SPACE June 2022 (No. 655)
ʻI am an Architectʼ was planned to meet young architects who seek their own architecture in a variety of materials and methods. What do they like, explore, and worry about? SPACE is going to discover individual characteristics of them rather than group them into a single category. The relay interview continues when the architect who participated in the conversation calls another architect in the next turn.
interview Park Heedo principal, HDp Architects × Park Jiyoun
Dispersal and Addition
Park Jiyoun: Thank you for inviting me to your office. It is an interesting multistory space with a pitched roof.
Park Heedo: It took me about four months to find this space. As I’m fond of the energy that characterises the areas around Hongik University, the location had to be somewhere around here, but as you know, the rent is rather high. As I was browsing options that featured terraces and parking, I came across this interesting office space and immediately signed the contract. I get such good vibes from this place. My clients have also enjoyed their visits here, and so I thought it was only right to hold this interview here.
Park Jiyoun: You are sharing the office with the interior design studio, TINKER. Do requests for architectural commissions made to HDp Architects eventually develop into interior design requests for TINKER and vice versa.
Park Heedo: Not yet, at least so far. But sometimes we do help one another when one of us is overwhelmed. Currently there is a project at TINKER that we have decided to help in terms of construction. Likewise, when I feel that a design project goes beyond our team’s capabilities, I also ask for their help. It’s a mutually dependent structure. (laugh) In general, I advise on things related to architecture, and I get advised about things related to interior design.
Park Jiyoun: It is a flexible structure composed of teams of two members that may occasionally combine into a team of four. Regarding Goo Bonseok ‒ the sole team member of HDp Architects ‒ I heard that you recruited him yourself?
Park Heedo: Since becoming independent in October 2021, I have finished three interior projects and I am currently conducting three design projects. Aside from these, I have another interior project coming up. Anyway, physically speaking, it was tough. I thought the range of my capabilities would be enhanced if there were someone else helping me. I mean, I also have to get around, meet people, and do business. So I scouted department head Goo Bonseok that I met when I used to work at MASS STUDIES before turning independent. We weren’t in the same team, but he was well-recognised in the company, and we matched one another in terms of personalities as well. And so I appealed to him actively, especially because he was also thinking seriously about becoming independent. I told him that he could indirectly experience the life of being an independent architect while leaving all burden of responsibility to me by joining my office. (laugh) He also happened to be interested towards interiors and construction, and since I was about to set out on in all-comprehensive direction including everything from interior to construction, I thought our intentions were aligned in that matter.
Park Jiyoun: What is better about working together compared to working alone?
Park Heedo: The fact that I can now ask for a second opinion design-wise. A design accomplished solo and a design based on the exchange of opinions are different. More reliable outcomes feel possible when you have someone with whom to debate. There is also a matter of work-efficiency: for example, when one of us needs to stay at the site during the construction phase, the other can continue with other works elsewhere.
Park Jiyoun: I’m curious about the project that made you become independent.
Park Heedo: Under a previous name pH7 architects, I used to run this office with co-principal, Hong Sungbum. I received the project Unjungroo (2022 ‒) back then, and I decided to work with him when I went independent. Originally, this project contract was going to be signed by another office, and I was asked by an acquaintance to review it. After seeing the contract, I realised that it had been made unfavorable to the client.I expressed my opinions on the parts that need to be modified, and along with it, I sent my portfolio as well. After looking through the project, I felt convinced that I could do a good job. Furthermore, I was also looking to go independent. The client found my portfolio interesting and so we met the next day. I wasn’t given much time, but I sent my first draft within three weeks, and the client liked it. The project is now expected to be built in a similar way to what was outlined in that proposal.
With Tenacity and Focus
Park Jiyoun: Before this interview, you made a visit to Pause-Namyeong (2022). This project was originally meant to be a construction project which later became an interior design project.
Park Heedo: An acquaintance at an interior design office used to be in charge of this project, but because they didn’t have enough time, they requested that I carry out construction. I accepted gladly as I’m fond of construction work. I visited the site with their first design proposal and the client. When I looked at the site, however, it seemed to me that this proposal was unlikely to be realised. The building was 70 years old, and there was a high chance that many more variables would be created if it were to be demolished. The wooden structure was also observed around some ceiling parts that got torn out. And so I suggested that there was a need to work on the interior design after its demolition, and everyone else agreed. In fact, after demolition, a wooden structure, truss, and burnt traces were revealed. From here on, I participated in the interior design as well. It was a project where an undesigned building got demolished and designed at the same time.
Park Jiyoun: Just like Unjungroo, PauseNamyeong is an example of a case where your zeal for the project led to an extension of the work. (laugh) You’re a multi-player who does not only work on architecture but also interior design and construction. What are the charms of interior design and construction?
Park Heedo: Architecture has a long life cycle, but the charming point about interior design is that the final result can be reached at a much quicker phase. As for construction, it’s just that it matches my personality. A construction site is wild and chaotic, and I feel alive when standing in that space.
Park Jiyoun: I assume that a high level of mental and physical strength is needed to endure such a project from the beginning to the end of the entire project.
Park Heedo: It’s fun, but at times, it’s tough. (laugh) If I’m made the manager of a construction site, I must take care of everything from ordering materials, calculating supply, and all site details, and so I cannot leave the site until the building gets finished. This also means I don’t have enough time to do design work. In construction, people work customarily not only on Saturdays but even on most Sundays. In short, there is no so-called ‘work-life balance’ here, and it just happens that I don’t really care much about it. I think it’s only natural that one becomes devoted to their work, especially during the early stage of opening an office.
Bridge, HDp Architects + Choi Yoonmi
In Its Proper Place
Park Jiyoun: The concept images of Unjungroo and Bridge (2017) posted on your homepage are quite impressive.
Park Heedo: As mentioned earlier, Unjungroo is my first client request, while Bridge is a design competition submission. I often express the building as a single-paged diagram or concept image. This was what I’ve done since my college years. By collecting the building’s essence on a single image, it not only helps me to organize the concept but also to persuade the client. (laugh)
Park Jiyoun: I’m curious where the site of Unjungroo is located, and how it was interpreted.
Park Heedo: The site is at Unni-dong, Jongnogu. In urban perspective, Jongno is a place filled with palaces and historical sites. The Unhyeongung is found at the west of the site and Changdeokgung palace is at the north. In contrast, in the site ’s adjacent surroundings, there are also many contemporary buildings that emphasize verticality and density. It came to me that a dichotomy of contexts between tradition and contemporary can be observed in this land. We contemplated a lot on what kind of building should set foot in Unni-dong. What we came up with is to avoid the tradition-contemporary dichotomy and look for ways to harmonise them. So we borrowed many motifs from traditional hanok. Elements such as toenmaru and eaves were used as building constituents.
Park Jiyoun: The focus was on its locational property at the urban level.
Park Heedo: I think Unjungroo would have fit in splendidly even if it was built in Gangnam. But there ’s no reason for it to be there. I think it only makes sense for Unjungroo to be at Unni-dong. It ’s because it was this particular location that this building had to be built there.
Park Jiyoun: I guess the goal would be to realize the original plan as much as possible. I’d like to visit it when it gets completed.
Park Heedo: I also wish that it ’d get realised as originally planned. Neighbourhood living facilities are in fact a game of maximizing the floor-to-area ratio efficiency. Still, I chose to install terraces that borrow the concept from toenmaru on each floor of Unjungroo. Losing maximum floor-to-area ratio in such a small land was a sensitive matter that I had to put much effort to convince, and the client showed understanding toward our design intent. I think it will be finished sometime around this month next year.
Park Jiyoun: If it could be said that Unjungroo is a melding of urban context in a building, then Bridge would be a project that creates an urban context through a building.
Park Heedo: It was a competition with an extremely broad theme on ‘what is a bridge for architecture ’. When we think of bridges, we usually think of a physical connection with a solid body. Conversely, I approached the question by asking myself if a void and empty space might be used as a bridge in architecture. In anticipation of a day when human beings will no longer be constrained by gravity, when people will be able to move around the sky with flying cars, machines, and equipment, I postulated that the building ’s emptied interior or form would then function as a bridge for them. Thoughts tend to get rigid with work as I spend time reviewing legal documents and conforming to client requests. On the other hand, concept competition offers a stage for me to explore ideas in an unrestricted manner, and so it is an effective way to keep my thoughts elastic.
Park Jiyoun: It seems that you are driving yourself to the limits of your personal capabilities and effort in your individual field of expertise. Is there a project that you’d want to do one day?
Park Heedo: I ’d like to try making a stadium.
Park Jiyoun: That’s an extremely large-scale project. (laugh)
Park Heedo: Sure. But I wouldn ’t know if it ’s impossible unless I try it. No one knows everything from the start. In that sense, I think the architect as an occupation is a constant process of learning.
Unjungroo, HDp Architects + pH7 architects
Park Heedo, our interviewee, want to be shared some stories from Lee Kyuseob (principal, General Architects) in July 2022 issue.
