Architecture of South Korea
Encyclopedia
South Korean Architecture refers to any architectures in South Korea
which includes architectures from Neolithic–7th century
, three-kingdoms of Korea
, Goryeo
, Joseon
, Japanese occupation, Korean War
, and modern architectures.
is the Gwangtonggwan
, the oldest continuously-operating bank building in Korea
. It was registered as one of city's protected monuments on March 5, 2001.
Joseon Architectures
began with little money to build distinctive important buildings.
Buildings were built as quickly as money and demand would allow in a workman-like anonymous way, but without individual identities. Architects were almost to a man trained in the United States, and brought American design, perspective, and methods without much recourse to the local community look and feel. As the need for housing for workers increased, traditional hanoak villages were razed, hundreds of simple cheap apartments were put up very fast, and bedroom communities on the periphery of the urban centres grew, built and financed as company housing. Little effort was made to have a sense of an architectural aesthetic.
This urgency for simple fast housing left most Korean downtowns as faceless as Hong Kong
: concrete towers for work or living and local neighborhoods rebuilt with cheap materials. Little or no attempt was made for planning, if planning had been possible. In the countryside, traditional building continued.
Well into the 1980s, Korea had architecture, but its buildings had little aesthetic, a limited sense of design, and did not integrate into the neighbourhoods or culture. Awareness that functionality had reached its limits came quickly as Korea moved into the world through sports culture.
Sports architecture transited to a Korean style.
and the 1988 Olympic games
, which spurred waves of new building activity. To market the country globally, international architects were encouraged to submit designs, introducing alternative concepts for modern architecture that began to put style and form ahead of spartan practicality. Historically, sports architecture has occupied the most money and the greatest expression of form identity within Korea. Hundreds of billions of won have been spent on defining Korea as a sports mecca with the architecture leading the way.
As in the North, most of the largest projects in the South were government sponsored works: but instead worked in confined, rather than open spaces, and worked with huge amounts of enclosed space, primarily in the state subsidized hugely expensive sports architecture. Korea since the 1980s had its most famous architectural works driven by sports: the Asian Games
(1986), the Olympics (1988), and the 2002 World Cup stadia, as well as great support being given by the chaebol
s such as the Samsung
Group which itself owned the sports teams for marketing purposes.
Important architects at this time and their works often led by the atelier-style architectural co-operative Space Group of Korea were:
It wasn't until the late 1980s and early 1990s that an entirely new generation of Korean architects had the freedom and the financing to build Korean architecture in a distinct Korean manner. This was a result of architects studying and training in Europe, Canada, and even in South America, and seeing the need for more of a sense of unique style, and more sophisticated materials.
There was a new determination that nationalistic architectural elements had to be revived and refined. Buildings had to mean something within their cultural context.
Recently, Naro Space Center becoming the first spaceport of the Republic of Korea. Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007 or early 2008 at Goheung County, South Jeolla. Built on 4.95 million square meters of reclaimed land, Korea Space Center is expected to send a Korea Space Launch Vehicle into space in 2008.
The spaceport will be operated by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute and will have contain features necessary for spaceflight operation having a launch tower, a control tower, rocket assembly and test facilities and space simulators.
Songdo Incheon Twin Towers
A pair of super tower tower Incheon Twin Towers are planned to be built in 2013. The $3 billion 613 m (2,011 ft) worth twin towers will be the main architecture of a 13,000 acre (53 km²) urban development referred as New Songdo City, located in Incheon
, South Korea
. The towers is planned to be connected by three sky bridges and house a hotel, a convention center, offices and a shopping mall.
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
which includes architectures from Neolithic–7th century
Jeulmun pottery period
The Jeulmun Pottery Period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 8000-1500 BC.. It is named after the decorated pottery vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage consistently over the above period, especially 4000-2000 BC. Jeulmun means...
, three-kingdoms of Korea
Three Kingdoms of Korea
The Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...
, Goryeo
Goryeo
The Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by Emperor Taejo. Korea gets its name from this kingdom which came to be pronounced Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
, Joseon
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
, Japanese occupation, Korean War
Post-war
A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
, and modern architectures.
Historic Architectures
Located in SeoulSeoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
is the Gwangtonggwan
Gwangtonggwan
Gwangtonggwan , located in Seoul, is one of Korea's oldest bank buildings. Its address is 19 Namdaemunno 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul. Currently the Woori Bank's Jongno Branch, it is also the oldest continuously operating bank building in Korea....
, the oldest continuously-operating bank building in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. It was registered as one of city's protected monuments on March 5, 2001.
Joseon Architectures
Post Division Architecture
American models heavily influenced new Korean buildings of any importance, with domestic architecture both civil and rural keeping to traditional buildings, building techniques, and using local materials, and local vernacular styles. The pragmatic need to rebuild a country devastated by genocide, then a civil war, led to ad hoc buildings with no particular styles, extended repeatedly, and a factory system of simple cheap expendable buildings. As few Korean cities had a grid-system, and were often given limits by mountains, few if any urban landscapes had a sense of distinction; by the mid-1950s, rural areas were underfunded, urban areas overfilled, and urban sprawlUrban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
began with little money to build distinctive important buildings.
Buildings were built as quickly as money and demand would allow in a workman-like anonymous way, but without individual identities. Architects were almost to a man trained in the United States, and brought American design, perspective, and methods without much recourse to the local community look and feel. As the need for housing for workers increased, traditional hanoak villages were razed, hundreds of simple cheap apartments were put up very fast, and bedroom communities on the periphery of the urban centres grew, built and financed as company housing. Little effort was made to have a sense of an architectural aesthetic.
This urgency for simple fast housing left most Korean downtowns as faceless as Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
: concrete towers for work or living and local neighborhoods rebuilt with cheap materials. Little or no attempt was made for planning, if planning had been possible. In the countryside, traditional building continued.
Well into the 1980s, Korea had architecture, but its buildings had little aesthetic, a limited sense of design, and did not integrate into the neighbourhoods or culture. Awareness that functionality had reached its limits came quickly as Korea moved into the world through sports culture.
Sports architecture transited to a Korean style.
Sports Architecture
South Korea won the 1986 Asian Games1986 Asian Games
The 10th Asian Games were held from September 20, 1986 to October 5, 1986 in Seoul, South Korea. The city was supposed to host the 1970 games, but it received security threats from neighboring North Korea, forcing it to give up hosting the games to previous 1966 host Bangkok, Thailand...
and the 1988 Olympic games
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
, which spurred waves of new building activity. To market the country globally, international architects were encouraged to submit designs, introducing alternative concepts for modern architecture that began to put style and form ahead of spartan practicality. Historically, sports architecture has occupied the most money and the greatest expression of form identity within Korea. Hundreds of billions of won have been spent on defining Korea as a sports mecca with the architecture leading the way.
As in the North, most of the largest projects in the South were government sponsored works: but instead worked in confined, rather than open spaces, and worked with huge amounts of enclosed space, primarily in the state subsidized hugely expensive sports architecture. Korea since the 1980s had its most famous architectural works driven by sports: the Asian Games
Asian Games
The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...
(1986), the Olympics (1988), and the 2002 World Cup stadia, as well as great support being given by the chaebol
Chaebol
Chaebol refers to a South Korean form of business conglomerate. They are global multinationals owning numerous international enterprises. The term is often used in a context similar to that of the English word "conglomerate"...
s such as the Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
Group which itself owned the sports teams for marketing purposes.
Important architects at this time and their works often led by the atelier-style architectural co-operative Space Group of Korea were:
- Park Kil-ryong
- Jungup Kim or Kim Chung-up - Trained in France and designed the Olympic Memorial Gate/World Peace Gate, 1988.
- Jongseong Kim - Weight Lifting Gymnasium, Olympic Park, 1986.
- Kim Su-keun who trained in Tokyo - Olympic Stadium. 1984. Total area is 133,649metres³, 100,000seats, 245×180m diameter, 830 m in perimeter.
- Gyusung Woo - Olympic Village, 1984.
It wasn't until the late 1980s and early 1990s that an entirely new generation of Korean architects had the freedom and the financing to build Korean architecture in a distinct Korean manner. This was a result of architects studying and training in Europe, Canada, and even in South America, and seeing the need for more of a sense of unique style, and more sophisticated materials.
There was a new determination that nationalistic architectural elements had to be revived and refined. Buildings had to mean something within their cultural context.
Technology Infrastructure
Naro Space CenterRecently, Naro Space Center becoming the first spaceport of the Republic of Korea. Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007 or early 2008 at Goheung County, South Jeolla. Built on 4.95 million square meters of reclaimed land, Korea Space Center is expected to send a Korea Space Launch Vehicle into space in 2008.
The spaceport will be operated by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute and will have contain features necessary for spaceflight operation having a launch tower, a control tower, rocket assembly and test facilities and space simulators.
Future Architecture
Many supertall buildings are planned to be built in populated regions in South Korea namely Seoul and Busan. Two of these future planned architectures are Incheon Twin Towers and Busan Lotte Tower.Songdo Incheon Twin Towers
A pair of super tower tower Incheon Twin Towers are planned to be built in 2013. The $3 billion 613 m (2,011 ft) worth twin towers will be the main architecture of a 13,000 acre (53 km²) urban development referred as New Songdo City, located in Incheon
Incheon
The Incheon Metropolitan City is located in northwestern South Korea. The city was home to just 4,700 people when Jemulpo port was built in 1883. Today 2.76 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul and Busan Metropolitan City...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. The towers is planned to be connected by three sky bridges and house a hotel, a convention center, offices and a shopping mall.