041PracticeArchitecture is the act of balancing an ideal with a reality. Some
focus on the ideological aspects of their work, while others
concentrate on the actual process of completion and the final
result. Before I began working as an independent architect, I
learned how to develop conceptual work and a critical voice at art
college. After graduation, I gained practical experience in a large
interior design firm in Korea. It did not take long to realise that
a particular way of working, based upon ideas and concepts, did
not suit me. As such, I resolved to find a sense of balance between
my intuition and the universal solution in the work. Certainly, this
cannot be considered as the perfect interaction between opposing
forces; but focusing only on solutions to actual problems may
lead to a conventional outcome, while overly pursuing concepts
may result in an architecture that differs from that outlined in
the initial plans. We admire the great unbuilt proposals of the
Paper Architects, but there is an enormous difference between the
design of an architect who has completed an actual work and the
proposal of an ‘architect who only works on the proposal’. When
Louis Sullivan heard that his Schiller Theater Building, which
he had designed, was about to be demolished, he responded, ‘it
is not surprising to hear it. If I live longer, I may end up seeing all
my buildings gone. What remains in the end is the concept’. This
remark remains persuasive because Sullivan illustrates the former
case; an architect’s writing is sufficient as an architectural outline
or as documenting a simple episode, construction drawings are
better than sketches or fancy graphics, and exhibitions or open
houses are more pleasant as participation exercises than lectures.
What Min Workshop considers most important is the process
of developing architectural drawings and coordinating their
application on the construction site.Ways of SeeingNowadays, the quality of finishing or technical completion
has reached a certain level of expectation, and those who visit
buildings often mention those details. This may be why ‘handicraft
detail’, which did not receive much attention in architectural
design of earlier decades, has risen to become an important
issue for Korean architects. During my childhood, I grew up
experiencing a lot of ‘well-made’, ‘sophisticated and wonderful
things’ under my parents’ influence and by virtue of my father
in particular, who is an architect, I was able to observe many
brilliant details through him. I find this recent trend bewildering
but pleasing, and yet I worry that it will end up as a phenomenon
guided by the fear of being branded old-fashioned. Detail not
only dictates how the joints are formed where the materials and
parts meet each other, or how these joints should be finished.
This is not an ability to put on a flamboyant performance,
like vaunting technological prowess, but to freely handle the
elements of architecture. There should be a set of principles
when applying details: it is important to use details that are suited
to each situation, highlighting architectural elements such as
lines, faces, masses, and materials, or expressing them placidly.
These principles enable designs to evolve from the microscale to
macroscale. In Concave Lens (coverd in SPACE issue 571), an
inevitable situation is described, in which a bump occurred on
the partition wall of the first floor. Based on the decision to divide
the wall into a segmented mass rather than maintaining the single
mass with a bump, so as not to ruin the frame of the overall space,
the wall was cut into parts and glass was inserted between them. It
was not a detail that intentionally drew on other materials. To me,
cutting the wall into different parts was a matter of detail itself,
and the method of joining the glass and the wall was not a bigissue. The most important details in Vault House are the door of
the laundry room, which needs to be seen as a single mass, and the
kitchen’s lightbox, which suggests that a steel structure has been
inserted. In Durastack Headquarters, a 25mm-gap was given at
the point where the brick and the roof slab meet. At first, it may
seem as if a brick mass is supporting a concrete roof, but in fact,
this is a detail—a trick to show that there is a concrete bearing
wall in the interior. The most important detail in Café TONN
is the way the heavy exterior columns meet the inverse beams
of the roof. Each of the roof slabs, large columns, and inverse
beams reveal their form, and in order to reveal their assembly,
the method of joining reinforced steel has been reconfigured. The
details that attend to every corner and that correspond with the
governing context of architecture are more significant than the
admirably skillful techniques and costly and fancy details.Natural Light / Architectural LightingWhich architect places less significance on natural light? It is
very difficult to deal with natural light and architectural lighting
at the same time. When I bring light into space, I prefer to make
the source of this lighting unclear. In Odd Corner , I used a
technique that would draw natural light through a gap between
the divided building mass, instead of using a typical window
made by puncturing the exterior wall. In Concave Lens, a double
wall was installed, and the scattered light between the openings
of the wall and the skylights above them was brought inside. At
first, people think of the light coming from the opening of the
curved wall on the second floor as architectural lighting, but as
time passes, the light’s texture and direction change and people
realise, ‘Oh! That is actually natural light’. The window’s shapeVault House041Practice
Architecture is the act of balancing an ideal with a reality. Some
focus on the ideological aspects of their work, while others
concentrate on the actual process of completion and the final
result. Before I began working as an independent architect, I
learned how to develop conceptual work and a critical voice at art
college. After graduation, I gained practical experience in a large
interior design firm in Korea. It did not take long to realise that
a particular way of working, based upon ideas and concepts, did
not suit me. As such, I resolved to find a sense of balance between
my intuition and the universal solution in the work. Certainly, this
cannot be considered as the perfect interaction between opposing
forces; but focusing only on solutions to actual problems may
lead to a conventional outcome, while overly pursuing concepts
may result in an architecture that differs from that outlined in
the initial plans. We admire the great unbuilt proposals of the
Paper Architects, but there is an enormous difference between the
design of an architect who has completed an actual work and the
proposal of an ‘architect who only works on the proposal’. When
Louis Sullivan heard that his Schiller Theater Building, which
he had designed, was about to be demolished, he responded, ‘it
is not surprising to hear it. If I live longer, I may end up seeing all
my buildings gone. What remains in the end is the concept’. This
remark remains persuasive because Sullivan illustrates the former
case; an architect’s writing is sufficient as an architectural outline
or as documenting a simple episode, construction drawings are
better than sketches or fancy graphics, and exhibitions or open
houses are more pleasant as participation exercises than lectures.
What Min Workshop considers most important is the process
of developing architectural drawings and coordinating their
application on the construction site.
Ways of SeeingNowadays, the quality of finishing or technical completion
has reached a certain level of expectation, and those who visit
buildings often mention those details. This may be why ‘handicraft
detail’, which did not receive much attention in architectural
design of earlier decades, has risen to become an important
issue for Korean architects. During my childhood, I grew up
experiencing a lot of ‘well-made’, ‘sophisticated and wonderful
things’ under my parents’ influence and by virtue of my father
in particular, who is an architect, I was able to observe many
brilliant details through him. I find this recent trend bewildering
but pleasing, and yet I worry that it will end up as a phenomenon
guided by the fear of being branded old-fashioned. Detail not
only dictates how the joints are formed where the materials and
parts meet each other, or how these joints should be finished.
This is not an ability to put on a flamboyant performance,
like vaunting technological prowess, but to freely handle the
elements of architecture. There should be a set of principles
when applying details: it is important to use details that are suited
to each situation, highlighting architectural elements such as
lines, faces, masses, and materials, or expressing them placidly.
These principles enable designs to evolve from the microscale to
macroscale. In Concave Lens (coverd in SPACE issue 571), an
inevitable situation is described, in which a bump occurred on
the partition wall of the first floor. Based on the decision to divide
the wall into a segmented mass rather than maintaining the single
mass with a bump, so as not to ruin the frame of the overall space,
the wall was cut into parts and glass was inserted between them. It
was not a detail that intentionally drew on other materials. To me,
cutting the wall into different parts was a matter of detail itself,
and the method of joining the glass and the wall was not a bigissue. The most important details in Vault House are the door of
the laundry room, which needs to be seen as a single mass, and the
kitchen’s lightbox, which suggests that a steel structure has been
inserted. In Durastack Headquarters, a 25mm-gap was given at
the point where the brick and the roof slab meet. At first, it may
seem as if a brick mass is supporting a concrete roof, but in fact,
this is a detail—a trick to show that there is a concrete bearing
wall in the interior. The most important detail in Café TONN
is the way the heavy exterior columns meet the inverse beams
of the roof. Each of the roof slabs, large columns, and inverse
beams reveal their form, and in order to reveal their assembly,
the method of joining reinforced steel has been reconfigured. The
details that attend to every corner and that correspond with the
governing context of architecture are more significant than the
admirably skillful techniques and costly and fancy details.Natural Light / Architectural LightingWhich architect places less significance on natural light? It is
very difficult to deal with natural light and architectural lighting
at the same time. When I bring light into space, I prefer to make
the source of this lighting unclear. In Odd Corner , I used a
technique that would draw natural light through a gap between
the divided building mass, instead of using a typical window
made by puncturing the exterior wall. In Concave Lens, a double
wall was installed, and the scattered light between the openings
of the wall and the skylights above them was brought inside. At
first, people think of the light coming from the opening of the
curved wall on the second floor as architectural lighting, but as
time passes, the light’s texture and direction change and people
realise, ‘Oh! That is actually natural light’. The window’s shapeVault House