‘A building only expresses a thought, not the ego of the architect.’ As he said, Choi Moongyu has been practicing an architecture that conveys his own thoughts over the past 20 years, rather than pursuing a distinct style through the invention of an architectural language or the persistent use of certain materials. He sought to address simple but radical questions while exploring the circumstances of architecture and scrutinising specific programmes, and his architecture delivers and sometimes embodies the narratives of unexpected values and potential.

Yonsei University Educational Foundation (hereinafter Educational Foundation) is located on a hill adjacent to the Cheongsongdae Park, the prominent green space in the campus. When I visited the site several times, a few things such as the 1950s-built schoolhouse, the old swamp Spanish oak, the ginkgo tree, and the other surrounding trees caught my attention, encouraging me to set these project goals: to understand the historical context, to preserve the physical conditions, and to place the buildings with prudence.

The UOS Centennial Memorial Hall (hereinafter Centennial Memorial Hall) is a multi-purpose campus building at the University of Seoul. This project began with a question – what is the socially desirable role of the campus building in the local community? It is the outcome of this extensive contemplation over what kind of place a campus can be in the community that has cultivated a certain attitude: architecture caters to the needs of the university members as well as being open to its neighbourhood.

Maison de la Corée is a dormitory established in 2018 by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Advancing Schools Foundation, located on the campus of the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris (CIUP). It was planned to provide homes to Korean students who are studying in France, encouraging them to interact with other international students from across the globe. The CIUP was built in 1925 in the south of Paris, based on the ideology of ‘Peace through mutual understanding of young people all around the world’. Until the year of 1969, about 40 dormitory buildings were erected representing each country. After about 50 years, several new national residences are now planned.

Yang Soo-in has shown his resourcefulness, wit, and skill as a storyteller through his diverse range of works. He does not hesitate striking up conversations with others, and proposes the most relevant architectural solutions by sticking to the situations and problems at hand. Either because of this character, or because of an attitude that perceives the present moment ‘as the time to ask for more’, Yang’s architecture always elicits different solutions that cannot be grouped under a singular concept. Even now, the list of his varied and clear solutions continues to expand.

Seo Seungmo (principal, Samuso Hyojadong) walks. He walks along the alleyways of Seochon, the town in which he lives and works, and collects sudden, contextless, and nameless scenes. These sensations, that find embodiment in Seo, are then quantified as architectural matter. Seo has the ability to translate sensations into measurements. This quantified architecture is then returned back to the user as an abstract sense. What is to be noted here is that the basic premise of ‘Koreanness’ underlies all these rocesses. Through this, Seo’s architecture distinguishes itself. He begins with an explanation of what ‘Korean architecture’ means.