STUDENTS CHAN Ming Tat Xyrus CHENG Linus Chin Long CHENG Karen Man Lai IP Yi Lok Ivy KAN Hok Yin Anthony LAU Tsz Ying Michelle LEUNG Man Ling Elizabeth LI Yi Lung Roberto WONG Hin Nga Nicola SONG Jin Sol Song Esther TUTORS Caroline WUTHRICH Geraldine BORIO (co-founders of parallel lab)
EDGE PUBLIC SPACE IN SEOUL SUMMER WORKSHOP CUHK 11-20 JUNE 2012
1
Because of its accelerated development Seoul contains like Hong Kong a paradoxical combination of a rigid urban planning and a soft appropriation by its inhabitant. When looking at urban spaces there exists a layer of residual spaces or self-generated public spaces: so-called “edge public spaces” that are indeed part of the city’s identity. For this summer program the case study of Seoul will help us to understand the macro and micro aspect of urban planning taking a particular look to this notion of edge public space and understand how the way people practice public space is deeply coinfluenced by the culture of a place and its morphology. For this the main focus of the program will be put on site visits and urban investigations as well as lectures and discussions.
CONTENT
EDGE PUBLIC SPACES
O9
METHODOLOGY: LOWER THE VIEW POINT
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URBAN AND METROPOLOTAN MANAGEMENT OF SEOUL: PAST AND PRESENT
15
POROUS CITY
19
- Linus CHENG
DENSE DENS E EDGE PUBLIC SPACE
RELATIONSHIP WI WITH TH THE GROUND ON THE ROAD SIDE SEA EATS TS
27
- Xyrus CHAN
- Karen CHENG
43 49
- Ivy IP
INTERACTION BE INTERACTION BETWEEN TWEEN HUMAN ACTIVITIES AND EDGE PUBLIC SPACES
- Anthony KAN
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SEOUL I IN N BL BLOOM: OOM: COMMERCIALIZATION OF PUBLIC SPACE
- Michelle LAU
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- Elizabeth LEUNG
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TRANSPORTABLE TRANSPO RTABLE EDGE PUBLIC SPACES SMART US USE E
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- Roberto LI
SLEEP IN SEOU SEOUL L
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- Nicola WONG
BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES
- Jin Sol Song SONG
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PROGRAM
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LOKALDESIGN | FLOOD DEFENCE
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URBAN NATURE by NILS CLAUSS
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REPUBLIK KOREA by NILS CLAUSS
139
BANG by NILS CLAUSS
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A HISTORY OF KOREAN PUBLIC SPACE
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THE PARADOX OF PUBLIC SPACE IN THE
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ASIAN METROPOLIS INFORMATION AND PARTICIPANTS
164
REFERENCES
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++ Bukchon Hanok Village origin Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897)
Open space as a platform for communal interaction did not formally exist during the Jeseon Period. Benedetta Rogers
11.06.2012 _ 9am
EDGE PUBLIC SPACES
Speaking about Asia’s contemporary reality we are very far from an urbanism which prizes the spatial coherence. Extreme built density, dramatic encounters of scales, overlapping of urban layers, all these morphological accidents could be seen as sources of the so-called actual “urban disease” of metropolises. Indeed in this fast growing context the different evolution phases are mostly superimposed without any consideration for encounters of different scales but from these situations results a large variety of urban unplanned spaces which do not necessarily fit the macro-scale development agenda. Strangely enough these “edge public spaces” are not planned for the public use but are belonging to the public domain and contain this in-between public/private conditions that allows room for a subtitle form of appropriation. When travelling more closely through the artificial scenery of at the heart of Asian Metropolis we see humans who are contently trying to fit in the unstable surroundings. What are their strategies to accommodate themselves to these mega-scale phenomena?
9
++ Kukje Art Center by SO-IL
2012_ completion area_ 1.500m²
Edge spaces for the gallerys’ services.
11.06.2012_ 2pm
METHODOLOGY : LOWER THE VIEW POINT
Looking at cities from far above is a way to understand how macro-scale interventions such as mega-complex or expressway bridges can influence the shape of the whole morphology but in fact it is precisely in the micro-scale stratum that the modification of space has a most tangible impact on human’s everyday life. What happens then when we start to look at the urbanism from the street level? Concrete mega structures lie as spatial background but the vibrant layer of people using the city space catches us. At the human scale movements of air, light, reflection, texture which influence the inhabitant’s perception of the space are main ingredients of the imaginaries’ representation of the city which is built up in everyone brains. It is precisely in the micro-scale stratum that the modification of space has a most tangible impact on human beings. Moreover how to define the border between the private and the public domain in a city where those notions are successively overlapping along the day and the night? Looking through a two dimensional representation is not the only way to understand the urban magma and we have to lower our viewpoint and zoom in the spatiality in order to understand urbanism from inside. On-site observation are then the stating
11
++ Gwanghwamun Square 1395_ 1592_ 1867_ 1950-53_ 2006-10_
1st construction by Joseon Dynasty Destroyed by Japanese Invation Reconstructed during Emperor Gojong reign Destroyed during Korean War Actual Public space
area: 20,000 m2 (30m wide x 550m long)
A location for public space experimentation.
11.06.2012_ 3pm
point of our research and will help us to understand how everyday people are living in the city. Gradually we will go behind the common postcard image of the city and discover a new part of the city’s identity. The aim of these observations were able to see the real impact of the micro-appropriation of the public space by the people on the representation we have of the city. But in parallel to the micro-approach we will take a different look at the macroscale phenomenon. Again from on-site observations we will record the shape and location of so-called “urban accidents”. Resultant from massive and fast urban modification some spaces are often not integrated in the main development agenda and left as left-over spaces within the heart of the city. Again we will see behind the apparent chaos and brutality of certain situation and understand what was the process of the urban evolution. Without judgment we will observe how morphology has a direct impact on the inhabitant and how it generate new mode of spaces appropriation. Indeed instead of looking at the negative aspect of urban development we will reconsider the potential of unexpected morphological situation and how they can contribute to define a part of the city’s identity.
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++ Seoul Museum of History
11.06.2012_ 4pm
URBAN AND METROPOLOTAN MANAGEMENT OF SEOUL: PAST AND PRESENT The urbanization process in Seoul has been intense and so has urban administration to manage it. Over the twentieth century, Seoul has grown from the small, unknown capital of the Korean peninsula to one of the world’s largest cities. No other city has experienced such as rapid and condensed transformation in the world. Seoul’s population increased from 900 thousand citizens in 1945 to 10 million citizens in 1988. In addition, Seoul experienced extensive suburbanization and sprawl. Seoul was no longer an independent city but was rather the central city of a rapidly expanding metropolitan region of 20 million inhabitants living neighboring cities and provinces. The abrupt and phenomenal growth has resulted in pressing urban problems such as transportation, environment, housing, infrastructure, social welfare, and other public services. Facing diverse urban problems at varying stages of urbanization, Seoul Metropolitan Government struggled to manage urban problems, resulting in many successful stories and some lamentable mistakes. Seoul City consists of tow-tier local government bodies: Seoul Metropolitan Government, or main office at the upper level, and 25 independent Districts or Gu at the lower level local government. There is division of responsibilities between the main office and Gu offices according to
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++ Cheonggyecheon River Joseon Dynasty_ drainage stream 1958_ The stream was covered 1976_ Constuction of an elevated highway over the stream 2003_ Removal of the highway 2005_ Completion of the Cheonggyecheon River Project length_ 8.4 km
Going back to the original roots and allowing free appropriation in the heart of the city. 11.06.2012_6pm
clear criteria. Seoul Metropolitan Government deals with area-wide policy issues and services, while district offices implement those policies or provide services which are convenient for citizens living in districts. Before 1995, mayor of Seoul was appointed by the President, and District heads were appointed by Seoul Mayor. Since local election was introduced in 1995, mayors and district heads are elected by popular vote every four year. Thus, hierarchical relationship between the main office and district offices was changed to equal relationship, and conflicts often arises about cross-jurisdictional public administration.
Chan-Gon Kim, Ph.D Director–General, Policy Planning Bureau Seoul Metropolitan Government
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++ SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY; MUSEUM OF ART by OMA 2005_ completion area_ 6m2 of 4,478m2
Edge usage: Coffee shop invades the entrance of an OMA building.
12.06.2012_ 2pm
POROUS CITY Linus Cheng
Porosity: “a measure of the void (i.e., “empty”) spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume”
Under the rise of Urbanisms and high rises, the disappearance of public spaces, people reach for their space, porous spaces get filled in and filled out over time, spaces become transitional, Seoul, the a porous mega city in which I look at the activities in these urban pores .
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USAGE TIMELINE /DAY
00:00
21 Verticle Pores pocket spaces that exist in built structure are often used as space for resting. This construction site security used it as her own ‘office’ only use that space in working hours.
12:00
< ^ Under a gateway in a under pass built by lokaldesign
0.1-8 hours
23:59
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Expanding Bubbles extention of personal activity into public space, this shop owner washes his hair in the street, and the cyclerstopped and rest , it takes normally a few minutes this happens randomly, mainly during day time.
USAGE TIMELINE /DAY
00:00
12:00
^ Gathering on street < Man Washing Hair on the street
0.1-2 hours
23:59
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USAGE TIMELINE /DAY
00:00
25 Escaping Bubbles extention of personal activity into public space which is no connected to any private space, the private space is mobile and it lands on everywhere they just stop and rest , they often have mobile seats such the the bike it takes normally a few minutes this happens randomly.
12:00
< Cycler under bridge crossing Han-River
1-10 mins
23:59
++ Seun Sangga Megastructure originally: fire safty void 1966_ 2008_ beginning of demolotion by Seoul Metropolotan governement area: 50 m wide x 1.200 m long Program: residencial/ computer shop/ parking/ delivery/ pedestrian promenade/ ruber shop/ snak bar
+urban fissure +encounter of morphologycal scales +mega intervention/ micro appropriation +hybrid occupation
12.06.2012_ 4pm
DENSE EDGE PUBLIC SPACE XYRUS CHAN
Due to the Japanese colonial period and rapid urbanization, numerous clusters of traditional Korean houses were built during the 1910s to 1950s. Significant proportion of these residential housing were developed by independent private sector. As a result, the clusters of house were densely packed together, and they are often organized in irregular shape and organic order. In many cases, there is no clear boundary between private and public space. The aim of this catalogue is to investigate the use and possibility of these edge private spaces in Bukchon.
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DENSE EDGE-PUBLIC-SPACE
CASE STUDY: BUKCHON, ANGUK Background: Bukchon is a residential area in Seoul with numerous traditional Korean houses. Urbanization begins in the 1920s and people start moving into the city. Due to the rise in demand of residential housing, numerous Korean houses in medium or small scale were built in this period.
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BUKCHON, SEOUL
31 Due to the serious housing shortage during rapid urbanization, private housing developers built a lot of tradional Korean house in bukchon, As a result, the tradition Koean houses in Bukchon are densely packed together. Part of the roof structure overlaps to the others.
In this study, the types of road is devided into 3 according to their dimension. The first one is main circulation, with the width ranged from 3m to 5m. The second type is normal road, with the width of around 2m. The third one is small alley, with the width limited within 1.5m.
USE OF EDGE SPACE
KEY:
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Commercial Use Social Use Personal Use
Space type 1: Large
Space type 2: Medium
Space type 3: Small
Minimum Width needed for commercial use is 4 meters.
Minimum Width needed for Width needed for PersonSocial use is 2 meters. al use ranged from 1 meter to 1.5 meters.
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Commercial Use
Social Use
Personal Use
BUKCHON: MORPHOLOGY OF THE ALLEY Case 1 COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES Commercial activities like shop and coffee are found along the main circulation while none of them is located in the inner alley. The width of the main circulation normally ranged from 4m to 5m.
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BUKCHON: MORPHOLOGY OF THE ALLEY
Case 2 SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Social activities are found along the main circulation and the normal road. while none of them is located in the inner alley. Local people retrieve gathering space inside these roads.
Case 3 EXTENSION OF PRIVATE SPACE Local people extend their private space outside their own house. They main purpose of extending the space outside is storage, disposing rubbish, drying clothes and planting.These activities are mainly found in the inner alley.
BUKCHON: MORPHOLOGY OF THE ALLEY
PHENOMENON NARROWED ENTRANCE: Some of the buildings are surrounded by the others. And since the inner alley is very narrowed. Stairs or steps are usually introduced to the entrance in inner part of the village. These entrances are often narrower than the normal size. The width of these spaces ranged from around 60 cm to 100cm.
BUKCHON: MORPHOLOGY OF THE ALLEY
P H E N O M E N O N Buildings in Bokchon are arranged in organic matter. It hence produces spaces of irregular shape. These spaces produces possibility for the use, while it also create extremely narrowed spaces which is hard to use in some cases.
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Occupying Space: In this case, capet is used to define the boundary of the private space from the irregular public space.
++ Sewoon fabric
12.06.2012_5pm
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GROUND ON THE ROAD SIDE Karen Cheng
In the ancient time of Korea, people used to sit outside their houses (at a low level), especially after dinner in summer time for a lower temperature. Nowadays, a few of these houses are kept in the city, but their close relationship with the ground can still be seen in the traditional korean restaurant as they sit on the ground instead of the chair. Being a fast developing city, Seoul is packed with buildings and people nowadays, and become the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest metropolitan area. Despite of the public space that the government created, there are still some edge public spaces that was not planned beforehead but created by the people themselves. In this series of photos, I will show how the Koreans make use of the road sides, as well as the stones on the road sides in various conditions by classifying them into unplanned public space being used in a private condition, a public condition, and a self-created private space in a public condition.
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Unplanned Public Space Being Used Privately
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Comfortability
Emergency
Comfortability
Emergency
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Comfortability
Emergency
Comfortability
Emergency
Unplanned Public Space Being Used Publicly
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Comfortability
Emergency
Comfortability
Emergency
Self-created Private Space In A Public Condition
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Comfortability
Emergency
++ Bangsan Market area:
A public living room.
12.06.2012_ 6pm
SEATS Ivy Ip
Public Space, which associates with social gathering and high accessibility, are common in Seoul, Korea. Some of those spaces are created by political, social or commercial reasons. They are developed under certain planning that lead to particular purposes. However, some of them, which are not planned to be, react with human activates and hence, becoming an EDGE PUBLIC SPACE in nature. During the research period, these spaces are found to present as â&#x20AC;&#x153;A SEATâ&#x20AC;? usually. People used to create themselves a comfort zone which accommodates their living, without changing the environment physically.
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University
Park
Park
Shop
Plaza
University
Pedestrian
Restraurant
Snacks Shop
Residential
50 Coutry Park
Bus Stop
Tunnel
Plaza
Subway
Coutry Park
River
Coutry Park
Subway
Security
Outdoor
Subway
Shop
Subway
Shopping Mall
Coffee Shop
Pedestrian
Coffee Shop
Indoor Planned
Outdoor
Indoor Planned
Indoor Planned
Outdoor
Indoor
Planned
Outdoor
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ANALYSIS DETERMINING FACTORS of the “SEATS” ARRANGEMENT As metioned above, “SEATS” are found anywhere anytime. in different forms and textures. People have their choices according to their preferences towards the environment. During the research, population, noise, air quality, activities, views they get and seats dimensions are taken as investigating factors. Diagrams on right are used to shown the degree of contributions.
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With a same “ SEAT”, people are also allowed to adjust their orientations according to their concerns, but,
WHAT IS, IN FACT, THE DETERMINING FACTORS? In the followings, 5 cases are given to provide a rough idea.
Scale Represents ONE HAND Represents ONE MAN
Diagram Population
Noise
Air Quality
View
Activity
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Planned Indoor : Coffee Shop
View He Gets Population
Indoor public spaces usually provide a comparably appreciable view than the others. However, with the advantages of the environment granted, crowds are attracted to gatherat the same place. therefore noise are produced.
Noise
Air Quality
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seatâ&#x20AC;? Dimensions Depth Length
View
Activity
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Planned Outdoor : Shop
View He Gets Population
Shop Owners usually place a chair infront of their shop. It provides them with an extension of private spaces, which allows rest. Views they could get are not important in this case since the arrangement of the sears are determinded by the location of their shop.
Noise
Air Quality
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seatâ&#x20AC;? Dimensions Depth Length
View
Activity
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View He Gets Population
Instead of facing the road, the lady chooses to face the wall, which are View not capable in giving a great view.
Noise
Air Quality
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seatâ&#x20AC;? Dimensions Depth Length
Planned Outdoor : Pedestrian
Activity
This could be attributed to the activity that she was doing, talking on phone. The orientation provides her a sense of privacy.
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Planned Outdoor : University
View He Gets Population
Notwithstanding, this student has chosen to face not the road, too.
Noise
However, he got a ncie view which has given him a desirable atmosphere, solitude, for reading books.
Air Quality
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seatâ&#x20AC;? Dimensions Depth Length
View
Activity
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Planned Outdoor : Park Men are more concentrated on their chess. The reason of why the have this site selection is, probably, the population who have the same interest with them.
View He Gets Population
Noise
Air Quality
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seatâ&#x20AC;? Dimensions Depth Length
View
Activity
Majority Views from the “SEATS”
CONCLUSIONS By analyzing various situations, it is not difficult to notice that factors are alternating as shown in diagrams.
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It is hard to conclude one determining factor with a few words. Surprisingly, the majority of views, from the “SEATS” are usually NOTHING, but wall. This phenomenon could be attributed to the activities of human beings. They used to choose a site which is locating near to their accomodations, that provides convenience. That’s why they can enjoy their rest, chatting, smoking and sleeping in a self-created space which they could easily discover. The degree of activities in this sense is not important at all, nevertheless, it is even more essential to have an undistrubed space for them to work that out.
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REFLECTIONS Seoul has a strong atmosphere that Koreans have consistent sitting habbits anywhere on the street, which Hong Kongers seldom do. However, with the influences of culture, the recuited reseach members DO THE SAME!
++ Lecture by Nils Clauss cinematographer, editor and photographer lives in Seoul since 2005
Deciphering Seoul
13.06.2012_ 10Am
INTERACTION BETWEEN HUMAN ACTIVITIES AND EDGE PUBLIC SPACES Anthony Kan
Compared to normal public spaces, I think that the Edge ones have more interactions with people, mainly because its area is more related to human scale. What inspired me to dwell into this topic is the scene that I saw in the back street of Bukchon area. In this photo, we can see that the shop owner placed their tables out of the restaurant, in the turning corner of the road. Such kind of action allowed the space of the shop to be extended outwards, as the tables changed the way pedestrians circulate, and guide them to enter the direction of the restaurant. Edge spaces are mostly narrow space similar to this case, how would they interact with people? This question has pushed my onwards to investigate this issue in Seoul.
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BACK STREET OF BUKCHON HANOK AREA
FINING EDGE SPACE The term “ Edge” is a word that has a lot of room of discussion. In dictionary, it means a line where two surfaces met. How about in architecture? What does the situation of Edge Space means to us ? There can be thozen of definitions , depending what we observe, what we feel in the space. Whereas for me, I interpreted Edge space as a very down to earth situation, as an undefined , un-planned space between spaces in Seoul. By investigating the situation of the existing usage of such spaces, I believe we can understand more about the whole picture. The usage of such Edge Public Spaces can be affected by many factors; weather, human activities, position of it etc. It has an extremely strong interaction with people, as to me, it is out of people’s creativity and need to design the use of such space, shaping there activity into the Edge Spaces. I have observed quite different usages of these spaces in Seoul, and simplified them into 4 areas, shown in the sketching on the left. The shaded part as the area of human activities, with expansion of the use of space indicated with dotted lines, and arrows showing the openness of the space. In the following investigations I will show examples of them.
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Seun Sangga, Seoul
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EXTENSION OF SPACE IN ONE FACE As I observed, most of the shops in Seoul would like to place their goods outside of their shops, in the space of backstreet, or even roads. This is a good way of manipulating the Edge Public Spaces. The shops can not only expand the Private space of the shops to the exterior, but also changing the experience of the pedestrians outside, similar as the case mentioned at the very beginning. There are a lot of advantages for expanding the space of the shops, first of all it can expose the nature of products or services offered by shops. Sometimes when well organised it can even change the path people walk beside the shop.
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Seun Sangga, Seoul
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EXTENSION OF SPACE IN RADIAL MANNER The corner situation of human activity is a very interesting derivation of the above case. People makes use of the two walls in contact with their activity area to help expand their space more effectively. By extending their activity towards the two corner sides, the space of them will expand in a polar manner .Provided with the feeling of confinement of the corner, people can easily recognise the space, and join the activity . However a corner situation of using Edge space is not as much as the others in a City, as it requires a semi-enclosed space which is quite difficult to find.
A Street in Angkuk Area
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EXTENSION OF SPACE IN 3 FACES Temporary stalls are ubiquitous in Seoul Streets. These stalls can be easily set up in day time and removed at the end of the day. Its use of space is also very flexible, and can be accessed by people from 3 sides of it, with one side as the space for the stall owner to situate. These stalls can be found in all kinds of places, but all of them bears the same characteristic, that is having the back of the stalls facing the roads or buildings, which can provide the owner with certain kind of privacy and allowing high transparency and accessing ease for people at the same time. However such kind of flexibility gives rise to a lot regulation problem and should be something the government to face in near future.
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A Public Park in Sichon Area
73 EXTENSION OF SPACE IN ALL DIRECTIONS The forth kind of use of Edge Public spaces Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to describe is the most interesting one to me. It is a use of space as platform for different cultures to communicate, for artists to perform. In the picture shown a band performing in a space in the middle of a park. Such kind of human activity gives the Edge Space with a meaning, and attracted people to surround and enjoy the music. As long as the crowd can stand, the area can be considered as the extension of the space of the human activity of the band. In this example we can clearly see that, human activities can actually shape the Edge Spaces and have a strong interaction with the environment. We give meaning to the unused space out of our need .
++ Lecture by Haewon Shin architect and founder of Lokaldesign Seoul in 2005
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;My approach was to transform an existing infrastructure from an utilitarian left-over space into safe, engaging and accessible public space.â&#x20AC;? 14.06.2012_ 2pm
SEOUL IN BLOOM: COMMERCIALIZATION OF PUBLIC SPACE Michelle Lau
After a decade of rapid and condensed development, Seoul emerges into another world-acclaimed Asian metropolis. Commercial high-rises are all the rage, indicating the economy of Seoul is in a brisk. However, other than the privately owned area for commercial uses, myriads of commercial activities can also be found in all corners of the city. How do Korean in a business uting factors reveal any of in Seoul?
make use of â&#x20AC;&#x153;public spaceâ&#x20AC;? sense? What are the attribto this phenomenon? Do they the urban planning problems
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ON THE ROAD... I. Alongside the Road
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Band show by youngsters at night
Mobile stores in street market
Temporary store on roadside
II. Extension Along the Road
A flower store occupying the space in front of a bank
Food stores extending their area alongside the road
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III. Corner of Road
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Mobile stocking-vending truck parking in the corner in front of a cafe
Clothes store located in a turning corner
IV. Middle of Road
Street market at night
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Temporary store loacted in the middle of street market
Mobile toy â&#x20AC;&#x153;luggage-storeâ&#x20AC;?
V. Surface of Road
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Advertisement of drinking bar: posters on the ground p g
VI. Slope Condition
Towel store situated on an inclined surface
UNDERGROUND...
Different venders inside the subway station
Music performance by youngsters inside the station
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A clothes vender located on stairs at the exit
Mobile stocking â&#x20AC;&#x153;storeâ&#x20AC;? inside a train
MORPHOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTION IN KOREA: PRIVATE OR PUBLIC?
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Overview of Seoul: where are the public space? While many people may have bias towards the above mentioned business activties in public area, I personally take them as an indispensable part in shaping the city. Not only do they showcase the traditional vividness and emphusiasism of Korean culture, but aslo illustrate the business diversification in economical sense and the rich layers of environment from a spatial standpoint. When compared to other metropolitan cities, like Hong Kong and Japan, intrusion on governmentally-percived public space is under stringent surveilance. These kind of uniqueness does add spice to the morphology in Korea --people are adapting to the public space, either planned or unplanned, and at the same time forming a public space for people to communicate. However, they do bring up the question of whether there is insufficient urbanly-planned space for people to interact which cause an ambiguous division of private and public space, or are people always trying to push to the limit? It is really hard to tell.
++ River Han within Seoul approximatly 1 km wide
Yearly floods forces public leisure infrastructures to be either floatable, either waterproof orremovable. An edge condition dictated by nature. 14.06.2012_ 4pm
TRANSPORTABLE EDGE PUBLIC SPACES Elizabeth Leung
Over the century, the city of Seoul has experienced a phenomenal growth in terms of urbanization. Not only has the city watched its population boom over 10 million but so have buildings been popping up everywhere & anywhere! With this comes the creation of ‘Edge public spaces’. ‘Edge public spaces’ meaning unplanned & unexpected uses of public spaces have proven that the local people have adapted to the rapid urban changes. At the micro-level, many of these users are street vendors and people practicing daily activities by setting up temporary usable space for their needs against permanent structures. The collection of photos capture a unique moment of these activities because they always seem to be changing. It almost seems as though they can appear and disappear within a blink of an eye, which reflects the situation of current Seoul, as buildings get demolished overnight to cater for new ones.
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Apgujeong Station June 19 2012 2pm
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Outside Bangan Market June 14 2012 6pm
Man power
Mechanical Mobility While the clock ticks, traditions never fade away. Seoul people continue to sell products at the street level, and today with the help of mechanical devices, their tasks have become a lot easier. This also means mobility occurs at a faster rate, street vendor are able to set up their stall just about any corners of public spaces.
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Top: Outside Gyeongbok Palace, June 16 2012 11am Middle: Sejongno, June 12 2012 3pm Bottom: Anguk Station, June 17 2012 2pm
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Extension
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Seun Sangga Plaza, June 14 2012 5pm
Seoul people have integrated their private needs and activities into the 'edge public spaces'. For most, these activities would have been done in a closed environment, for instance at home, but not for certain who do not seem to be disturbed by by-passers and noise. In these situations the line between what is private or public becomes hard to determine.
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Private usage
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Left to right: Seoul Museum of History; Seun Sangga area, KwangJang Market, June 13 2012
Left to right: Yeouido Hangang Park, June 15 2012 5pm; Seun Green Belt Square, June 13 2012 5pm
++ Underpass Project along River Han by Lokaldesign 2011_ completion area_
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An infrastucure that offers micro-public space.
14.06.2012_ 5pm
SMART USE Roberto Li
The urbanization effect on different aspect of the culture in Korea. (playing of chest , musical instrument and street vendors). Activity that are performed on public space, the past compared to the present time. Due to the mass urbanization the requirements for the daily activities in the public space are slowly but certainly affected.The useable space for each citizen has been reduce dramatically. Especially when it comes to shelter. This lead to the increase of private space extention in the public space. The extension of private space is done in certain public space which can be both plan and unplan. This lead us to observe the usage purpose and the requirements. And can be use by residents as playground or resting area or use as a spot for commercial purposes. A lot of private space extension are use for selling goods, both legally and illegally.
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Public space commen activities A comparison between the past and the present activities that are slightly changed by the urbanization.
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Different confrontation cause by the urbanization. High rise next to a village ?
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Public space
The use of public space by street venders at different places and time
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Public space , is a place either own by the goverment or a private organization. It has a certain accesibility for everyone, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dividable in artificial and natural public place. Natural public place are mountain, landscape or beach. Artificial public place is much more complicated to explain the usage and whether it is suitable for the chosen area. The artificial public space is mostly designed by urban planners such as the goverment, to satisfy the surrounding citizen necessity as much as possible. With these plannings they also create some edge public space which can be confrontation of two areas (meeting point) Center. For example, the picture on the left is an example of artificial public edge space created by the urban planner/ architect. The center can be use in many different way depending on the surrounding building function and the density of the area whether it is frequantly visited by citizen or not. If the surrounding buildings are use for industrial purpose, than it is most likely that the center Center of it will be use by industry workers as a gathering place for chatting, eating breakfast, lunch. The way how it is use, create a privacy degree, only workers of the industry will feel free to use it. Sometimes there are some requirements/ rules to enter a public space
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++ Dragon Hill Spa Jjimjilbang: the bang of the bang -
hot tubs shower sauna steam bath massage/scrub table snack bar wide screen TV ondol-heated floor exercice rooms ice room heated salt rooms PC bang noraebang jade room oxigene room
24h/24h interiorized public space.
14.06.2012_ 11pm
SLEEP IN SEOUL Nicola Wong
When compared with Hong Kong, it is interesting to observe that Korean can sleep wherever they want as long as they feel comfortable; while in Hong Kong, sleeping on the street is prohibited. HongKongers canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even sleep inside the park. In what kinds of conditions do Korean choose to sleep in those places? Is it related to the surrounding environment? Are those places being planned for people to sleep?
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PLANNED SPACE It is originally being planned for people to sleep.
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1. people sitting on the benches inside park besides the Hangang River.
Conditions As this park is near to the river, people can not only enjoy the beautiful scenery, but also enjoy the sea breeze. This place is definity a planned and good place for rest as it is large and tranquil. The cover serves as a shield in protecting people from rain and strong sunlight.It is away from urban area as well. Conditions Place for sleep? It is planned for people to sleep as the length of bench just fit for one person to sleep on it. Compare with Hong Kong There are rules for the use of park in Hong Kong, one of them is: lying on the chair is not allowed.
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2. An old man sleeping on a long bench.
Conditions This park is next to the shopping mall but there are only a few people passing by, therefore, it is quite quiet. The planters become a effective shield, so that people will not diectly see he is sleeping unless people intend to do so. Conditions Place for sleep? It is planned for people to rest but not for sure if it is for people to sleep. As the bench is not smooth, it is not really comfortable to sleep on it. Compare with Hong Kong Hong Kong is too noisy and crowded, usually people prefer to chat instead of sleeping on the benches, unless for the homeless.
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3. A man creates his own shelter on lawn Conditions The space is very open, which makes people proned to rain and wind. This makes people lacking the sense of security. However, this lawn is large enough and people can feel free to make their own shelter.
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4. A bench inside the "chess park"
Conditions People gather together to play chess in this park. A very large place that the setting is simple, with only a few benches. This allow people to set up their own area to play chess and rest. This man chose to sleep on bench instead of the ground may because the bench is not as hard as the ground, also, the length of the bench is just fit him.
UNPLANNED SPACE It is originally not being planned for the use of sleeping. But people are trying to create their own space.
5.hammock inside 113 the " c h e s s park" Conditions
5.hammock inside the â&#x20AC;&#x153; chess parkâ&#x20AC;?
Similar to 4, the only difference is there are two trees, which allow him to make the hammock.
Conditions A very large and quiet park that allows people to make their own territories. When he chose this space is not only because of the quietness, but also because the trees block sunlight and the tree becomes something that can be relied on which create the sense of security. According to Feng shui, it is also better for people to sleep with something protecting the bedside.
6.Middle age man sleeping under a tree
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Conditions At night, artists will play music here. They will choose space that is large enough for people to gather and enjoy their performance. Some of them will also set up stores to sell their artwork. Usually, artists work round the clock, therefore it is time saving to sleep while waiting. The floor is soft to sleep on as the material used is supposed to allow cushion falls.
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7. A seller (an artist) sleeping under the slide in playground and waiting for the customers.
Since the slide is not able to cover him, therefore, he can only use a hat to cover his eyes. The reason why he choose this place because it is a small corner that just fit his store and sometimes he can hide himself. Moreover, it is safer to sleep there because the back and left side are blocked, so there will be a sense of security. Moreover, as people will gather there, so it is also good for him to run his business.
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8. A man sleeping on the staircase
Conditions Surrounding trees are shield for blocking the sunlight. As you can see, this man is not being shined on, besides, people seldom walk up the stair, thus sleeping there will be a good choice. This man may be one of the shop owers nearby, he sleep here is because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s convenient to do so. But obviously, he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t follow the Fengshui: to make bedside with thing.
Conclusion
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Korean know well about how to use the public space and they have more freedom to choose how to use the public space. That means they can do whatever they want. But in Hong Kong, most of the public space have rules to follow, people are prohibited to do something, for instance to sleep on the land of the street. The reason behind may be because Korea is larger than Hong Kong, this makes it less crowded, therefore, there are no rules to follow. For Hong Kong, everything is packed, so if there are no rules, then people may block the way when they sleep on the street.
++ Ewha Womans University by Dominique Perrault 2008_ completion area_ 19 000 m²
A building desapearing behind the public space.
15.06.2012_ 4pm
BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES Jin Sol Song SONG
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BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES
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Restaurant at Jongno 38 gil
OPEN VIEWS: CONNECTION
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Jongno
Seun Sang Ga
Restaurant at Heyri Art Village Cafe at Bukchonno
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Jongmyo Plaza Park
OVERLAPPING INTENTIONS
Donhwamunno
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Donhwamunno
Hangang Park Ichon Area
Jongno 28 gil
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Insadong
PERSONAL SPACES
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Jongno
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Florists at Yulgongno
COMMUNITY OVER PROFIT
Insadong St.
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Underground Market, Insadong Donhwamunno
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Jongno Shin Jin Market
Subway at Sejonhno
SYMBOLS SYMBOLS
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Hangang Park Banpo Area
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PROGRAM
MONDAY. 11 06 2012 INTRODUCTION evening Meeting @ Soriwool house and welcome dinner TUESDAY. 12 06 2012 OBSERVE morning Introduction by tutors on the field trip theme afternoon Visit Buckchon area + Kukje Art Center by So-Il + Seoul Museum of History + evening Cheonggyecheon River Project WEDNESDAY. 13 06 2012 OBSERVE morning Lecture by Parallel Lab on “Edge Public Spaces : the case study of Bangkok and Hong Kong” @ Soriwool afternoon Visit OMA Building @ SNU + Seun Sangga Megastructure (Introduction by Jae Lim, Architect, Seoul) evening Visit Bangsan Market THURSDAY. 14 06 2012 OBSERVE morning Lecture by Nils Clauss cinematographer and photographer, Seoul) @ Soriwool afternoon photographic workshop with Nils Clauss
FRIDAY. 15 06 2012 OBSERVE morning Brainstorming on observations
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++ Hongdae
Seoul street culture.
15.06.2012_ 10pm
afternoon
evening
Visit of Lokaldesign office and lecture by Shin Heawon (Architect and Founder) + Visit of underpasses, project by Lokaldesign Dragon Hill SPA
SATURDAY. 16 06 2012 EXPERIENCE morning Free time afternoon Visit of Ewha Women University building by Dominique Perrault + Visit of Hongdae area SUNDAY. 17 06 2012 EXPERIENCE morning Visit of Paju Village afternoon Visit of Heyri Art Village evening Movie by Hong Sang Soo
MONDAY. 18 06 2012 EDITING morning Individual brainstorming @ Platoon Kunsthalle afternoon Workshop @ Platoon Kunsthalle TUESDAY. 19 06 2012 EDITING all day Workshop @ Platoon Kunsthalle WEDNESDAY. 20 06 2012 EXCHANGE morning Think Tank and discussion @ Platoon Kunsthalle, Seoul with inputs by Jae Lim afternoon leaving Seoul
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++ Heyri Art Village
Masterplan interpretation.
17.06.2012_3pm
LOKALDESIGN | FLOOD DEFENCE INFRASTRUCTURE AS PUBLIC SPACE New typologies of public space along the river Han While the 1960’s saw the Han River in Seoul still lined with rice paddies, less than a decade later the urban fabric had encroached upon the river banks. During the 1970s and ‘80s the increasingly dense development, highways and massive retaining walls altered the course of the river and cut it off completely from the surrounding city scape The formerly extensive flood plains were minimised, contained by highways and straightjacketed by an infrastructure of large-scale embankments. With the Han River at its centre and situated close to the estuary, rising sea levels and changing precipitation patterns are of increasing concern to Seoul’s urban planners. The maintenance and protection of the remaining flood plains, as well as the continuing defence of the adjacent neighbourhoods against the frequent flooding are pressing issues. In 2007 the City of Seoul embarked upon a vast upgrading project to valorise the river bank as a public space, while improving its ability to absorb and defend against the flood threats. Under the title “Han River Renaissance” the work included the adaption of the bridges crossing the river for pedestrian and cycle traffic, ecologically sensitive landscaping, the provision
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of leisure facilities along the banks and in particular the integration of visible and enjoyable public access gateways to the park to raise its profile.
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Up to that point, access to the river banks was provided mainly by 48 tunnels, burrowing under the highways and through the embankments. Despite their daily and popular usage by the public, in particular the inhabitations of the highrise apartments and dense neighbourhoods built up against the river, they had never been considered worthy of design input. As pure infrastructural elements, they were exclusively engineered to resist flooding and fitted with powerful flood gates. In an unprecedented move, the City of Seoul requested a group of six architectural practices to remodel 25 of these tunnels. The scale of this project was vast and required a close collaboration between infrastructural engineers and the architects involved. Lokaldesign acted as design coordinator of the Han River Access Tunnel Project, and was also commissioned with the transformation of five of these tunnels. In addition, Lokaldesign developed and designed two new tunnels linking further neighbourhoods to the open space, Shinjayang and Seongsan Tunnels.
The aim of the Lokaldesignâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach was to transform an existing infrastructure from an utilitarian left-over space into safe, engaging and accessible public space and to develop a new design approach for future tunnels. They should connect and mark out the Han Riverbank Park, Seoulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major recreational open space, while continuing to act as first line of defence against flooding. With both designs of the tunnels, a public space is piggybacking off and being formed by an infrastructural framework, subverting a language based on intimidating engineering requirements to provide cool seating during the summer heat, rest spaces and shelter of a human scale. The flood gates are placed in protective encasements, which act as tower-like markers for the new gateways to the park. In developing this new kind of hybrid spaces, these Han River Access Tunnel projects set an example of how large scale strategies and local design interventions can interact to transform flood defence into successful public spaces.
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URBAN NATURE | TEXT by NILS CLAUSS
This series has been awarded 1st prize for the acclaimed EUROPEAN PRIZE OF ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY in 2011.
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Not only Seoul, South Korea itself is a highly urbanized country. Around 80% of its population is living in urban areas. Due to urban space growing together on a large scale, the traditional concept of a compact city needs to be redefined. Landscape becomes indispensably urbanised, through the loss of borders between urban and rural space. The massive suburbanisation of the cities’ peripheries not only extended the city’s scale, but also turned the former rural neither into something really urban, nor into something, which can be defined as merely rural anymore. The loss of the rural implies also a loss of the city in its centralized arrangement. The city itself is flowing out into the new rural-urban space. Urbannature is a project which broaches the issue of the dissapearing rural and it’s architectural aftermath. Accompanied by the massive loss of the rural, one can find a rising number of rural imagery being attached to building facades within the endless boundaries of the Seoul city space.
http://www.nilsclauss.com/#urbannature
REPUBLIK KOREA | TEXT by NILS CLAUSS
The “quick-quick”-Culture. What is the Republik Korea? In an article on Korean Society in Stadtbauwelt-Magazine (36.08) the architect and writer Kong Chul thinks of the Republik Korea as a “quick quick” type of culture. Kong looks at the dual consequences of this “quick quick” culture: On the one hand there is dynamism, but on the other there is impatience. This dichotomy of the “quick quick”-temperament leads to both praise and criticism. Whereas technical developments like the incredible speed of the Korean internet are impressive, the abandonment and destruction of traditional culture is most of the time difficult to understand. According to Kong the “quick quick”-temperament can be dated back to the era of Japanese colonization and also the Korean war, where it evolved as a prerequisite for survival. These days though, according to Kong, this mindset is found in most modern societies that are focused on quick (economic) growth. Kong concludes: “We know that we live in a time of alternation. Speedy progress will be rewarded.” - I suppose, a statement as an incontrovertible fact beyond any cultural boundaries. Partly the following photographs have been published along with Kong Chul’s article in the Seoul issue of the German “Stadtbauwelt”-Magazine (36.08). http://www.nilsclauss.com/#republik-korea
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BANG | TEXT by NILS CLAUSS
The notions of public and not so clearly defined in borderline between these cepts does not exist. Put private domains are very and interchangeable.
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private space are Korea. A distinct two spatial consimply public and much intertwined
The Korean word “bang” is used to describe spaces that fall into this nebulous category. Even though the word can simply be translated to English as “room”, the meaning is more complex. A ‘bang’ is mostly a place that is commercially available for hire by the public, where they can engage in private perhaps intimate acts, or conversely their actions can be turned into spectacle and therefore be made public. These spaces exist mostly behind closed doors and are hardly evident within the city’s visual structure. In contrary this photographic series is based on an exterior view of various buildings’ that might contain these spaces. As the word bang is a spacial concept, which abolishes private individual borders that are based on a western spacial concept, “bangs” are represented through the distant view in these photographs as an open rather than a closed space. Therefore, the not so important living based concept of the word “bang” in Korea is visually negated in these photographs. http://www.nilsclauss.com/#seoul-bang
++ Platoon Kunsthalle 2009_ completion
Free standing on a parking lot 28 cargo containers for street culture including a think tank for reflection on the Seoul Edge Public Spaces. 19.06.2012_7pm
A HISTORY OF KOREAN PUBLIC SPACE by BENEDETTA ROGERS Open space as a platform for communal interaction did not formally exist during the Jeseon Period. The map from the 1892 represents Seoul’s urban fabric as a series of processional routes connecting the palaces and main gates of the city. These streets though were not intended as public spaces as in European cities: ‘Although the main street housed merchant shops, it was not distinctively ‘commercial’ in the manner of medieval European or Chinese cities. It was rather a setting for stately display. The commoners receded from the main street and took their place as spectators instead of participants in everyday urban life . Buying and selling on the street did not serve to make the city’s economy a public event. This space [the street] was as much as much govermental as it was commercial, essentially encapsulating the public into secluded urban areas is sharp contrast with the piazza or Agora in European cities, which were purposely carved out to bring the public together in the middle of the urban fabric.’ (Kim Kwang Soo) During the colonial period the city was controlled by the Japanese and the meaning of ‘public’ (gong gong) as ‘something related to state and government’ obscured the origin of the term that expressed no-
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tions of openness and togetherness. Koreans retreated from the city and both domestic and social function were hidden within the houses.
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The map of Seoul from 1927 shows the main open spaces of the city in correspondance of govermental buildings intensifying the association Public Space=Enemy
http://urban-sprouts.blogspot.hk/
The Paradox of Public Space in the Asian Metropolis Germany-Korea Public Space Forum Deutsches Architektur Museum Korean Organizing Committee for the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2005 October 14, 2005 KIM, Sung Hong, University of Seoul
Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, presents a peculiar urban landscape to outsiders. It appears neither traditional, post-colonial nor modern seen from the canonical definitions and historical perspectives of Euro-American architecture. To say that it is eclectic and hybrid is perhaps an understatement. Wong Yunn Chii described Asian modernity as “a mongrel [which has] inherent exuberance without recourse to ready-made expectations, external and sanctioned measurements.” Korea’s capital city seems to fit that description. Kang Hong Bin, a former Vice Mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, once noted that Seoul’s public appearance is the byproduct of the paradoxical combination of “too much planning” and “too little planning.” An understanding of this statement and indeed of the state of public space in Korea requires a careful uncovering of the many layers of foundation upon which public space has been built. History, politics, economics and technology each have had their trowel in the mix.
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HISTORY AND POLITICS: THREE INFLUENCES
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When founded as the capital of the Chosun dynasty in the 14th century, Seoul was constructed on the canons of Chinese cities, although it did not embody their strict principles. Geometrical regularity and symmetry applied only to the main streets, palaces, royal shrines, and government buildings. Behind the major streets, the city was constructed on a trial and error basis from the perspective of modern planning. The royal families and high-ranking officials occupied the most privileged spaces in the city, usually deeply recessed from main streets. Alleys were produced as middle class officials and artisans later filled remaining areas [Fig. 1]. The placement of shops on the main streets concealed the inner residential space. The result was the formation of a unique spatial pattern, with shops to the front and houses to the back in a linear and planar configuration [Fig. 2]. The horizontal juxtaposition marked a division between the upper and the lower ranks of society, where the ruling class commanded the privileged space while consigning merchants to an extremely limited territory adjacent to but never within the sacred area. Although the main street housed merchant shops, it was not distinctively â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;commercialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the manner of medieval European or Chinese cities. It was rather a setting
for stately display. The commoners receded from the main street and took their places as spectators instead of participants in everyday urban life. Buying and selling on the main street did not serve to make the city’s economy a public event. Hence Seoul’s old shop streets are not comparable to the medieval market streets in European towns, where a direct link between the private domain (the home or place of work) and the public life of the town were formed. And while the planning principles of Kaifeng in the Chinese Northern Song dynasty had major influences on the foundation of Seoul, there is much dissimilarity between these two as well. A painting of Kaifeng’s urban scene is in sharp contrast to the picture of Seoul’s immense boulevard that does not reveal intimate commercial activities [Fig. 3]. The shop architecture was to be controlled, managed, embellished, and seen, but not participated in. The shop was the architectural facade of the city; it was the city’s ‘paper folding screen’, a decorative panel with paintings, calligraphy and embroidery set in a traditional Korean house. J.B. Jackson once quoted Spengler in saying that “[the houses] in all Western cities turn their facades, their faces, and in all Eastern cities turn their backs, blank wall and railing, towards the street.” While this rightly speaks to the distinction between introversion and extroversion, a closer look at the Chosun Dynasty’s Seoul additionally reveals the sheer
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wall of architecture that existed between the front and the back. This space, which was as much governmental as it was commercial, essentially encapsulated the public into secluded urban areas, in sharp contrast with the piazza or agora in European cities, which were purposely carved out to bring the public together in the middle of the urban fabric. The collapse of the Chosun Dynasty eventually led to other influences on Korea’s conception of public space. It is important to note that the Korean word for ‘public’, gong-gong, is a combination of two phonemic letters borrowed from the Japanese. They in turn had adopted it from the ancient Chinese word using the same characters, but with a totally different pronunciation, kou-kyou. Korea converted the word into its own alphabetical letters, but with the same pronunciation and without Chinese intonation. The transference of meanings from an ideogram to syllabic letters to phonemic letters generates a common platform for the three cultures, but at the same time reveals fundamental disparities in perception about what ‘public’ means in East Asia. In ancient Chinese the first and second ‘gong’ have close to the same meaning, in which the first means ‘openness’ and the second is defined as ‘togetherness’ or ‘sharing’ [Fig. 4]. Japan took this combinatorial word from ancient Chinese litera-
ture and defined it her own way, closer to a more obscure definition meaning ‘something related to the state and government’. This was a time when Japan prepared its march to imperial aggression and colonial exploitation. Consequently, the idea of ‘public’ was considered by the colonized Koreans as something to deny, resist, and overturn. During the colonial period Korean intellectuals, desperate for a modern patriotic ideology that was decisively anti-colonial and countered Confucian conservatism, spent long hours debating and considering the benefits of the communist ideology of Karl Marx. Marxism met with an enthusiastic welcome from some circles when it arrived in Korea, and remains at the center of an ideological war that still divides Korea today. In South Korea, anti-communist and anti-socialist sentiments (the so-called ‘red complex’) are ever present, making the perception of ‘public’ space even more controversial and value-charged. Note that the second ‘gong’ of gong-gong is the same Chinese character that describes Communism. During the era of military dictatorship from the 1960s to the 1980s, the government took advantage of anti-communist sentiment as a tactic for the suppression of political adversaries. From the dictators’ view, streets were disturbing, contaminated, and violent, thus needing to be under surveillance and control. The masses saw the streets in a different way, as the set-
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ting for political struggle and solidarity.
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The juxtaposition of these three recent historical realities (colonialism, Communism, and military dictatorship) on modern Korean society has led Koreans to be overly guarded in conceding and negotiating private territory, while being most tolerant to encroachment in the public realm. Put on top of the ground laid by the Chosun dynasty, we can now see how the public domain in Korean cities represents a stratified metamorphosis of conflicting values and ideas. And this phenomenon is not a unique to Korean society. The dichotomy between the colonizer and the colonized, the socialistic and the capitalistic, and the state and the individual are latent in many East Asian countries that went through similar suffering and hardship. What makes this dichotomy sharper and more distinctive are the ways in which these socio-historical conditions have materialized and evolved in each particular urban space. ECONOMICS: HIBRID ARCHITECTURE AND TRANSPATIAL URBANISM The era of rapid industrial development brought on after the Korean War saw a reversal of the spatial value system introduced in the Chosun era. The most privileged inner domain was transformed into the least preferable land from the perspective of commercial interests. By contrast, the less
preferable periphery on the main streets became the most profitable retail spaces. The pressure of spatial intensification brought about unbalanced development: the peripheral areas were verticalized, with owners trying to take full advantage of the exposure and visibility of their properties. Today in the heart of downtown Seoul, buildings rise from the property line in a continuous facade that conceals irregularities of layout behind the street [Fig. 5]. Each of these buildings embraces the secular and the ecclesiastical together: a Karaoke shop in the basement, a fast food restaurant on the 1st floor, a PC cafe on the 2nd, a plastic surgery clinic on the 3rd, a commercial learning institute on the 4th, a church on the 5th floor, etc. While the chaotic signboards attached to the external walls represent extremely dense but random spatial configurations inside, they do not really reveal the way in which the buildings are perceived and conceived [Fig. 6, 7]. Behind these two to five story complexes, usually on wide frontage and shallow lots, are hidden one-story traditional timber structures. This development was coupled with the degradation of the inside of the block, an area that previously enjoyed high status but now was more or less ignored. Owners of the linear-front properties tried to capitalize on their accessibility, even to the extent of facilitating their own pri-
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vate use of the street at the expense of the quality of the public space. As mentioned before, this was not as much an area of concern for the average citizen as the management of their own private space. In that regard, it is noteworthy that until recently the values and revenues accruing from the premium street-front locations were not systematically embodied in planning and legal systems, particularly in the tax system. The land and building tax had been assigned based on official land gradation and price, which is not only lower than the real exchange price, but also does not reflect the micro-locational advantages. The physical relationship between the public and private is blurred by the disparate relationship between private ownership and the sense of public obligation. Here the independence of real space in relation to perceptual space, and of real space in relation to social organization, known as transpatiality , underlies the architecture and the urban realm. Like the cities of most developing countries, Seoul has been influenced more by private capital and less by government control over the last several decades. Even the land on which public buildings stand passed into the hands of private speculators. There has been little opportunity for state-operated micro-urban planning strategies to articulate urban landscape. Here perhaps Kang Hong Binâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paradoxical
statement regarding planning starts to make sense. Seoulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public space lacks the possibility of a cohesive plan exactly because it has been calcified by the powerfully shaping influences of its past and private interests today. That is not to say that the construction of newer cities in Korea have demonstrated the will to break clear of these past influences. The vertical stratification of retail spaces and abrupt horizontal transition of land use patterns is found in many of Seoulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s young satellite towns such as Ilsan, which was developed in the late 1980s [Fig. 8]. Ilsan presents a visually different but spatially similar logic. With a backdrop of hundreds of standardized high rise apartment blocks, massive retail buildings form glitzy urban façades on the main streets [Fig. 9]. A visitor would be perplexed, first by the extremely monotonous skylines of residential architecture from the distance, and second, by the excessive and irritating retail architecture on the streets. This new town is a scaledup version of the old city, only with huge apartment buildings rising up to replace the old residences of the isolated interior in Chosun-era Seoul. The polarization of the two urban morphologies (the front-linear and the back-planar), and of two architectural typologies (the front-commercial and the back-residential) is a fundamental spatial logic that is difficult to erase
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from the urban landscape. The occurrence of this phenomenon in the modern and postmodern city might be seen as a symptom of social disjunction. Not only does it accelerate extreme commercialization and privatization of space, it does not allow for any in-between space for people to interact, negotiate and compromise in daily urban life. The problem in Korean cities lies not with the decline or erosion of public space, symptoms commonly raised by critics in contemporary Western cities, but with the fact that public space itself has not emerged and infiltrated the dichotomized urban landscape. However, a new socio-technological force emerging today is driving this contradictory condition into a completely different situation, where morphological and typological polarizations are no longer obstacles to daily urban life. TECHNOLOGY: THE INTERNET AND HYPER-DENSITY Today information technology is the latest layer of influence on public space in Korea. But here we are not just talking about the Internet and the creation of virtual space and its impact on physical space; we are talking about an inter-dependence between virtual and physical space in a highly dense urban environment. In recent commentary there is a common premise that the non-visual network in virtual space overcomes the contingency of face-to-face interaction and expands far beyond the bound-
aries of urban communities. What has rarely been examined is how the virtual network has in turn impacted the way urban dwellers interact in their physical space. This is partly because most of the debate is in the context of technologically advanced but less populated nations such as the U.S. or Canada in North America and Finland or Switzerland in Europe. Density is one of the most important components in understanding contemporary Asian cities, with Seoul being one of the densest urban areas on the planet. Approximately half of the total population of South Korea reside in the greater Seoul metropolitan area, with about half of that, or over ten million people, living in the capital city proper. Foreign visitors are overwhelmed by the fact that Seoul has more than three times the density of neighboring Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. A comparative study of six world cities, Seoul, Tokyo, London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles showed Seoul to have the second highest population density behind Paris, but the second lowest building density of typical high-rise residential areas and downtown renewal areas next to Los Angeles. The disparity between population density and building density means that Seoulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban density is the highest of all, creating tremendous pressure on spatial intensification, verticalization and amplification of architecture [Fig. 10].
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Meanwhile, the ratio of Internet users in Korea relative to population is one of the highest in the world. Data shows that 51.5 percent of the total population of South Korea are Internet users, representing the world’s largest penetration rate as of May 2002. Koreans are also second in online shopping with about 31 percent of South Korean Internet users now shopping online in May 2002, one percentage point behind leaders United States. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, recently advised Western travelers not to ask whether Internet is available in hotels in Korea because it is considered an insult to Koreans. It is like asking whether a bed is available in the hotel room. The paper added that Korea’s world-leading Internet usage is partly due to the proliferation of standardized highrise apartment buildings. This does not mean to suggest that Koreans simply retreat from the public to these privatized milieus, preferring to live their lives entirely in front of their computers. There is still an tendency for people, especially those living in relative ethnic and linguistic homogeneity, to physically join together and participate in each others’ lives and recognize that they are part of something bigger than themselves. It allows them to relieve their fear of alienation by constantly reconfirming their sense of relatedness. And so it
should come as no surprise that a good portion of online communities in Korea end up meeting together in physical public places. Internet users, so called “netizens,” enjoy activities via online communities, cyber cafes, or chat rooms in portals sites that often turn into offline activities. As of March 2001, 1.62 million online communities were constructed in the four major portal sites, and about 51 percent of Internet users participated in offline gatherings.
The strong connection between online and offline activities is not commonly found in digitally advanced but less populated nations such as the U.S. and Finland, or more populated but less Internet-active areas like Europe, or heavily populated but heterogeneous countries such as China. This relationship results from the combination of explosive Internet usage, hyper-dense urban conditions and ethnic homogeneity. The strong ties between virtual space and real space invites us to rethink the two social paradigms postulated by Emile Durkheim. Durkheim attempted to systematically distinguish the type of solidarity prevalent in relatively simple societies with that found in modern society, calling the first ‘mechanical solidarity’ and the second ‘organic solidarity’. Mechanical solidarity was founded on likeness whereas organic solidarity arose from complementary attributes between individuals engaged in
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different pursuits. While organic solidarity requires a high degree of interaction between individuals, mechanical solidarity works through categorical similarities among individuals.
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The crossing-over of people between online and offline communities blurs these conventional paradigms of space and society. Virtual space is open to mechanical and organic groups, both of which are present in the city, and individuals move easily between one and the other. Similarly, offline gatherings are open to both groups. By its nature, the crossover from one to the other not only dissolves the distinction between Durkheimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two solidarities, but also the conventional categorization of place and non-place networks, creating a new multifaceted and undifferentiated socio-spatial paradigm. One of the most pertinent examples of this new phenomenon was the outdoor cheering campaign during the 2002 World Cup in Korea. Millions of people camped out on the streets, inside baseball stadiums, and in parks to celebrate en masse the national teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stunning victories. According to police estimates, almost one in seven of the population watched Koreaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last game against Germany in public outdoor spaces. Two aspects of this month-long soccer fiesta were most striking: the structure of the national team support group who or-
chestrated these events (the ‘Red Devils’), and the spatial distribution of the major cheering places in the city. First, the structure and operation of the Red Devils club is very similar to that of the Internet. The [net] space is a reticulate network; one part is connected to another part and eventually it is connected to every part of a whole network. When one part does not function, it may affect immediate neighbors, but it never ruins the whole network. The network keeps transforming and expanding. Likewise, the Red Devils’ voluntary participation and activities are operated spontaneously at different levels and places, without organizational or spatial hierarchies. Second, the capital city’s sprawling City Hall Plaza and the nearby Kwanghwamun intersection stand out as being of particular importance among the many cheering spots. The first was the intersection of the boulevard that moved towards the Royal Palace during the Chosun era and the second was the center of radials streets planned as a symbol of restoring royal authority against foreign superpowers before the colonization. After the 1960s, automobiles occupied these streets; pedestrians had no choice but to use inconvenient and complicated underpasses to cross streets in that area. In the 1970s and 1980s, student and civilians protested against military dictatorship and
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police and other law-enforcement officials cracked down hard on demonstrators there [Fig. 11]. Although these two places became the epicenters for street cheering during the games, there was no spatial hierarchy with other cheering places in Seoul. The events in these places were not planned but spontaneous, and the relationship of these places was not through linear linkage, but through point-to-point connection. Different locations were linked together less by spatial proximity but more by conceptual cohesion. Just like an IP address on the Internet, each place is a part of both a spatial and transpatial network.
[TRANS]SPATIAL STRATEGY AND SPATIAL TACTICS trategy and Spatial Tactics We live in the age when radical urban transformation is not possible. The city is often spatially disconnected, thus lacking psychologically reassuring qualities of place and linkage. Any proposal to make a city physically continuous and evenly distributed would be na誰ve. But more na誰ve would be to believe that information technology and the automobile will eventually be a substitute for everyday encounter. The phenomenon of fragmentation and decentralization seems partly unavoidable today. Yet, there is the potential to search for a relative degree
of affinity, clustering, and localization different from separation and segregation. The two street cheering sites in Seoul demonstrated that the concept of place-ness plays a more significant role in an environment where population concentration and spatial intensification give impetus to social dynamism. The nodal space works as a kind of epicenter having a ‘ripple effect’. It is a milieu for programmed public activities and congregation, and at the same time for unprogrammed interactions and the natural sustainment of mutual awareness. What needs to be given more attention are the fringe areas of these nodal spaces, which have been neglected in the horizontal disjunction of the front-linear and the back-planar morphologies, in the stark vertical stratification of the commercial and residential, and in the unprecedented transpatial linkage between the virtual network and real space. Asian planners and architects have long ignored this specific urban reality. It is time to question and rethink the paradox in which we have been trapped. In the search for ‘tradition’ (which is often regressive and ethnocentric ideology) we have disguised our fundamental urban conditions and even ignored our recent cultural experiences. We have been ruled by Euro-American architectural and urban paradigms, more particularly by the mixture of the suburban dream in American urbanism and the pro-
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duction and reproduction of iconographic images of European architecture. It would make no sense to intellectually reconstruct a setting upon which we could triangulate a way into unexplored territory. Instead, there is room to move between the two polarities, where we do not eliminate the tension between the two but rather activate it in ways that enrich our awareness of urban conditions as well as our awareness of cultural meaning. The ideas from three papers were adopted, modified and merged here: “From the Aristocratic to the Commercial: Chongno Street in Seoul,” Journal of Southeast Asian Architecture, Vols. 5 & 6. November 2003. MITA(P) 191/03/2004, pp.23-31; “From Online to Offline: The Emergence of a New Urban Community In the Age of Information Technology,” presented at the 8th Conference of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments, (Un) Bounding Tradition: The Tensions of Borders and Regions, Hong Kong, December 12 -15; “Online @Offline” at the catalog of “City of the Bang,” at the La Biennale di Venezia, 9th International Architecture Exhibition, Korea Pavilion, September 2004.
http://sonomad.tistory.com/tag/Asian%20Metropolis
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INFORMATION AND PARTICIPANTS
ACCOMODATION Hanko Guest House SORIWOOL 15-1, Sagan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea +82 2 5765556 http://www.soriwool.com/ WORKSHOP LOCATION
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Platoon Kunsthalle Nonhyeon-Dong 97-22, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul P: +82-(0)2 -3447-1191~7 F: +82-(0)2-3447-1198 E: mail@kunsthalle.com http://www.kunsthalle.com/
BUCKCHON AREA http://bukchon.seoul.go.kr/ KUKJE ART CENTER www.kukje.org/ http://so-il.org/artifact/534 CHEONGGYECHEON RIVER PROJECT OMA BUILDING SNU http://oma.eu/projects/2005/seoul-natioaluniversity-museum-of-art DRAGON HILL SPA http://www.dragonhillspa.co.kr/japan/ main01.htm/ EWHA WOMEN UNIVERSITY - DOMINIQUE PERRAULT http://www.perraultarchitecte.com/en/ projects/2459-ewha_womans_university.html
HEYRI ART VILLAGE http://www.heyri.net/eng/heyri_info.asp?de pth1=1&depth2=1&InfoTab=Info
CONTRIBUTORS JAE LIM (Cooper Union) NILS CLAUSS (Cinematographer/Photographer) http://www.nilsclauss.com/ LOKALDESIGN - SHIN HAEWON http://www.lokaldesign.com/
STUDENTS CHAN Ming Tat Xyrus CHENG Linus Chin Long CHENG Karen Man Lai IP Yi Lok Ivy KAN Hok Yin Anthony LAU Tsz Ying Michelle LEUNG Man Ling Elizabeth LI Yi Lung Roberto WONG Hin Nga Nicola SONG Jin Sol Song Esther
PARALLEL LAB Geraldine Borio g.borio@parallellab.com +852 6490 8410 Caroline Wuethrich c.wuethrich@parallellab.com +852 6924 5204
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REFERENCES
WEBSITES
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http://urban-sprouts.blogspot.com/
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seoulsatellite2010.blogspot.hk
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http://www.connectedurbandevelopment. org/cities/seoul
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http://leopon.co.kr/mili212/2011/12607
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Landscapes of Power in Seoul, Lecture by Valerie Gelezeau, Columbia University GSAPP http://vimeo.com/10472719
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http://raumlaborkorea.tumblr.com/
++ “Introduction to Micro-Urbanism” by Chi Tinan, http://www.microurbanism.net ++ www.parallellab.com or www.staghk.org
BIBLIOGRAPHY ++ “Up Side Down_Bangkok”, Geraldine Borio and Caroline Wuthrich, The Swiss Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Switzerland (ETH/EPFL), 2007. In collaboration with Prof. Dieter Dietz, Prof. Chrisitan Gillot, Prof. Momoyo Kaijima, Prof. Hieronyme Lacroix. http://issuu.com/parallellab/docs/up_side_down_bangkok ++ “Made in Tokyo” by Atelier Bow-Wow:Momoyo Kaijima, Junzo Kuroda, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. Kaijima Institute Publishing Co.,Ltd, Tokyo, 2001. ++ “Pet Architecture Guide Book” Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Tokyo Institute of Technology Tsukamoto Architectural Laboratory & Atelier Bow-Wow, Tokyo, 2001.
++ “Guerrilla Wars in Everyday Public Spaces: Reflections and Inspirations for Designers” Kin Wai Michael Siu, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, International Journal of Design Vol.1 No.1 2007. ++ “Street furniture design” Siu, K. W. M. (2004). In T. P.Leung (Ed.), Hong Kong: Better by design (pp. 77-86). Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2004. ++ “The Spaces of the Modern City: imaginaries, politics, and everyday life”. Gyan Prakash & Kevin M. Kruse. Princeton University Press, 2008. ++ “Bow-wow from Post-Bubble City” Atelier Bow-wow. Atelier Bow-Wow publisher, 2006
FILM ++ “HKorganic” Archima production, Hong Kong-Paris, 2009, co-written by Isabelle Mayor, Ludovic Malbet, Gregoire Dubreux, Geraldine Borio. Presented for the competition “Sustainability in Chinese Cities” at the Forum ChinaEuropa in Le Havre, France, 2008. “HKorganic” won the Prize of Creativity. http://www.parallellab.com ++ “STAG-it” Produced, directed and edited by Isabelle Mayor, Hong Kong, 2012. With Caroline Wuthrich, Geraldine Borio, Uncle Chan, Mr Tang, Tszping Lee, Ho Chun Sing Jason, Jeffrey Tse, Yuen Ting Ng Sandy, Natalie Tsui, Didi Wu.
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