Cityscapes Peeling back Banpo's layers
A view over Banpo Jugong 1 apartment complex in southern Seoul, Dec. 5. / Courtesy of Ron Bandun By Ron BandunMany readers reacted to my previous article, on Korea's ugly apartment complex names, by pointing out that the apartment buildings themselves tend to be a blight on the landscape. They're not wrong, but this point is more of a conversation starter than a real hot take. And so, I've been paying more attention to the south side of the river hoping to find beauty in the dull, repetitive, colorless aesthetic of modern urban architecture.In fact, while vying for a good position to shoot the Lotte Castle complex with giant phallic shapes on the side, I ended up scaling an abandoned apartment building across the street in the Sinbanpo area. The elevators were offline, so I took the stairs up about 16 floors, careful to avoid any workers inside. I paused my ascent to get a look in the apartment units, which were much smaller than I was expecting, small rooms with ba
Jan 18, 2022By Jon Dunbar
