SEUNGBIN YOO
I am Seungbin Yoo, and I have a strong background in architecture, urbanism, and the history and theory of the built environment. With such a background, I bring a deep understanding of the mediation between space, culture, and architecture, highlighted by a commitment to cultural sensitivity, globalization, and localization.
My approach to architecture is deeply rooted in advocacy for marginalized groups and underrepresented communities, aiming to create functional, aesthetically pleasing, but also inclusive within a globalized world.
My academic and professional journey has equipped me with a comprehensive skill set in architectural design principles, complemented by a passionate methodology for innovative solutions catering to the needs of diverse populations. I am particularly drawn to projects that counter the conventional boundaries of architecture to counter-hegemonic mundane objects, architecture, and design.
Since your firm deals a lot with public architecture, I am excited about the opportunity to contribute my unique perspective, creativity, and dedication to your team in this manner. I look forward to discussing how my background, skills, and passion for social advocacy align with your goals.
Thank you for looking through my portfolio. I cannot wait to bring impact to the local community through architecture practice with the collective group of diverse people.
Sincerely,
Seungbin Yoo (He/Him)TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Circular Library: Poche the Marble
2.In-Progress Masters’ Thesis: Counter-hegemonic Architecture
3.Nest: Social Housing
4.Anti-Colonial Kayanase Seed Bank
5.Model Study: Mother Earth
6.Irish Meditation Centre
SEUNGBIN YOO
EDUCATION
seungbin.yoo@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, Master of Architecture (Professional Degree) | Aug 2021 June 2024 (expected)
University of Toronto, Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies with Distinction | Sep 2017 - Jun 2021 Specialist in History and Theory of Architecture, Landscape, Urbanism and Design
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Architectural Intern, DnB Architecture Office, Seoul, Korea | May 2023 Sep 2023
Being actively invovled in desining process of a school project in Seoul. I have been responsible for shematic planning and providing conceptual ideas/drawings.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Assistant, Work Study | Jan 2021 - Apr 2021
Exploring Korean architecture since its enlightenment (1945 - present) to investigate its distinct regionalism and cultural aspect which will be used as course materials for Professor Peter Sealy and also for MArch seminar on Asian architecture.
Research Assistant Aug 2019 - Sep 2019
Initialized research of public libraries in the Greater Toronto Area under the supervision of Professor Yong-Seung Kim from South Korea. Comparing the typology to libraries in London, UK.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching Assistant | Sep 2023 - Dec 2023
Served as a Teaching Assistant for ARC251: Close Readings in Landscape Architecture, holding regular office hours.
Teaching Assistant (Head TA)| Aug 2023 - Aug 2023
Served as a Head Teaching Assistant for ARC1021: Visual Communication for Miles Gertler. Running regular office hours and studio for incoming M.Arch students during 2-week intensive summer studio.
Teaching Assistant Jan 2023 - Apr 2023
Served as a Teaching Assistant for JAV152: History of Architecture for Hans Ibelings. Holding regular office hours and grading final papers and exams.
Teaching Assistant | Sep 2023 - Dec 2023
Served as a Teaching Assistant for ARC251: Close Readings in Landscape Architecture, holding and office hours.
Teaching Assistant | Sep 2022 - Dec 2022
Served as a Teaching Assistant for ARC353: Architecture and Media, holding regular tutorials and office hours.
Teaching Assistant | Jan 2022 - Apr 2022
Served as a Teaching Assistant for JAV101: How to Design Almost Anything.
Teaching Assistant | Sep 2021- Dec 2021
Served as a Teaching Assistant for Professor A. North in ARC252, holding regular tutorials and office hours.
PUBLICATION/PRESENTATION
DnB Architects Competition for Gumdan 6 Middle School Construction | Aug 2023
As part of the competition entry team, our design for middle school project won the competition.
Selected as a Finalist Mention, YAC Competition Sep 2022
Competition entry with three other colleagues. Winning the Finalist Mention of “Meditation Mine.” https://www.youngarchitectscompetitions.com/past-competitions/ireland-mediation-mine
Interview with Saul Kim, Studio Saul Kim | July 2021
Interviewed by Saul Kim from Studio Saul Kim on the topic of how “Form Follows Function,” is paradoxical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY0RmEHWca0&t=428s
AWARD
WZMH Architects - Oxford Properties Graduate Student Endowment Fund | Oct 2023
Given to M.Arch student(s) who has shown excellent and innovative design in large scale architecture and urban design.
RESEARCH
ARC451: Museum as a Medium January - April 2020
Researching on the British Museum as a medium in transmitting the intended knowledge such as imperialism and colonization. Deeply focusing on its spatial strategies and its Greek Revivalism concerning consolidating its national identity through exhibiting stolen artifacts from Egypt, Acropolis, and Asia.
ARC352: The Functionalist Myth | January - April 2020
Typological Comparing Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Crown Hall in the system of thoughts. Despite the time gap and formal differences, their thoughts were derived from the same ideology: Functionalism.
ARC2013: Spatial Analysis of Defensible Space
| Sep - December 2022
Analyzing one urban block in Toronto and KCAP’s urban block project, GWL Terrein in Amsterdam, through the isovist method of Space Syntax Theory. Concerning Oscar Newman’s Defensible Space, the study attempted to research how much those two blocks are exposed to vision, which shows that the higher the exposure to vision, the lower the crime rate.
DnB Architecture Office: Placemaking and Defensible Space of School Environment
| May 2023
While working as a designer at DnB Architecture Office, was responsible for generating Space Syntax Theory to make defensible environment for middle school students. Without building physical elements like a fence, the visabilty map was a useful medium to analyze the passive social interactions among students and staffs.
ARC3600: Space Syntax Analysis on Toronto Lunatic Asylum and CAMH
| Sep - Dec 2023
Conducted as a semeter-term project which I analyzed the spatial configuration of Toronto Lunatic Asylum built in 1850 and the redevelopment of CAMH in 1996. Primary archival work was critical in this research.
Decentering Modernism: Kim Jung-Up and French Embassy Building in Korea
Jan - Apr 2023
Conducting a research paper on National Embassy Building in Korea in relation to the topic of decentering modernism. Seeking the rationale behind the cultural significances of the project that potentially enrich the process of so-called world forming and globalization.
Sep - Dec 2023
ARC3020: Research Seminar: Space Syntax Analysis on Bibby Stockholm, UK Using Space Syntax Method to find out the spatial unjustice embedded in Bibby Stockholm, a barge ship that contains asylum seekers in the UK (2023). The fundamental goal of this research was to explore the British spatial tools to surveil asylum seekers.
ARC3020: Research Seminar: Reimagining Pieces of Government-General Building of Korea
| Present
Proposing a year-long term under the theme of counter-hegemonic architecture. The proposal is rooted in the notion of counter-memorial to recontextualize the demolished imperialist headquarter building in Korea. The design intention is to memorize the erased history through an immersive spatial experience.
SKILLS SUMMARY
Rhinoceros: 3D modeling experience in conceptual and design development phases (2017 - 2023)
AutoCad: Professional experience in 2D drafing skills (2020 - 2023)
Adobe Suite: Masterful use of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign compelling graphics for presentation since (2017 - 2023)
Depth Map X: Professional experience in Space Syntax software to analyze the spatial relations of both urban and building typology (2020-2023)
Archival Research: Professional experience in seeking relevant sources for architectural research (2017-2023)
Korean: Native
English:Native
CIRCULAR LIBRARY:POCHE THE MARBLE
PROJECT: ACADEMIC
TYPE: CIRCULAR LIBRARY
INSTRUCTOR: FRANCESCO MARTIRE
COURSE: ARC2014: COMPREHENSIVE STUDIO
PARTNER: EVAN ANDREWS. ALL DRAWINGS PRESENTED HERE ARE EXCLUSIVELY MINE (SEUNGBIN YOO)
CIRCULAR LIBRARY: POCHE THE MARBLE
This project was completed as a requirement for the Comprehensive Studio, which delved into the whole design process of a building, from a schematic design phase to tectonic assembly detail. Furthermore, the crucial part of this project was the life cycle to reduce carbon footprint. This studio specifically was well aligned with the Building Science course and Structure Course to address problem-solving questions and professional consultants’ assistance.
The site is located at 503 Smith Street in Brooklyn, New York in the Gowanus Lowland neighborhood at the S-E corner of Smith Street and 9th Street. It is located in the Gowanus Industrial Business zone, a manufacturing district which today includes a diverse array of businesses from wholesale lumber and flooring shops to artists to recording studios, as well as scrap metalworkers, furniture makers, and more toxic industrial companies like asphalt plants and concrete mixers.
Finally, the primary design gesture was making a poche like Luteyn and Alvar Aalto to cease from the typical image of net-zero building: banal design with the poetic image of timber materiality. I wanted every building element -- while being carbon-free -- to be seen as growing out of the building instead of tectonic addition.
Double-Glazing
Pebble Stones
152mm Limestone Panel
Triple-Glazing
CLT Beam/Column 300x500
CLT Truss 700x700
152.4mm Heavy Gauage STeel Framing 225 mm Rock wool Insulation (R4.3/ 25mm)
12.7mm Plywood Sheating (R1.25/ 25mm)
HVAC System
Concrete Floor Finish
In order to achieve both the net-zero carbon footprint (energy efficiency) and the realization of architectural concept, CLT has predominantly been used as superstructure while limestone covers the envelope. The thicker insulation along with double-glazing increase the total R-Value to around 40.
IN-PROGESS MASTERS THESIS
PROJECT: ACADEMIC
TYPE: EXHIBITION, MEMORIAL, MUSEUM
INSTRUCTOR: LUKAS PAUER
COURSE: ARC3020/3021: RESEARCH THESIS STUDIO
STATUS: STILL IN PROGESS
ARCHITECTURE
ABSTRACT
This thesis delves into the historical narrative of the Governor General Building of Chosun (Korea) in Seoul, the functional and symbolic architecture of Japanese imperialism, and its subsequent demoliton -- an act to recover Korean sovereignty. It crtiques the exclusion of colonial history from Korean high school education and the general knowledge among the Korean community and porposes an alternative pedagogical strategy.
By revisiting the pieces of the building’s history, instead of erasing the building’s memory, the thesis advocates for an educational model remembering the architectural image and stimulating a a comprehensive understanding of Korea’s colonial past through immersive didactic exhibition spaces.
ABOUT THE THESIS RESEARCH STUDIO
In the first semester of my thesis studio -- Counterhegemonic Architecture -- as the name suggests, explores various case studies of architecture, space, and objects that function as colonial-imperial expansionist markers. From written-visual analysis and reconstruction of drawings and mapping, students were asked to analyze how the particular case study often instrumentalizes mundane objects and built environments to filter the marginalized group and project one’s dominant power.
In the second semester (Jan 2024 - April 2024), students delve more into their projects regarding sovereignty disputes and architecture
OBJECTIVE
This analysis aims to explore the filtration case study of the Bibby Stockholm barge ship. These housing male migrants recently arrived in the UK and are labelled as illegal migrants by the UK government. Furthermore, through the series of drawings and images, this analysis will investigate how the government has instrumentalized objects and spaces at various scales to screen and filter the people coming into the UK.
METHODOLOGY
This investigation has incorporated architectural drawing, imagebased analysis, and Space Syntax Analysis (Bill Hillier and Hanson, 1984). Each method supports each other to reinforce the objective of the booklet. Space Syntax analysis, operated by software simulation called Depthmap X, tool and a theory that human behaviour and spatial experience are intrinsic to how spaces are configured at architectural and urban scales.
INDIVIDUAL THESIS WORK
The Japanese imperialist constructed the government general building of Korea during their colonial expansion in Korea from 19091945. The building functioned as an administrative, jurisdictional, and legislative centre controlling the general public of Korea.
It is designed in a Neoclassical style associated with colonialism, showing one’s advanced modern national state over a pre-modern state (for them, Korea was not modern). The building was then demolished in 1996. However, my thesis proposes a speculative time-setting: What if this building was not demolished but recontextualized in a different approach? What if an architecture competition in 1996-1997 challenged the demolition?
FINCTIONALCOMPETITIONBRIEF
The conceptual reason behind using competitiondeliverymethodisbecause Iwanttoadvocatethatthereisnoonly onesolutiontodealingwiththecolonial bulidinginpostcolonialperiod.Furthermore, the competition format would challenge the real situation of demolitionofthebuilding.
HOW COMPETITION WOULD HAPPEN
SITE: GWANGHWAMUN SQUARE, SEOUL, KOREA
GWANHWAMUN SQUARE, SEOUL
The proposed site is the original site where the imperial building used to stand: The Korean palace and the oldest public square in Korea.
AXIAL DESTRUCTION
One of the Japanese colonial strategy to eliminate the Korean identity through space and architecture by planning the building offset the axis of the Korean palace.
I chose the void as a primary design concept to represent the loss of the bulidng, history, and people of the time. Furthermore, it was important not to put any program above the ground due to the visual accessibiltiy to the Korean palace.
The above ground should remain onyl as a symbolic place, and the spatial experience should happen underground.
ACCESSIBLE EXHIBITION OPEN STORAGE EXHIBITION ROOM WITHIN ROOM: SCENOGRAPHY
DRAWING AND WORKSHOP INVERTED BUILDING FRAGMENTS
CONTEMPLATIVE VOID: TORTURING ROOM
UNDERGROUND EXHIBITION
This exhibition catalogue includes various mediums ranging from symbolic, function, symbolic/functional, building specific and site specific. All of these artifacts are associated with the history of the building during the Japanese colonial-imperial expansion in Korea.
ANTI-COLONIAL KAYANASE SEEDBANK
PROJECT: ACADEMIC
TYPE: SEDDBANK + EDUCATION + LAB + GREENHOUSE
INSTRUCTOR: ADRIAN PHIFFER
COURSE: ARC1012
SITE: KAYANASE, ONTARIO, CANADA
ANTI-COLONIAL KAYANASE SEEDBANK
The project deals with the Indigenous site in Ontario, designing a new seed bank facility in Kayanase, Ontario. The initial concept was how to escape from the colonial bias in the architectural practice, which is familiar in Western knowledge.
I used a diagonal line as an operative tool to reject the grid system, primarily used in a colonial sense. Beyond the formal language, I wanted to create a seed bank that revokes a sense of placeness. Kayanase’s existing facility could have been more pleasing architecturally and spatially. It would not be able to attract people to educate the provincial (or perhaps national) effort to preserve and research Indigenous seeds.
Furthermore, most of the site is floodplain; it was hard to walk, although it was a beautiful landscape. For this reason, I decided to accommodate the required programs on the elevated plinth to avoid the potential flood. However, the edges of the plinth slope down to the ground so people can transit from the plinth to the ground. Finally, the proper space that can attract more people will benefit the future plan for the seed bank because if the institution can exhibit what, why, and how they are researching and preserving seeds, it can be an excellent educational opportunity.
DIAGONAL AS A REJECTION AGAINST COLONIALISM
Throughout the history of Western architecture, the grid system has been operated as a powerful cultural technique to construct built objects. Even in colonial construction, the grid plays a significant role. I, therefore, used a diagonal line to express the sense of anti-colonialism in the Indigenous land of Kayanase.
Kayanase Lab and Centre
Greenhosue
The location of Plinth Plaza and the new seed bank facility for the community is 2m above the grade to prevent floods and to be elusive from the archaeological surroundings.
Archaeological Buffer
The central open space plays a significant role mediating multiple programs. People with different purposes of the visit to the site will encourage individuals to interact and share their experiences.
SEEDBANK AS A PLACE, INSTEAD OF NORMATIVE INSTITUTION
For this term, I was asked to design a seed bank in Kayanase, Ontario, as an extension to the existing institution. The following programs: greenhouse, labs, meeting room, semi-open space, educational space, and canoe landing formed a sense of placeness beyond its institutional function. Based on the field trip to the site, it was unfortunate to experience an unpleasing moment because the existing facility was not very inviting. Attracting visitors and exhibiting preserved Indigenous seeds is crucial, as important as researching and preserving them healthy. The facades
from the separated programs- placed in a strong diagonal language- face the public space for visitors to interact. Furthermore, the idea of a plinth was derived from the flood condition of the land that floods up to 2 m above the ground. The slopes touching the floodplain give continuous access to the plinth..
The programs on the plinth demonstrate a strong language of diagonal lines, which I instrumentalized as a rejection of the colonial design method: orthogonal grid. More than just an institutional typology, both the void and solid components of the project encourage the active inclusiveness of the general public to remind the importance of the seed bank and its role.
NEST: SOCIAL HOUSING
PROJECT: ACADEMIC
TYPE: SOCIAL HOUSING + TOWN PLANNING
INSTRUCTOR: LISA RAPOPORT
COURSE: ARC2017
SITE: EGLINGTON AVE. TORONTO, CANADA
PARTNERS: YURI SHIN AND DANIEL WONG
NEST: SOCIAL HOUSING PROJECT
As the project name – nest – suggests, our team focused on making a closely nested social housing complex within the large site in Toronto. Based on the site analysis on the existing urban condition, we have found the site is spatially unfair in that people have a very lack of access to the main transit corridor, and the sense of placeness (or sense of ownership of space) was problematically lacking. Ultimately, we wanted to create a well-protected social housing complex, yet still wanted to provide a sense of community within the large site. The first scale began with the group of units to create a complex, and the group of complexes created our final proposal: a village.
In this group project, I was responsible for planning the inner and village concept planning. Furthermore, I designed design codes and plan/section for inner-ring districts.
DEFENSIBLE SPACE COMMUNITY
Unlike Pruitt-Igoe, I adopted the Defensible Space Theory defined by Oscar Newman for creating a secure space. Through landscape manipulation and layering of built objects, I wanted to create a space in which people had social ownership over their space between buildings. The most challenging task was dealing with the dichotomy of protection(security) and porosity to tackle “living in a protected environment while not feeling isolated from the neighbouring urban context.
DIVERSITY OF OPEN PUBLIC SPACE
Such a layering strategy creates three distinct open spaces in which inhabitants and visitors are linked spatially, but a clear spatial hierarchy also exists to differentiate the two somewhat.
NATURAL SURVEILLANCE
Furthermore, the adjoining spaces created by the layers of buildings make people to be exposed under the natural surveillance that, as Newman remarked, prevents the possible vandalism.
MODEL STUDY: MOTHER EARTH
PROJECT: ACADEMIC
TYPE: EXHIBITION CENTRE FOR INDIGENOUS ARTIFACT
INSTRUCTOR: ADRIAN PHIFFER
COURSE: ARC1012
MOTHER EARTH
The first project of this studio was learning how to design through the model-making process. Each student was asked to choose one artifact from Canadian indigenous art and create the exhibition space for the chosen object. For this studio, I chose the Strawberry Beadworks crafted by Lorna Thomas-Hill. It embeds two female symbolisms in the Indigenous term. During the Victorian Era, Indigenous women sold their handcrafted beadwork to the white population. The artifact was indeed one of the primary income sources for the community.
INITIAL STUDY AND STRAWBERRY BASKET
The strawberry is also linked closely to the female feature, symbolizing women and girls. Furthermore, newborn babies’ names are given during the strawberry harvest every fall. In this regard, I have been researching the intrinsic value of the artifact –especially the symbol of the strawberry– about the indigenous culture. Gaston Bachelard’s Earth and Reveries of Will has remarked that the earth is the ultimate source of life; it gives birth to minerals, mines, and plants.
Swerving away from its materiality, the poetic meaning of the earth is closely related to the Indigenous cultural symbol of strawberry. That is, giving birth to a new life on this land, which is considered sacred. For my precedents, I have been looking at Studio Anne Holtrop and Roger Boltshauser’s use of earth/masonry raw materials in their projects. Although those two architects have very different approaches to the treatment of materials, I learned how to incorporate the raw (and perhaps even primitive) use of the material, which could give a sense of the earth and land.
For my initial start, I was exploring everyday objects such as a lamp and a towel to investigate materiality. This initial study taught me how to spatially think about my model concerning scale in an actual physical setting.
For the first time as an architecture student, I experimented with plaster. My general model-making process was figuring out the void configuration and using it as my cast. Through a series of explorations with the plaster, I attempted to get the spatial sense achieved by the materiality.
For my final study model, used actual soil to cast plaster. As thinking materiality in a 1:1 manner, casting soil seems very convincing. was focusing on the hierarchy of the lighting inside and its spatial configuration. The foam blocks function as defining voids and as a solid structure for the soil to be attached upon. The wooden dowels are meant for the openings of a ceiling.
IRISH MEDITATION CENTRE
PROJECT: COMPETITION
TYPE: MEDITATION CENTRE + SPA + ACCOMODATION + MUSEUM
PARTNERS: JIA CHEN MI, WILL BANKS, REILLY WALKER
FINAL STATUS: FINALIST (YOUNG ARCHITECTS COMPETITION)
SITE: ALLIHIES, IRELAND
ARCHITECTURE
IRISH MEDITATION CENTRE
Situated on the rocky hills of West Cork, Ireland, the ruins of the Allihies Mine recalls a rich industrial past in which miners ex-tracted ore for over a cen-tury.Once a place of harsh work-ing conditions and hard labour, the mine has become a hiking destination amongst a peaceful, yet rugged landscape. Upon the construction of new pro-gram, the site would evolve once more to become a place for meditation and leisure. The meditation mine re-spects the industrial heri-tage of the site, leaving the ruins untouched and central. The tubular form of the man-engine defines a common language for the proposed buildings. A museum, restaurant, spa, and accomodations welcome both visitors and locals to learn, relax, and reflect. A water treatment plant treats flooded mine water to provide for the site and the community in Allihies. The water is transported via an above-ground pipe network, maintaining a visual presence of indus-trial processes.
For this project, I was responsible for designing a museum, road network planning, and coordinating as a project manage (including organizing meeting, setting up design guidelines and graphic standard). This competition work with my colleagues was an meaningful entertaining moment producing collective works.
Surrounded by stones tormented by the wind and uninterrupted silence, humanity can undertake the escape from civilization that urged the first wise men to retire to their caves in pursuit of a solitary life that has always been considered the most effective recipe for human happiness.
