Seoul Architecture Festival draws 40,000 visitors in extended monthlong run
Summary
The 18th Seoul Architecture Festival drew about 40,000 citizens and architects during its run from Sept. 15 to Oct. 11 at the Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture in central Seoul. The Seoul Metropolitan Government extended the festival to about a month, compared with two weeks last year. Exhibitions featured Seoul architecture, winners of the 44th Seoul Architecture Awards and student designs, while forums, classes and tours offered visitors ways to engage with architecture. The city said it plans to connect future programs more closely with citizens’ daily lives.
Key Facts
- Last year’s two-week festival drew 19,505 visitors.
- The centerpiece exhibition displayed photographs of Seoul’s urban architecture in a maze-like space, and its exhibition spaces were built from recycled wooden pallets.
- The Seo-Seoul Museum of Art, designed by THE_SYSTEM LAB, led an exhibition of the 10 winners of the 44th Seoul Architecture Awards.
- A special exhibition featured the previous year’s grand prize winner, Core Dismantling System by FHHH Friends.
- The festival included 10 design proposals in a new student category, as well as student-built architectural pavilions and models.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, center, poses with officials from the Seo-Seoul Museum of Art, the grand prize winner of the 44th Seoul Architecture Awards, during the opening ceremony of the 18th Seoul Architecture Festival at the Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture in Seoul, Sept. 15. Yonhap
The 18th Seoul Architecture Festival drew about 40,000 citizens and architects during its run, which was extended to about a month this year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday.
The festival was held from Sept. 15 to Oct. 11 at the Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture in central Seoul under the theme “Assembling Seoul: Discovering Seoul.” Last year’s two-week edition drew 19,505 visitors.
Its centerpiece exhibition, created in collaboration with a photographer, placed photos of Seoul’s urban architecture throughout a maze-like space so that visitors could look at familiar city scenes in a new way. The festival’s director built the exhibition spaces from recycled wooden pallets to keep down costs and environmental impact.
An exhibition of the 10 winners of the 44th Seoul Architecture Awards, the city’s annual prize for buildings, was led by the grand prize winner, the Seo-Seoul Museum of Art, designed by THE_SYSTEM LAB. A special exhibition featured last year’s grand prize winner, “Core Dismantling System” by FHHH Friends.
The festival also highlighted young talent. It showed 10 design proposals from a new student category for the awards. University students also presented architectural pavilions and models they had planned and built themselves.
The city expanded programs that let the public experience architecture firsthand. A forum discussed the future of Korean architecture, while award-winning architects shared their design process and philosophy in open classes. Visitors also joined tours of award-winning buildings, architects’ offices and other sites around the city. A conference party with the Young Architects Forum Korea gave emerging architects a chance to network.
The city said it plans to make the festival more closely connected to citizens’ daily lives and to promote the appeal of Korean architecture.
“Seoul is a city that keeps changing as different histories, cultures and people’s lives overlap,” a senior city official in charge of housing said. “We will keep developing programs connected to citizens’ daily lives so that the festival becomes a place where citizens and architects discover the city’s value together.”
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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