both a 1,000-seat multifunctional theater with fly-tower and full backstage support. Separate entrances and foyers are provided for theater and cinema respectively,
Haeundae-gu, Mipo| Busan
Haeundae Blueline Park is a core tourist facility in the Haeundae Special Tourist Zone of Busan as an international tourist city, which was built in an eco-friendly redevelopment of the old railway facility of the East Sea South Line, and operating Haeundae Beach Train and Haeundae Sky Capsule along the beautiful coastal scenery along a 4.8 km section from Haeundae Mipo through Cheongsapo to Songjeong.
The sun was starting to set when we reach the destination, but the scenic view is still stunning and beautiful There are Haeundae SkyCapsule and Beach Train to explore the zone.
We discovered that by picking the package of SkyCapsule, we can explore from Mipo Station to Dalmaji Tunnel, Cheongsapo Station, Daritdol Skywalk, Gudeockpo, then Songjeong-yeock Station However, we were too late to grab the package. Therefore, we took the Beach Train to explore the place by stopping at several stations
The urban context of Haeundae Blueline park creates a great contrast between the connection of city and nature scenery view Taken the city view as a background and facing the sunset seashore view while riding the Skycapsule or the Beach Train given the feeling of placing the burden, stress and work at the back while facing and embrace the warmth and calm nature physically and mentally
The context of the street park also filled with residence and shophouses that form as a welcoming sign for the community to gather around at the place. Partial art installations also involved in the middle of street to spread out the knowledge for the community.
The agenda for Day 3 were free and easy, which it will just be explored around Gamcheon Cultural Village only This is because that we will be going back from Busna to Seoul at 1500 and the village is big enough for us to travel around within the time frame without any inconvenience caused. We were having lunch at the village, then returned back to Seoul after lunch.
Saha-gu | Busan
The town is known for its layered streets, twisted labyrinth-like alleys, and brightly painted houses, which have been restored and enhanced in recent years to attract tourism It built on a steep mountain-side slope, earning this village the nickname "Machu Picchu of Busan " Many alleys that cut through this community are vibrantly decorated with murals and sculptures created by the residents. Built in the 1950s by Korean War refugees, this village started as a shanty town Slowly, the people started building brick houses and the village got bigger and bigger. The village was reborn and it now attracts tourists from all over the world by collaborating with local artists.
The overall layout of the town is filling with colorful terraced houses and shophouses where it energizes the town and street for the community to run their business and unite. With this labyrinth colorful path, people are able to enter the town with different direction and it also creates the sense of curiosity while travelling through the street.
With the existing contour, it gives the feeling that people have to climb up and up to reach the top peak of the houses for finishing their journey.
Neighbors agreed on two basic principles to promote their own urban planning:
1. All roads should be connected
2. The view of the back house should not be blocked.
Therefore, the houses lining the border look like connected trains with the colorful landscape that form this beautiful “Lego Houses”
There are many narrow alleyways that surround the buildings where the alleys are nicely decorated in a way to attract more visitors enter the town. Artists’ workshops where tourists can create their own souvenir to take home, and art installations, including bird sculptures, playful installations.
Public art installations on the walls and streets are presented nicely to rejuvenate and reborn the town. With the relation of artistic experience, people can enjoy food and drink at the ideal places that full of artistic senses. There are several cafes and restaurants that double as an art gallery where abstract works embodying the experimental spirit of artist Young-chan Ahn (CEO of the Busan Art Association) can be appreciated.
The beautiful harmony of narrow alleys and old houses, as well as cute cafes and workshops full of personality have attracted both domestic and international attention, making “Gamcheon Culture Village” one of the city’s most prominent tourist attractions.
On Day 4, we went through traditional itinerary where it presented the bit of old from South Korea
We start off the journey to GyeongBokGung Palace The palace is massive enough for us to wander around and understand the traditional architecture and the history behind it. Find it interesting by studying and understanding the traditional construction on building the structure
After the visiting tour, we headed to our next destination, Bukchon Hanok Village. At the same time, we also settled our lunch within the village The village filled with traditional houses and innovative buildings that blend together to form an actual neighbourhood area with people’s homes.
Lastly, we headed to N Seoul Tower for our final destination where it is a well-known building that cannot missed. Perched on its lofty hilltop amongst the beautiful natural surrounds of Namsan Park, N Seoul Tower provides visitors with uncontested views across the whole city
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GyeongBokGung Palace
N Seoul Tower
Bukchon Hanok Village
Jongno-gu | Seoul
Main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Gyeongbokgung Palace is arguably the most beautiful and remains the largest of all five palaces The premises were once destroyed by fire during the Imjin War (1592-1598) However, all the palace buildings were later restored under the leadership of Heungseondaewongun during the reign of King Gojong (1852-1919). The Korean government has invested much time and effort into rebuilding, restoring, and maintaining the palace for future generations.
To understand briefly of the history, Gyeongbokgung Palace was built in 1395 by the first ruler of the Joseon Dynasty, King Taejo. Over the next two hundred years, the palace was expanded by King Taejong and King Sejong the Great.
Visit the Throne Hall at Geunjeongjeon Hall where the king would grant formal audiences, make official declarations, and greet honored foreign guests. The floating pavilion was the site of formal dinners and celebrations, and the manmade pond provided recreational opportunities for the royal family
The overall spaces and programmes are shown from the diagram above, which it is clearer for understanding the path and layout of the palace Explore the royal living quarters and on both inside and outside.
The traditional buildings are well blended with the nature context that secure within the layout. With the nature settings along with the water elements, it enhances the palace to feel secure and pleasant
From the diagram above can clearly see that the direction path is easy to guide wander around the palace. The sequence is given properly from the beginning to the end of the palace and slowly study and understand the functions and purposes of every spaces provided.
Studied from the palace, its traditional construction method is very interesting and fascinating. It consists of the straight colonial pathway that provides the sense of continuous and repetition of the columns, in which it provides the protective sense.
The joineries method of the columns and the beams are innovative in traditional sense. Then connect to the Giwa roof that extended upward and downward. From here, it emphasizes the strong influence of Chinese influence The arrangement of the roof also given a sense that act as a symbol of adoration.
Jongno-gu | Seoul
Korean traditional village in Seoul with a long history located on the top of a hill between Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace and Jongmyo Royal Shrine. The traditional village is composed of many alleys, hanok and is preserved to show a 600-year-old urban environment. The name Bukchon, which literally translates to "northern village," came about as the neighborhood lies north of two significant Seoul landmarks, Cheonggyecheon Stream and Jongno.
The village takes you to a scenic and serene adventure in the heart of Seoul. I have personally visited this charming traditional village and felt that the village is a memorable place where it embraces the peaceful ambiance and rustic charms.
Exploring the beautiful houses in the Bukchon Hanok Village to understand the mixture of conventional and contemporary style blend in the city. It is an appreciation to walk around the neighborhood and see the ancient beauty of the older residences
Marvel at the architectural designs, especially the traditional tiled roofs It is one of the unique features of the ancient Korean houses, or the Hanoks. The structure reflects Korea’s marvelous architectural practices. The roof construction is very much distinct compared to the modern ones by seeing how the edges of the roof curve slightly upward to create a more inimitable look. These tiled roofs are durable enough to withstand the changing seasons.
While wandering around the village, I figured out that the view of axis for the village is pretty clear and strong where you can see the towering panorama of buildings
Revel in the towering cityscape from afar is a unique experience, plus watching the traditional houses together with the modern structures peacefully and savor these memorable views
Yongsan-gu | Seoul
AKA Namsan Tower which it is a communication and observation tower located on Nam Mountain in central core of Seoul. The 236-meter (774 ft)-tall tower marks the second highest point in Seoul. The Namsan Tower is South Korea's first general radio wave tower that built in 1969, providing TV and radio broadcasting in Seoul. The tower currently broadcasts signals for Korean media outlets, such as KBS, MBC, and SBS It was designed by Jangjongryul and since then, the tower has been a landmark of Seoul
Unfortunately, the cable car was not operating when we were heading up to the Namsan Tower Therefore, we kicked start our journey by hiking from the bottom to the top until we reached the tower. It was a great experience for us to explore around the surrounding physically before reaching the destination. The surrounding nature makes the ambience to be more comfort and relax while climbing up the stairs
1 Urban city view of Seoul
Glance through the overall layouts and programmes that the Namsan Tower provided. N Seoul Tower is divided into three main sections, including the N Lobby, N Plaza, and the N Tower. The N Plaza consists of two floors, while the N Tower consists of four floors.
The lighting of the tower used the latest LED technology to offer visitors a digital, cultural art experience through 'light art.'
On Day 5, we went through contemporary itinerary, which we visited Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) by Zaha Hadid in Seoul One of the building that I admired as the building offers an extraordinary sense that feel overpowering from the inside as well as outside It acts like a centre masterpiece of Seoul that spread out all over the community. We walked in and explored the spaces inside and it is a great appreciation to enjoy the powerful and elongated structure.
After vissted DDP, we headed to our next visitation of building, which is Songeun Art Space by Herzog & de Meuron Although the building is not opened when we got there, but we are still able to explore the exterior of the building and the urban context surround the building
Jung-gu | Seoul
Designed as a cultural hub at the centre of Dongdaemun, which is an historic district of Seoul that is now renowned for its 24-hour shopping and cafes DDP is a place for people of all ages, it serves as an instigation and exchange of ideas and for new technologies and media for people to explore
The design and the infrastructure is all futuristic and came out from the sharp and brilliant minds of Zaha Hadid and Samoo. The design is made especially with shuttle guidance, including powerful and sustained broad structures and curved designs
The architectural design process is gone through with parametric building information modelling technologies. The language of building is well applied in both interior and exterior, it continues to bring out the overpowering curve style for defining the social interactions and behavior, such as spatial quality and relationship It given the curving path that able to guide the people with its curving walls.
The layout plan is fragmented nicely by staying with its curvy form It forms a public park where integrated with the museums and galleries
By seeing the layout, the design shows a commitment to preserve the site’s history and integrate the newly discovered history in an architectural landscape
1. Emerging nature into the space
2. City’s contemporary culture
3 Historic artifacts
The spaces do feel relief and relax with greeneries and cultural approach. It helps to bring the building to life by the celebration of skills and passion
The DDP façade cladding system is challenging in various sizes and degrees of curvature. This was made possible using parametric modelling with an advanced metal-forming and fabrication process to develop a masscustomization system
The façade forms a field of pixilation and perforation patterns, which creates dynamic visual effect depending on the lighting conditions and seasonal changes
Support profiles for cladding
Such an innovative ideas by continuing the language of pixilated façade and applied on the interior wall to act as patterns for display. There are seats which particularly suit for this design match the ambience of the interior
Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu | Seoul
The new ST SONGEUN Building houses art spaces for the SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation A non-profit cultural space located on Dosan-daero that seeks to illuminate domestic and foreign contemporary art and connect art and the public through various exhibition programs along with the Songeun Art Awards, which supports promising contemporary Korean artists. The project aims to strengthen SONGEUN's presence and significantly contribute to the city’s cultural topography and diversity.
Hermetic-looking triangular prism contains eleven floors of office spaces and the headquarters of a cultural foundation located in the context of heart of urban city. It shows a distinctive contrast with the surrounding buildings with two- and three-story
With its façade that consists of organic texture achieved through a formwork made of wooden panels, it given the sense that coming nature tree feelings.
1 Intimate walled garden that is open to the public
2 Small opening in the garden wall enables a new pedestrian shortcut connect
3 Entrance lobby has large frameless glazing, which can be completely open to extend through to the garden
Although we did not visit and explore the interior of the building, we can clearly see how amazing and marvelous of the architectural design from the external. The openness of the building is wide enough for the public and given the free expression.
The curve of the descending ramp carves an opening in the ceiling of the underground exhibition space can clearly seen from the external view It made of rough concrete walls and act like cave from the top to connect the floor levels.
Elements that connected:
1 Programmes
2. Sound
3 Texture
4. Light at street level
On the last day, we were having one place to visit only, which is Seoullo 7017. Since it was our last day at Korea, we were free and easy to explore the great architecture of highway overpass We then followed by a few minutes walk to explore the Docking Seoul, then finally reached the Seoul Station Rooftop Garden.
And here was our last stop of exploring the great architectural insights. We were quite lucky that the Korea trip was a success to have the opportunity to observe and explore the different varieties of architecture in Korea It is a great journey to obtain many distinctive architectural insights throughout this entire trip
Jung-gu | Seoul
AKA Seoul Skygarden from MVRDV’s design, it is an elevated, linear park that located in the heart of Seoul A true plant village has been realised on a former inner-city highway in an ever-changing urban area accommodating the biggest variety of Korean plant species and transforming it into this amazing long public walkway. The pedestrianized viaduct is looking greener and friendlier by connecting the greens approach in the urban context.
The main challenge of the Skygarden has been to transform the existing overpass into a public garden. From what I explored, there are many species and sub-species of plants and flowers that displaying at the path. Perhaps to engage the green symbol to become one of the family in the busy city
1. Enhancing the experience of users
2. Boosting the park with activities that engage the city on a cultural and commercial level
3. The connection of multiple stairs, lifts, bridges and escalators
Continuing the journey until we reached Docking Seoul, there is a unique cultural space with immersive art experiences It used to be a derelict spiral ramp of architecture. However, the government revitalizes and give a new life to the structure and become a local art installation
Until the last stop, Seoul Station Rooftop Garden where we can feel and explore the public greeneries approach. The surrounding building and the context are perfectly match to form as a scenery view layout on top of the roof.
From here can clearly see how strong the connection of the Seoullo 7017 for bringing and guiding people from places to places and it is well fitted in this complex context. The park includes gardens, terraces, and exhibitions. It well connects to its surroundings both physically and visually through plant species related to each of the neighbourhoods Marvelous!
