Korean Housing and Architectural Discourse: A Cross-Cultural Diagnosis and the Quest for Alternatives

 

SPACE Academia – an architectural theory research forum overseen by the monthly journal SPACE (listed on A&HCI) – opened its call for papers and proposals for special issues in February 2025. Now, SPACE Academia announces its second research theme: we invite all researchers to open up new horizons in the study of architecture and urbanism.

In the past, my work needed to situate itself within the history and language of architecture; it was how I made my roots explicit. I also regarded it as natural – part of creation itself – that personal memories and tendencies would mix with those roots and ¡®contaminate¡¯ them. Movement lay at the centre of my practice. In the cinematic architecture I studied at the AA School, time, the motion of matter, and existence approached one another as near-synonyms.

The Alien Table explores new architectural possibilities, merging algorithmic design with 3D printing technology. Through multi-objective optimisation, the project generates numerous shape variations based on parameters such as size, number of legs, and structural performance. This process allows architects to focus on aesthetic judgment, differentiating it from traditional design methods and presenting a contemporary realisation of organic architecture.

Although multistorey car parks are often thought of as ¡®cheap, easy-to-build¡¯ buildings, the many considerations architects must keep in mind are anything but simple. They range from minimum dimensions and separated circulation for vehicles and pedestrians, to measures for climate change and exposure to outdoor air, to proactive responses to potential complaints, and, in the case of private facilities, even the need to ensure commercial viability. Architects are forced into a precarious balancing act between the possibilities and the weight of responsibility. In this Cross Critique, SPACE opens up these issues by observing two parking facilities built in sharply contrasting urban contexts – Jinju and Hanam – with Lee Jeonghoon (principal, JOHO Architecture), joining us to spark discussion.

The architecture reaches just four stories, comfortably nestled into the hillside and blending with the topography rather than dominating it. Its massing is driven by the interior logic of its boutique residences, while its rounded corner and soft balcony curves respond to the curvature of the road at the hill¡¯s crest—an architectural gesture that acknowledges and engages the rhythm of the city. At street level, the first floor is envisioned as a ¡®civic threshold¡¯—a place open to programmes that complement both the architecture of Maison Le Sommet and the everyday life of Soerae Maeul.