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? And how are architects in various regions expanding their own worlds in different ways? SPACE is going to discover individual characteristics of them rather than group them into a single category.
An energy mobility scenario and a map of the subterranean logistics network strategy in Pohang, developed as part of Alternative-city Idea Competition 2022
interview Dongwoo Shin Associate Partner, Archicolony × Kim Hyerin
The Journey of Architectural Curiosity
Kim Hyerin (Kim): You graduated from University of Ulsan in 2013 and then went to study abroad at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands.
Dongwoo Shin (Shin): There are well-known architectural firms that come to mind when thinking of Western Europe, but they weren’t the reason I wanted to go to the Netherlands. As an undergraduate, I was curious about the analysis of design, but I had a slight resistance towards diagrammatic explanation and expression privileged by offices like Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and MVRDV. At the time when I was being educated in Korea, design research was emphasised. Many said that without this kind of analysis, one could not practice architecture. I wondered, if this is the method that determinates every architectural form and logic, then maybe I would not be able to practice architecture in this way. I wanted to find out whether the architectural education I had received was the only possible approach. After deciding to study abroad, I searched various programmes and found that TU Delft offered a specific track called Method and Analysis in the Master’s programme. I wasn’t entirely certain, but I felt I might be able to trace the thread of my thoughts there. In the end I chose another track called Architecture and Public Building instead. Interestingly, I met people who thought in a similar way. Diagrams have a tendency towards the simplification and typification of phenomena or objects because they prioritise efficiency or objectivity. However, in reality, not everything can be explained simply. Casual relationships are not always clear, and behind them lie complex issues. We focused on what tools of analysis and representation we should use if we wanted to look at problems from different perspectives and overcome them. One of those alternatives is mapping, an area in which I have been continuously conducting research.
Alternative-city Research 2023, this publication presents the research developed for the Alternative-city Idea Competition 2022, where Choi Jungwoo and Dongwoo Shin received a joint third prize.
Kim: How was architectural education in the Netherlands? Shin: I think it might be more characteristic of TU Dleft than something specific to the Netherlands. I heard that in 2008 there was a fire that completely destroyed the building of the Faculty of Architecture. After that, due to safety regulations, the university closed after 10pm. In Korea, as well as in the U.S., buildings with their lights on all night often symbolise the culture of the architectural field. At TU Delft, the cleaning staff would put silent pressure on you to leave by 10pm. It forced me to become very good at time management. I usually stay up late, but I started waking up at six in the morning, biking to school, working on assignments during the day, and returning home at ten.
Kim: Did y...
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Dongwoo Shin
Dongwoo Shin is an architect and educator based in Ulsan, Korea. His interests intersect across mapping and architectural methodology, with close attention to power and technological relations that shape today’s spatial conditions. Currently, he focuses on how post-representational mapping can contribute to the social or political contextualisation of architecture, moving beyond the material understanding of contemporary built environments.
