Ionic columns adorn a barbeque restaurant; a Corinthian porch shelters an entrance to multi-family houses; Renaissance-style decorations embellish the facades of hotels and even college buildings: an anonymous and banal architecture that seemingly derives from the West forms the landscape of the very modern Asian city, Seoul—the place in which aoa architects have long practiced, and in which its co-principals Suh Jaewon and Lee Euihaing have developed their distinctive architectural languages – critically accepting this disordered urban setting with distinctive humour and sarcasm, and seeking the possibilities for how ‘Korean-ness’ in Seoul can be translated into architecture. They believe that those aspects that enlighten architects lie in the conditions of everyday life, and that what makes architects truly proud is the facing up to reality with straightforwardness.

A strong wind known as feminism has been blowing across the cultural arts scene over recent years. Instead of dying down, this wind has now penetrated deep into our everyday lives and is demanding change from our patriarchal society. This discussion is also relevant to the architectural scene. With this in mind, SPACE talked with six female architects in contemporary architecture who can provide their honest views.

Seosomun Shrine History Museum