Architecture 101 is the basics of architecture for any architecture student, and it is often the first subject an architecture student experiences in the university. What would one expect when a film is named as such?
Architecture 101, a Korean film directed by Lee Yong-ju, uses architecture as a central character to juxtapose events, memories, and dreams narrated through the protagonists’ everyday experiences and how their relationship unfolds. The film, which revolves around a young man, Seung-min’s journey into the world of architecture and his first love, Seo-yeon, serves as a metaphorical and literal construction of personal memory and history. Framed around the film genre of romance, as the title suggests, architecture is the central theme in Architecture 101, both in the academic sense and, at the same time, rich with symbolism of the unspoken emotional states of the protagonists.
The film begins with Seo-yeon visiting her derelict old home on Jeju Island. This opening scene sets the film’s tone and establishes Yeon’s house as a pivotal character. Subsequently, the film oscillates between the present and the past by revisiting spaces, eliciting memories linking architecture to emotion.
The encounter
The scene then shifts to an architecture office where Seung-min works, and the reminiscence begins when Seo-yeon goes to find him to design her home. The encounter was awkward but simultaneously familiar, as Seung-min took some time before realising it was his first love, Seo-yeon. The narrative returned to a scene in the university where both had an “encounter” while taking the subject Architecture 101. Seung-min is an architecture student who met his first love, Seo-yeon, a student majoring in music. The unfolding and intertwined journey of the protagonists begins with the Architecture 101 assignments, where they are tasked to learn about their neighbourhood, a faraway place and a fun place. As both lived in the same neighbourhood, encounters occurred.
The house is the locus of collective memories.
The old family house of Seo-yeon is the locus of storytelling, with the design and renovation of the home being the spine of the romance storyline where a series of collective memories unfold.
The present relationship between Seo-yeon and Seung-min manifests during the process of the design and construction, which includes moments such as the change of the design halfway through when Seo-yeon wants a piano room as her birthday gift from Seung-min, both the protagonists working together during the construction process, and when the house was near to completion where they planted a plant at the front garden. Towards the end, the cinematic play of light and silence also expresses the spatial dichotomy when Seung-min gives Seo-yeon a kiss on a bench on a silent night versus Seo-yeon starring at Seung-min on the bright and fresh landscaped roof at the renovated house.
The architectural model as an imagined reality
The film’s use of architectural models and spaces to symbolise emotions and memories adds a layer of depth and intrigue, inviting the audience to appreciate the film’s artistic complexity. The architectural model, an essential film element, reflects a sense of loss and symbolises dreams and imagination. The model made by Seung-min of Seo-yeon’s dream beach house when he was an architecture student in the past is juxtaposed with the model of the old family house remodelling made when he was an architect.
A scene shows the earlier model thrown in the trash by Seung-min, symbolising a loss of hope. It connects it to a scene where the model is found neatly in a box in Seo-yeon’s newly renovated house, reversing that connotation of loss. At the same time, a model of the modernised old family house made by Seung-min represents hope and dream, which turns into reality when the house is completed. This intertwined approach of using an architectural model portrays the idealism of a model being an imagined reality.
The abandoned house is a static construct.
While these dichotomies contrast and show how the spaces that Seung-min and Seo-yeon once shared have changed, the abandoned house appears to be a static spatial construct that remained a familiar space over different slices of time—one of a derelict void that symbolised the emotional state of love that remained. The abandoned house symbolises a container of memory that “paused” and left unfinished.
The completion of the house
Completing the remodelling of the old family home marks the culmination of memories. The cinematic shots of the screens expanding into the panoramic view overlooking the sea, the sunlight filtering through the apertures to the texture of the walls, and the piano that sits on the house’s ground floor represent the present. The manifestation of the renovated house has also made their romantic relationship surface, with confessions that they were each other’s first love, albeit an open-ended conclusion of the film as the curtain draws.
Architecture 101 is a film that frames the storyline of Seo-yuen and Seung-min’s love, emotions and memories through a series of juxtaposed architectural spaces, scenes and elements. It uses the key elements associated with architecture – an architecture classroom, an assignment, spaces, experiences and the architectural model as a concoction of tools that unfold the film’s narrative. Perhaps not every layperson watching the film would uncover the connection between space-time and emotion. Still, every architect who watches this will be able to enjoy how the film set and the romance storyline intersect and interact through the basics of architecture.
References:
Architecture Models in Film (2024). Architecture Models in Film [online]. Available at https://archimodelsinfilm.com/post/116552746220/architecture101 [Accessed 31 August 2024]
