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Seoul: The Latest Architecture and News

Lotte Amoje, Food Capital / Karim Rashid

Lotte Amoje, Food Capital / Karim Rashid - Store, Table, ChairLotte Amoje, Food Capital / Karim Rashid - Store, Table, ChairLotte Amoje, Food Capital / Karim Rashid - Store, Table, ChairLotte Amoje, Food Capital / Karim Rashid - Store, Table, Chair, LightingLotte Amoje, Food Capital / Karim Rashid - More Images+ 8

  • Architects: Karim Rashid
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  900
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2013
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  Muma

Chungha Building / MVRDV

Chungha Building / MVRDV - Office Buildings, Facade
© Kyungsub Shin
  • Architects: MVRDV
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2013

Chungha Building / MVRDV - Office Buildings, FacadeChungha Building / MVRDV - Office Buildings, Facade, CityscapeChungha Building / MVRDV - Office Buildings, FacadeChungha Building / MVRDV - Office BuildingsChungha Building / MVRDV - More Images+ 11

'Mood Map' Exhibit / E/B Office

'Mood Map' Exhibit / E/B Office - Installation, Facade, Lighting
Courtesy of E/B Office

Built and exhibited at “Data Curation” in the Museum of Art at Seoul National University, ‘Mood Map’ visualizes the moods of Korean people in color and light through textual analysis of their Tweets on Twitter. Designed by E/B Office, they created a custom software program in Processing that will search and analyze Tweets in Korean language through the Twitter API. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Naegok V house / jhy architect & associates

Naegok V house / jhy architect & associates - Houses, Facade
© Kyung sub, Shin

Naegok V house / jhy architect & associates - Houses, FacadeNaegok V house / jhy architect & associates - Houses, Courtyard, Facade, Handrail, Fence, BalconyNaegok V house / jhy architect & associates - Houses, Door, Facade, HandrailNaegok V house / jhy architect & associates - Houses, Facade, HandrailNaegok V house / jhy architect & associates - More Images+ 34

A+animal hospital / jhy architect & associates

A+animal hospital / jhy architect & associates - Veterinary Clinic, Beam, Arch, Chair
© Kyung sub, Shin

A+animal hospital / jhy architect & associates - Veterinary Clinic, FacadeA+animal hospital / jhy architect & associates - Veterinary Clinic, Beam, TableA+animal hospital / jhy architect & associates - Veterinary Clinic, Kitchen, Door, Sink, CountertopA+animal hospital / jhy architect & associates - Veterinary Clinic, Beam, ArchA+animal hospital / jhy architect & associates - More Images+ 7

Changing the Mapo Oil Reserve Base Competition

Open to students and professionals, the Seoul Institute just launched the international ideas competition for the first step to changing the Mapo Oil Reserve Base, a relic of the industrial era. Located in Sangam, this area was once an abandoned mountain of waste, but now stands as a state-of-the-art city that leads the future of Seoul. Aiming to achieve a communication and co-existence between people and nature, the oil reserve base will be returned to the citizens through the ideas of students and professionals who reflect the meaning and value of the land and regenerate the space to meet this new era’s core values of environment & ecology and sustainable future. The deadline for submissions is August 23. To register, and for more information, please visit here.

'Plushscape' Installation at Interspace Dialogue Exhibition / ALLTHATISSOLID

'Plushscape' Installation at Interspace Dialogue Exhibition / ALLTHATISSOLID - Installation, Lighting
Courtesy of Seoul Museum of Art + ALLTHATISSOLID

Taking place at the Seoul Museum of Art, the 'Total Theatre: Interspace Dialogue' exhibition is featuring the Plushscape installation by Max Kuo of ALLTHATISSOLID. Curated by Regina Shin, the exhibition, which is also a film festival, borrows Gropius and Piscator’s concept of a new kind of theatre to realize a cinema inside of the white cube of a museum. In response to the curatorial agendas of Interspace Dialogue, Plushscape seeks to agitate and amplify the somatic conditions of the viewers’ bodies providing more spatial possibilities in their haptic response to the screening films. More images and architects' description after the break.

Blurring Boundary / UTAA

Blurring Boundary  / UTAA - Infrastructure, Facade, LightingBlurring Boundary  / UTAA - Infrastructure, Garden, Fence, Facade, Column, ArchBlurring Boundary  / UTAA - Infrastructure, Courtyard, Facade, DoorBlurring Boundary  / UTAA - Infrastructure, FacadeBlurring Boundary  / UTAA - More Images+ 27

  • Architects: UTAA
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  90
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2012

H&M Seoul Hongdae Store / D.LIM architects

H&M Seoul Hongdae Store / D.LIM architects - StoreH&M Seoul Hongdae Store / D.LIM architects - StoreH&M Seoul Hongdae Store / D.LIM architects - StoreH&M Seoul Hongdae Store / D.LIM architects - StoreH&M Seoul Hongdae Store / D.LIM architects - More Images+ 16

Stardom Entertainment Office / D.LIM architects

Stardom Entertainment Office / D.LIM architects - RenovationStardom Entertainment Office / D.LIM architects - RenovationStardom Entertainment Office / D.LIM architects - RenovationStardom Entertainment Office / D.LIM architects - RenovationStardom Entertainment Office / D.LIM architects - More Images+ 22

The Uncertain Future of Seoul, Korea's "Dream Hub"

The Uncertain Future of Seoul, Korea's "Dream Hub"  - Mixed Use Architecture
Block H; Courtesy of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

According to Business Insider and a number of other real estate development outlets, the "Dream Hub" project in Seoul Korea that drew designs from internationally renowned architects including Daniel Libeskind -designer of the master plan - MVRDV, Dominique Perrault, BIG, REX, KPF and Tange Associates is on the verge of collapse. The Yongsan Development Corporation reportedly defaulted on a major loan repayment, citing difficulties in raising funds due to the real estate slump since the 2008 global financial crisis. The collapse of the project is still speculative, as it is unclear how the next round of loans that are to mature in June will fare.

The $28 billion real estate "Dream Hub" project was to develop 56-acres in central Seoul into a modern business hub. In its planning it included shopping malls, hotels, department store, apartment blocks, and mixed-use office towers. Follow us after the break for a recap of the projects that were planned for this development.

Fusing Architecture and Music: Philip Kennicott Describes the Inspiration Behind Steven Holl’s Daeyang Gallery and House

Awarded yesterday with the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for criticism, Philip Kennicott has built an honorable reputation as a art and architecture critic for Washington Post’s Style section. One of his most recent works, Music Holl: A Copper Clad Pavilion in Seoul recounts the inspiration behind Steven Holl’s award-winning Daeyang Gallery and House in Seoul.

Designed as an experiment on “the architectonics of music,” the basic geometry of the Daeyang Gallery and House was inspired by Istvan Anhalt’s 1967 Symphony of Modules - a uniquely transcribed sheet of music found in John Cage’s contemporary music compendium, Notations. Reminiscent of the “blocky and shard-like shapes” of Anhalt’s sketch, Holl’s design features three copper-clad pavilions punctured by a symphony of carefully placed, rectangular skylights that animate the interior with “bars of light”. As Kennicott describes, Holl uses music as a “powerful metaphor for the dynamic unfolding of experience” (captured in this film by Spirit of Space).

Read Kennicott’s Music Holl: A Copper Clad Pavilion in its entirety here on Dwell. Continue after the break to compare Steven Holl's sketch above with Anhalt’s Symphony of Modules.

Mookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon

Mookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon - Housing, Facade
© Moon Jeongsik
  • Architects: Moon Hoon
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  117
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2012

Mookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon - Housing, Stairs, HandrailMookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon - Housing, Door, Facade, HandrailMookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon - Housing, FacadeMookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon - Housing, Beam, Handrail, FacadeMookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon - More Images+ 20

Sejong Art Center Winning Proposal / DMP Partners

Designed by DMP Partners, their winning proposal for the Sejong Art Center (SAC) is composed of two theaters, a main theater with more than 800 seats, a medium sized theater with 300 seats, a film theater with 250 seats, and an art gallery. Located in the international cultural area between nature-scape and urban-scape, the building combines nature and city through its straight, linear shape. This form is applied in accordance with the city and its curvature shape is in accordance with nature to create a comfortable feeling. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Performing Arts Studio of the National Theatre of Korea Second Prize Winning Proposal / Archiplan

Designed by Archiplan, their second prize winning proposal for the Performing Arts Studio of the National Theatre of Korea is an extension design concept for the performers practice facilities in the basement of the existing plaza. The main issue is the vitalization of the environment which is now 'blocked' by the retaining wall on the edge of the main road and by the steep slope that makes a disconnection of the site. By embracing art, culture, and the city itself, this proposal connects the two-dimensional old theatre-plaza and the nearby park to link the performer and the citizens while allowing the art and culture flow well. More images and architects’ description after the break.

P&P / D.LIM architects

P&P / D.LIM architects - Exterior Photography, Office Buildings, FacadeP&P / D.LIM architects - Exterior Photography, Office Buildings, FacadeP&P / D.LIM architects - Office BuildingsP&P / D.LIM architects - Interior Photography, Office Buildings, Facade, BeamP&P / D.LIM architects - More Images+ 23

  • Architects: D.LIM architects
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  467
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2013

Films & Architecture: "Cloud Atlas"

Cloud Altas is the adaptation of David Mitchell's novel by the same name. It follows six different story-lines, each taking place in a different time period, ranging over hundred of years (from our past to future). Each era gets a careful development of space, and, as usual, the Watchowski Brothers show their unique way of imagining the city of the future.

In fact, the story lines were filmed separately: while Tom Tykwer was working on those stories that take place in the 1930's and 1970's, the Watchowski Brothers were filming all the futuristic ones (which take place in the year 2321). Several famous buildings were utilised - let us know if you recognise any of them. Enjoy and as always, comment!

Neil Barrett 'Shop in Shop' / Zaha Hadid Architects

Neil Barrett 'Shop in Shop' / Zaha Hadid Architects - Interior Photography, Store, Bathroom, Bathtub
©  Virgile Simon Bertrand

Text description provided by the architects. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the ‘Shop in Shop’ concept for Neil Barrett is based on a singular, cohesive project that is divided into sixteen separate pieces. Specific pieces have then been selected and installed into each of the four Neil Barrett Shop in Shop’s in Seoul, and also into the Hong Kong shop; creating a unique display landscape within each store. The pieces have been carved and molded from the original solid as pairs that define each other to create an artificial landscape that unfolds multiple layers for display. More images and architects' description after the break.