SPACE May 2024 (No. 678)
Portfolio and Travel, Image courtesy of Mokchon Foundation
Publication party of Portfolio and Travel ©Deep Green Studio
On Apr. 6, marking the 30th anniversary as of 2021 of the Tai Soo Kim Architectural Travelling Fellowship (hereinafter fellowship), a book launch for Portfolio and Travel was held. Since 1991, the fellowship has supported one young Korean architect each year with the expenses and procedures for overseas architectural travel after portfolio review and interviews. It has nurtured awardees such as Jang Yoongyoo (2nd awardee, co-principal, Unsangdong Architects), Kwon Hyungpyo (10th awardee, co-principal, BAU Architects), Na Unchung (16th awardee, co-principal, NAMELESS Architecture), and Lee Chihoon (22nd awardee, partner, SoA). The book launch was attended by about 60 figures from across the architectural field including Tai Soo Kim (principal, TSKP Architects), Min Hyunsik (principal, KIOHUN architects and associates), Hwang Doojin (principal, Doojin Hwang Architects), along with past awardees. The event featured a book donation ceremony and congratulatory speeches by Tai Soo Kim, Ji Jungwoo (9th awardee, co-principal, EUS+ Architects), Son Joohui (23rd awardee, professor, Hanyang University), Kim Mihyun (chief director, Mokchon Foundation), and Choi Dunam (formerly professor, Seoul National University).
Tai Soo Kim, who left Korea at the age of mid-twenties in 1961 to study in the U.S. and became a notable architect in his mid- fifties with projects like the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) Gwacheon, and KyoBo Life Insurance Training Facility, has frequently traveled back to Korea. Living in the U.S., he never lost his pride as an ‘architect from Korea’ and thought about how he could help the Korean architectural community, founding the Tai Soo Kim Scholarship Foundation in 1991 and managing the fellowship. ‘Until 2021, about 15 of the 30 awardees are actively working in the architecture field domestically and internationally,’ he noted the significance of the fellowship while also expressing concerns about how to evolve the form of support for ‘architectural travel abroad’ now that travel has become more common compared to the early days of the fellowship when overseas travel was only just being permitted in Korea. He explained that this volume ‘records the last 30 years centred on the portfolios submitted by the winning architects and their travel experiences,’ through which he ‘wanted to bless the recipients’.
Ji Jungwoo and Son Joohui spoke about how the fellowship was one of the driving forces that kept them in the field of architecture. Son Joohui remarked, ‘It was four years into my work at an atelier, as my understanding of architectural design and the industry was deepening,’ he recalled. He won the award at a time when he was questioning whether his work merely echoed the office’s style or if he could strike out on his own, and the opportunity ‘gave him the confidence in own architectural approach’. Meanwhile, Kim Mihyun said, ‘When establishing the Mokchon Foundation, the long-lasting Tai Soo Kim Scholarship Foundation was an inspiration, and it was even more meaningful that I took over the operation of the Tai Soo Kim Scholarship Foundation in Korea from 2018.’ Choi Dunam, who has been involved in interviewing for the fellowship, expressed his gratitude to Tai Soo Kim, who ‘has sown and nurtured seeds in Korean architecture,’ and who ‘attended the book launch in good health’.
This year’s 33rd fellowship, enhanced by a donation from Kyu Sung Woo (principal, Kyu Sung Woo Architects), now awards 17,000 USD, up from 5,000 USD since 2022, and targets Korean nationals under the age of 35 who have earned an architectural degree in Korea and have not studied abroad. The application for this fellowship closed on Apr. 30.
