Seoul National University Museum of Art
Art museum of Seoul National University.
Gangnam Severance Hospital
Set in the heart of an upscale, dense residential area in the Gangnam District of Seoul (home to the “Gangnam Style” immortalized by the song of the same name) this new replacement hospital brings world-class healthcare to the city. Flanked by high-end residential towers on one side, the facility sits partially surrounded by one of Seoul’s many beautiful wooded parks on the other. The design strives to create an elegant, simple, technology-infused architecture that conveys a sense of wellness and “oneness” with the community—a challenge made all the more difficult because of the requirement that the existing complex remain operational throughout construction. The existing complex is a functionally and architecturally complicated network comprising numerous upgrades and expansions. The first goal of the replacement hospital was to straighten out the myriad of functional requirements and connections in a way that would both allow the hospital to remain operational and, in the end, would be logical and straightforward—a hugely complex logistical challenge requiring a detailed phasing program. The implementation strategy involves three phases. The first is to construct the new patient tower. The second sequentially demolishes existing components and replaces them with a new surgical platform, outpatient facilities, outreach education center, pharmacy, and administrative support spaces. The complex is completed with the third phase, which includes a specialty hospital and connected research facilities. In addition to resolving these critical logistical challenges, the design connects people to nature, both literally and symbolically, by weaving the park throughout the complex, accessible at each level—creating a place that not only serves patients, but also the neighborhood. Conceptually, the park or forest cascades from upper floors through a stepped garden and internal green atrium with grand stair, to a welcoming plaza, and to a sunken garden below. Entering at street level, the park is brought inside the public lobby through virtual technology, with a large-scale 3D “fourth screen”—like the giant wave featured on the SMTown Coex Building nearby—that also helps activate the streetscape. In plan, patient floors are efficient, flexible, and cost effective, with patient rooms surrounding nursing and support areas. Visitors arrive through an ante room or “safe area” before entering the inpatient unit for enhanced infection control. Once inside the streamlined patient room, the zigzag of the façade creates an expanded family area with floor to ceiling glass offering expansive views. From inside, the insulated glass panels with an embedded wood screen are transparent to provide views to the city and park, while also creating a warm glow that offers an invisible “feel good” experience to patients and families. Conceived as a gem in the park, the jewel-like patient tower sits atop a robust diagnostics and treatment block, with outpatient clinics on the lower two floors. The tower, clad in “Okatech” reflective glass in a crenelated pattern, is simple in form, and complements the local architecture. From the city, park, and surrounding highways, the hospital is a recognizable landmark and elegant, shimmering iconic symbol of oneness.
Proposal of the Street to the Han river
The method for more closer to the Han River among citizens in Seoul In seoul, there is The Han River runs across the city, such as the Seine in Paris, the Thames in England and Spree in Berlin. Majority of citizens privilege natural environment in “space” along the Han River. However, expressway along the river cuts the city into parts, because Seoul Metropolitan Government makes the urban planning for traffic than pedestrians. To solve urban issues, the government has built underground paths to enhance accessibility. Despite these efforts, most citizens don’t know how to reach to the river, moreover don’t want to go to the river as there’s no plans about streets to underground paths. Simple connections between riverside and the city cannot be a solution. the more sophisticated plans are neede to reach to the Han River. Hapjeong Station is one of the very high density floating population area in Seoul. Station is located relatively close to the Han River 600 meters away. But few people walk to the river from this place. There is no space for pedestrians to enjoy public or communities on the streets in the existing state. Furthermore, most of the facilities facing the street consist of on-street parking and parking between pilotis, indicating that It is not a street plan for pedestrians. As closer to the Han River, the number of closed buildings increases, making the street environment more desolate. To help citizens feel familiar on the streets to the Han River, we set a goal of developing pedestrian-oriented streets instead of existing transit-oriented roads environment. The plan is to identify the characteristics of the streets, sort it into four zones, and design a space suitable for each zone. 1 Phase_Welcome: The first zone was designed to guide people to the Han River as a welcoming space. Designed to integrate existing small parks and on-street parking, library provides rest and convenience for inhabitants and pedestrians, while attracting them to the Han River. 2 Phase_Play: A zone where various events are offered to pedestrians who enter the street, commercial facilities are placed in existing parking spaces between pilotis, allowing pedestrians to look around wonderful displays instead of cars. Additionally, various experiences and space of varying scales are provided to pedestrians by placing programs(Gallery, Rest area, Play ground) under the overpass considering users and street facilities. 3 Phase_Community: It is a space that utilizes existing overpasses and stairs to stimulate communications between inhabitants and various activities(Performance, Flea market, Movie, Lecture) by pedestrians. Also, a public parking lot was planned to collect cars between pilotis, under the overpass, on street in one place, creating amenities that both residents and citizens could be satisfied with. 4 Phase_Nature: Rather than simply passing by, the zone was planned to provide a close view of the river so that visitors could enjoy the river in colorful methods.
Boulder House
The Boulder House, located near ‘Seolleung’, the former royal tomb that became a park in Gangnam, Seoul, is surrounded by multi-family houses, making it unsuitable for the single-family house. On the other hand, the client, famous couple of movie stars, made a very high request for privacy because they have stalking problem from media and fans. The site has the best educational environment in Korea, so the land is very expensive. Pre-existing low-rise detached houses with less than 2 stories have been replaced by multi-housing houses with less than 5 stories or apartments due to the expensive land price. Although there was privacy-threatened area, they decided to build a single-family detached house for their young children's education. In the paradoxical process of designing a home in an area where privacy is very unfavorable for a client whose privacy is very important, the building becomes a very unique feature that is not usually seen. We minimized the windows except the direction to the garden in the east to protect privacy. Especially Koreans consider the value of a southern exposure getting more sunlight, so it’s nearly impossible not to have any window southward. But this was a very exceptional case made possible to protect privacy from the numerous windows of the building on the opposite side. To make this rarely-seen characteristic of the building stand out, we simplified the mass as much as possible and the simple mass with almost no windows maximized the weight of the building. To deliver this weight as best as we can, we selected stone as the exterior finishing material. However, just using stone as the exterior material does not mean we can deliver the massive weight we feel from a gigantic boulder. Unfortunately, unlike a natural boulder, the stones used in buildings are divided and repeated for construction, which distorts the unique pattern and scale of the stones. We chose an Italian quartzite, which has a soft and uniform horizontal layer that looks like sedimentary rocks. And we cut the stone thin and long to match stone with horizontal layers. By matching the stone pattern and the construction joint in parallel, you can see horizontal layers of different scales depending on how far from you look at the building. At a close distance, the horizontal pattern of the stones is visible, and at a far distance, the horizontal construction joint looks like a natural pattern of stone, making the building look like a large mass of a boulder.
JJJ
The big problem in contemporary cities is the absolute distinction between private and public space. In traditional Korean architecture, there was a space known as a toenmaru. An ambiguous space that was neither purely interior nor exterior, this space was used as a place of communication between the building users and the people outside. Nowadays, however, as glass and concrete walls have come to replace balconies and terraces, interior and exterior spaces are clearly demarcated. As a result, pedestrians exist in a desolate environment, and occupants of buildings live in suffocating spaces. We designed an intermediary space that would transform the building facade. This building is located in the city centre, in an area filled with trendy cafes, restaurants, and offices. In the hectic working environment of a contemporary city, how should private and public sectors behave? We installed the balconies to function as toenmarus between offices and exterior spaces. We installed louvers to delimit the public and private access to the balconies so that they can work together. The round louvers that can be opened or closed at will blur the boundaries between the rectangular flat building and external space, providing users with the option to communicate with one another. In the upper structure, which supports the louvers of the balcony facade, a space for plants has been devised. The building Facade is completed by the houseplants grown by its occupants. With the increase in the number of plants, the pedestrians will be able to engage not only with those on the balconies but with nature .Moreover, the diverse facades created by the moving louvers and plants will allow the building to adopt a changing expression. This kind of living facade is expected to work as a medium for spatial communication between all city inhabitants.
The Nexen Univer-City : New Nexen R&D Center
The building is a new R&D Center for Nexen, a leading tire company in South Korea, and recently completed in Magok-special-district which is located at the western edge of Metropolitan Seoul that is currently under development as a hub of cutting-edge industries, hosting many research facilities for South Korea’s leading corporations. The building is equipped a series of multi-disciplinary research and development labs covering all aspects of the company’s technological needs including chemical, heavy-industrial and design development. It also houses supporting offices, various types of meeting areas and welfare facilities for researchers and workers. Additionally, the R&D Center functions as a comprehensive promotional venue with an exhibition area and library which is open to the general public. The design began with the goal of optimizing the complexity of given program while reinventing a new type of urban research facility suitable in a dense urban context. The design proposes the building to be organized into four programmatic zones while maximizing connectivity and interactivity between zones. Different structural module systems were utilized to maintain each zone’s functional and spatial requirements. All required spaces are shaped in and enwreathed by a dual-helix form programmatically. The dual-helix integrates a continuous roof garden and an inner-court together. It creates various type of outdoor communicative space for researchers and workers, and finally completes a unique prototype of an urban research facility filled with green spaces. Start from the building’s main entrance, the dual-helix leads workers and visitors spiraling up vertically through the entire building. The first helix connects secured work spaces and labs with diverse types and sizes of communicative spaces such as an auditorium, an open-discussion room, board rooms and meeting areas, while the second helix (sitting atop of the first helix) provides a continuous open landscape that connects all communal zones such as rest areas, lounges, a library, a courtyard and a restaurant. All space within the building are closely interconnected promoting the communication between researchers and workers, even visitors, while maintaining functional separation and security simultaneously. The heart of the building is the inner courtyard, a sun-filled and fluid green, which provides outdoor areas for gathering, rest and events for the workers. The unique dual-helix form with the courtyard promotes use of outdoor space as a communicative space while it provides more efficient and cooperative work experience for workers and researchers. The building is also designed for responding to the environment to provide comfortable and safe research and working conditions as well as to achieve maximum energy efficiency. The southern and eastern façades feature a shading-louver system, inspired by tire treads, that efficiently controls the amount of direct sunlight reaching the work space and reflected sunlight reaching back from the inner courtyard. The louvers along with the landscaping surrounding the courtyard passively allows the building to block heat radiation and efficiently reduces heating and cooling loads with natural ventilation systems throughout the entire building. While many of the research activities deal with potentially toxic and harmful materials, the designs above allow it to be comfortable, efficient and safe. The invention of the wheel was a critical turning point in the history of mankind that allowed significant developments throughout human civilization. Today’s tire technology is accelerating these changes and has fundamentally redefined our ideas of space and time. People are able to travel further and faster, and connect and communicate more efficiently and safely. This high-tech R&D building not only symbolizes the essential meaning of tire technology but also aims to redefine the typology of an urban research facility.
House of Shinsegae
Shinsegae Group stands at the forefront of lifestyle creation, suggesting a new vision for the retail industry that reimagines the traditional notion of brick-and-mortar shopping. Founded on a merging opportunity to transcend the monotony of conventional department store experiences, House of Shinsegae centres around the concept of Home—a place that comforts and invites customers to linger, indulging fascination and inspiration to revisit. Nestled between the JW Marriott and major transit hubs, we were challenged with making the high foot-traffic space intimate. A vertical circulation experience guides hotel guests from the mezzanine lounge to the premium wine cellar, before descending to more public areas such as the food hall and central atrium. The experience mirrors a home’s natural flow, descending from more private, intimate retreats into shared spaces that are curated for a wider offering. The material palette reinterprets 1950s mid-century glamour and luxury through a contemporary retail lens. Solid timber anchors the space, its warmth offset by brass and high-gloss lacquer planes. Deep jewel-toned upholstery provides tactile counterpoints, while reflective, mirrored surfaces multiply spatial perceptions and create space within space. Concealed within a sprawling department store, House of Shinsegae’s arrival experience seeks to capture a sense of journey and discovery—like that of uncovering a treasure box. The design orchestrates moments of revelation through layered contrasts: between light and shadow, restraint and opulence, and intimacy and spectacle. Marquetry membranes and high-gloss lacquer finishes evoke the reveal of a jewellery box, responding to light in a way that mimics the sun’s natural gradient—radiant at the core, softening toward the edges. Bespoke furniture and lighting follows this rhythm, with pieces blurring at their periphery, while reflective surfaces amplify warmth and create volume. The absence of natural light presented a dual challenge: making the light as natural as possible, and capturing the day’s transition to night. Thus, the lighting system evolves from 400 lux of daytime illumination to an evening glow of 50 lux, mimicking time’s daily rhythm. This approach addresses functional challenges and deepens the sensory experience for visitors, making the space feel alive despite its architectural constraints. The atrium emerges as the conceptual heart, mediating between the wine hall, food hall, and retail pavilions. The food hall is rooted in the gastronomic expedition of travel and train carriages, and the interstitial space unfolds through a sequence of framed experiences; rounded edges, unboxed shopfronts, reversed arches, and high glossy ceilings. The wine hall and premium cellar is distinctively divided into open, social areas while simultaneously providing exclusive services and more intimate tasting salons, accommodating a highly curated ‘library’ of 5,000 premium wines and spirits. Flexibility is embedded in the design language, with mobile “treasure carts” and reconfigurable furniture to transform the space from daily retail operations to catered events. At its core, the design translates the physicality of a home—intimate, layered, and soft—into a retail environment where individual memories are built around personal experiences. While styling a department store with a residential experience is rare globally, the result will remain meaningful.
Two New Compositions
42 Seoul/Innovation Academy is a coding school located in Seoul, South Korea. The original architecture was built as a ‘Japanese School in Seoul’ in 1979. It is composed of two different buildings linked with a passage bridge. While it was turned into a new academy, two buildings were assigned each for students and faculties. The first step of this new renovation was to do an interactive and paper interview of all the students and faculties, and a strong distinction between the two user groups have found. And to accomplish a different spatial demand, the project chose two separate design schematics for the space; ‘Prismatic Polygon’ and ‘White Void.’ ‘Prismatic Polygon’ is a design scheme inspired by students' creativity. The previous function of the space was for a conventional education system, but the new building was for a new type of education. And to learn the difference between two different education systems, it was essential to understand the ideas from the core users; students. While conducting interviews with the students, they came up with great ideas for the space to create the space. And to actively reflect these ideas into the design of space, various types of spatial modules have been made. Each module was designed based on the combination of multiple ideas from students. And these diverse polygon spaces have gathered, composed, and adapted into a previously existing building. ‘White Void’ is a design scheme reflecting the working patterns of the faculties of the academy. The teachers of this new type of academy had new spatial demands. The original form of space couldn’t keep up with those new and constantly changing needs over time. And to create a new space that could quickly adapt and change, an open design scheme has been chosen. It aims to create a white void space to place faculties' spatial needs. Currently, four different floors are planned for each faculty team of the academy. However, it could be easily changed into a new formation according to the education program change. The building was initially comparted into small rooms to use as classrooms. And those rooms have been converted into new open-plan spaces to adapt to the changes in users and functions. And also, by keeping a linear and wide view of outer spaces, the white cubes full of natural light have been created.
AEKYUNG TOWER
Aekyung Group has built a symbolic foothold for a new leap in Hongik University Station area, one of the areas with the most floating population in Seoul. Composed of office and commercial spaces as well as a hotel, this building is a large complex facility directly connected to the subway station. This required development of consistent brand identity.That is why an integrated design concept has been established and applied to specific areas to share the core value that the brand pursues with the visitors.
Digital Phyllotaxy
Deriving its name from the arrangement of leaves on a stem, Digital Phyllotaxy is a physical metaphor for a tree. Designed for Hankook Tire’s new headquarters in Pangyo, Seoul, the artwork is inspired by the vertical journey through the building and explores the idea of split-level experiences. As people ascend through the vast architectural ‘oculus’ they witness the interplay of dappled light below, within and above the canopy. Leaves digitally rustle and change colour with the seasons transforming the journey on the escalator into an encounter with nature. 16m in diameter, Digital Phyllotaxy uses a bespoke media assembly comprised of edge-lit LED units and liquid crystal shutters. The layering of each component is choreographed to create delicate volumes of illumination and obscuration. A palette of inputs including sun paths, wind speeds and the movement of people passing by, trigger a generative atmosphere with the everchanging, arboreal crown.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP; Korean: 동대문 디자인 플라자) is a major urban development landmark in Seoul, South Korea, designed by Zaha Hadid and Samoo, with a distinctively neofuturistic design characterized by the "powerful, curving forms of elongated structures." The landmark is the centerpiece of South Korea's fashion hub and popular tourist destination, Dongdaemun, featuring a walkable park on its roofs, large global exhibition spaces, futuristic retail stores, and restored parts of the Seoul fortress. The DDP has been one of the main reasons for Seoul's designation as the World Design Capital in 2010. Construction started in 2009, and it was officially inaugurated on 21 March 2014. It is physically connected to Seoul Subway via Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station on Line 2, 4, and 5.
Get optimized routing, transit times, and turn-by-turn directions.
Open in Atlas MapFrequently Asked Questions
How long does the Seoul architecture walking tour take?+
The self-guided walking tour covers approximately 27.8 km with 4 stops. Allow approximately 8 hours including 20 minutes of viewing time per building.
Is the Seoul architecture tour free?+
Yes, this is a completely free self-guided walking tour. You can view the route on the interactive map, export it to Google Maps for navigation, and explore at your own pace.
Do I need to book the Seoul architecture tour in advance?+
No booking is required — this is a self-guided tour that you can start at any time. All buildings can be viewed from the outside. For guided tours with expert commentary, we recommend checking GetYourGuide for local architecture tours.
What is the best time to do the Seoul architecture walking tour?+
Morning light (before 11am) is ideal for photography of building facades. Weekdays tend to be less crowded around commercial buildings. Allow a full half day for the complete tour.