Small Worlds Forged from Geometric Principles: Functional Architecture in Sayuwon Park

SPACE March 2026 (No. 700) 

Public Toilet (Profane) (2025) 

Performance Pavilion (2025) 

Sayuwon Park

From its initial conception by Yoo Jaesung (Chairman, Taechang Steel Co., Ltd.) in 2013, Sayuwon Park was intended as a private park where selected architects, artists, and landscape designers would be invited to dialogue with the striking natural landscape. From 2020 this site has been open to the public. It covers an area totaling 330,000m² and takes about three hours to explore and traverse in its entirety. The park features architectural installations by Alvaro Siza, Seung H-sang, Choi Wook, Kawagishi Matsunobu and Jung Youngsun.

My work on Sayuwon began in 2014, with various proposals, projects and suggestions as part of a continuous exchange of ideas. It was not until 2021 that the projects began to take shape and appear in the park. Four projects have now been installed, all as working park service buildings. Each building was conceived and constructed on a limited budget and adheres to the stated requirement to use materials already present in the park; concrete, brick, and corten steel. The general principles that unite the four projects are experimental approaches to materials, form, and construction typologies, adopted in the pursuit of a perfect form. The geometric principles underpinning the plans, the diagonal and sharp angles of the structure, the clear connection between form and material, and the asymmetries and misalignments all stem from an obsessive search for a mysterious geometric root, which can only be perceived in decontextualised abstract form.

Site plan 

Visiting Center Gate 

The project involved the design of a new gate building as an entrance to the arboretum. The site is located in a narrow valley along the main road, and the project also included a parking area with information centre, ticket office, and toilet facilities. The aim was to integrate this gateway within the surrounding landscape, connecting the parking lot and tourist facilities to the arboretum. The building is a sculptur...