SPACE October 2025 (No. 695)
I AM AN ARCHITECT
‘I am an Architect’ 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 Won Gyeyeon, Lee Jeseon co-principals, studiothewon × Kim Hyerin
Loving Someone is Like Moving into a House▼1
Kim Hyerin (Kim): If I visit the studiothewon website, I’ll find a quote from Fredrik Backman’s book, A Man Called Ove. It talks about the ways that time leaves its mark on a home, and how those imperfections make us love it even more.
Lee Jeseon (Lee): While working on one of our projects, the owners of Seohyanggak (2017) recited that passage during dinner, revealing how deeply it resonated with them. The sentiment in that quotation is very similar to our own feelings about architecture and time, and the way it describes the idea of a ‘home’ closely mirrors our approach to architecture.
Won Gyeyeon (Won): When it comes to residential projects, we prioritise the various essential functions and meaningful values that aren’t immediately visible rather than focusing on impressive architectural features that please the eye. That quote is about love, but its subject is a house, and it felt similar to our attitude about designing homes. Also, since architectural firms often have an austere image that can make clients hesitate over approaching them, we thought a piece of literature on our website would help soften that impression.
Kim: You opened your firm in Gangwon-do. Tell us about that process.
Won: Since my student days, I always wanted to use my skills in my hometown. This thought lingered even when I worked in Seoul after graduation. Seoul is expensive in terms of rental costs for offices and housing, and feels crowded, so opening an office there was never an option for me. After my first project, I had no follow-up work, ...
