Every country experiences growth due to movements, revolutions, and conflicts. The landscape of the country evolves as it expands and develops. The structure for modern-day with the opening of the harbour at the end of the nineteenth century, Seoul began to emerge as the building of electrical facilities, railroads, streetcar tracks, parks, waterworks systems, schools, and hospitals began. However, Japanese colonialism soon had an impact on Seoul. Seoul architecture symbolises the country’s social, economic, and national issues.
Seoul’s modern development may be divided into three segments. In the mid-1960s, a plan to expand and improve Seoul was established, which involved acquiring farmland south of the river from neighbouring provinces. As a result of the large population inflow and lack of social infrastructure, Seoul had major urban challenges such as traffic congestion, environmental pollution, the establishment of illegal settlement areas, and housing shortages from the 1960s through the 1970s.
To address these concerns, the Seoul Metropolitan Government prioritised the construction of essential infrastructures such as highways, housing complexes in illegal settlement zones, and the Cheonggye Overpass and Yeouido Island. Seoul, South Korea’s capital, is a breathtaking metropolis with a stunning skyline. It has several tourist attractions, including some of the best architecture in Seoul and creative buildings worth visiting. The buildings look toward the future with clean lines, dynamic facades, and architectural accents.
This was followed by progressive industrialisation, which established illegal settlement areas throughout the city. Seoul began to develop into a new residential zone since these outer territories were swiftly recognised as within the city’s purview. Seoul Metropolitan City was formally renamed after Korea’s independence in 1945. However, once the Korean War began, the city fell into disrepair. Skyscrapers, hanging gardens, thin brick buildings, and unique tower facades are examples of Seoul, South Korea’s architecture and design works.
The street layouts in the city centre north of the river are mainly on a rectangular grid. Streets and buildings stretch out from the sites of the old city wall’s four main gates: Bukdaemun (“Great North Gate”), located near the top of Mount Pugak (Bugak) in the northern part of the city; Tongdaemun (“Great East Gate”); Namdaemun (“Great South Gate”), a designated national treasure whose wooden superstructure was destroyed by fire in 2008 (the rebuilt gate was reopened in 2013); and Sŏdaemun (“Great West Gate”).
South Korean traditional architecture was deeply entwined with environment and culture to produce a harmonious sense of majesty and rest. Some of the architectural elements observed in palaces and temples included thatched roofs, Ondol (warm stone) floor heating systems, dragon and flower themes, gold and jade inlaid statues, and raised overhangs. Houses (hanok), palaces, and temples are the two main types of traditional architecture that have been conserved. South Korea has nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites that showcase traditional architectural styles.
Korea’s realism was and continues to be distinct from that of the West, and the same can be said of its architecture. In contrast to the architecture of the West, which is a self-centred and continuous tradition of ideas, practices, and monuments, the consistent elements in contemporary Korean architecture emerge from everyday living concepts, industrial production systems, and topographical conditions rather than any institutional or architectural tradition. For decades, it has moved as a creative mechanism of unstable knowledge and practices, propelled by a self-conscious sense of backwardness and an anxious quest for modernity.
Buildings in Korean architecture are constructed vertically and horizontally. A structure typically rises from a stone sub-foundation to a curved roof covered with tiles, held by a console structure, and supported by posts; walls are made of dirt (adobe) or, in certain cases, entirely of movable wooden doors. Architecture is built to the Kan unit, which is the distance between two posts (approximately 3.7 meters), and is created with a transfer point between the “interior” and “exterior.”
As economic growth has slowed and the social environment has altered because of population ageing and other factors, Seoul has undergone a paradigm shift in its strategies toward urban renewal. Offices like Mass Studies were cropping up everywhere, while large projects like Zaha Hadid‘s Dongdaemun Design Plaza were being built rapidly. Its striking neo-futuristic characteristics represent grandeur and elegance. It’s no surprise that the building hosts the bi-annual Seoul Fashion Week and other art galleries and shows. As a result, today’s Seoul is a very different place. New hype projects in that region are coming up on every architecture website, thanks partly to PSY and his pop hit Gangnam Style, and new intriguing local offices are gaining popularity in this bustling market.
For the first time in its history, the Korean architectural community can sustain all generations – public figures, established architects producing sophisticated work, young architects, and aspiring students – and is also completely integrated into the global context. Whereas in previous decades, international architects’ involvement was primarily struck, South Korea is now an international setting for different projects that provide the ground for unstable yet intriguing ideas.
References:
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- KoreaTravelPost – South Korea’s Leading Travel Media Publication. (2020). 10 Amazing Buildings in Seoul You Must See – Best Architecture in Seoul. [online] Available at: https://www.koreatravelpost.com/best-architecture-in-seoul/.
- RTF | Rethinking the Future. (2019). 15 Places Architects Must Visit in Seoul – Rethinking the Future. [online] Available at: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/architects-lounge/a418-15-places-architects-must-visit-in-seoul/ [Accessed 23 Dec. 2022].
- ArchDaily. (2022). Seoul Architecture City Guide: 30 Projects to See in the Heart of South Korea. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/987186/seoul-city-guide-30-projects-to-see-in-the-heart-of-south-korea [Accessed 23 Dec. 2022].
- theforeignarchitect.com. (2020). Seoul: a small guide to the best contemporary architecture in town. [online] Available at: https://theforeignarchitect.com/guides/seoul/ [Accessed 23 Dec. 2022].
- Pai, H. (2018). Architecture as perpetual crisis: the constantly evolving architecture of South Korea. [online] Architectural Review. Available at: https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/architecture-as-perpetual-crisis-the-constantly-evolving-architecture-of-south-korea.
