(Un)Defining Korean Architecture: Modernity, Stories and Transformation

The symposium, (Un)Defining Korean Architecture: Modernity, Stories and Transformation, engaged with robust conversations about the identity of Korea and the stories of its cities through the lens of art and architecture and showcased papers and creative projects to expand this inquiry. This symposium featured three keynote speakers from diverse fields, Peter Rowe at Harvard University, artist Yeondoo Jung, and FHHH Friends (architect), to discuss diverse perspectives on art, architecture, and city in contemporary Korea.

Korea has undergone a period during which its identity has many times been validated by the Western gaze and frequently portrayed through idealized images, many of which are architectural features, such as Hanok, palaces, and temples. While these references have been relied upon to affirm Korea’s cultural identity, it’s also true that Korea’s diverse constellations—in particular those of its cosmopolitan cities—are continually modified, edited, and updated by a globalized population. The global success of Korean popular culture since the 1990s, including music, media, art, and film, evidences that the inclination to align with Western culture is not critical, nor is a Korean identity rooted in traditional values the only way to communicate with a global audience.

While theoretical architectural production is still suffering from a “hangover mode” reliant on Western modernism, contemporary Koreans edit, add, modify, and improvise the street and building elevations. Regardless of the architect’s and planner’s intent, spaces are revisited, reframed, and ritualized. The streets appear to be inundated with inexpensive commodities, signage, advertisements, and colorful walls. However, they transcend mere commodification, offering glimpses into the users' narratives of their work, desires, hopes, dreams, and rituals. To delve into, document, categorize, and analyze these narratives of the 'city made by people,' it may be necessary to reevaluate the Western modernist dismissal of “ornament,” alongside other entrenched modernist categories such as "surface," "appearance," and "perception.”

Jin young Song, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, University at Buffalo

Nojin Kwak, Vice Provost for International Education and Professor of Communication, University at Buffalo

Asia Research Institute, University at Buffalo

School of Architecture and Planning, University at Buffalo

Academy of Korean Studies