Exploring key examples from South Korea's crop of dynamic young architects, a new exhibition at the Cass Bank Gallery offers an inspiring tour through the Asian country's contemporary architecture scene. The show, 'Out Of The Ordinary', which spans award-winning works by young Korean architects, opens today and is curated by Hyungmin Pai, the Golden Lion Award winner at last year's Venice Architecture Biennale.
South Korea, says Hyungmin Pai, is host to a number of emerging architects, making for a vibrant and growing design scene. The 2008 global financial crisis caused the country's creative forces to rethink their work, which within the architecture field led to the birth of many young, creative studios working on exciting, smaller and medium scale, independent architectural schemes.
The show focuses on the portfolio of nine winners of the Korean Young Architects Award, one of the country's most coveted honours and an institution, which has supported its winners since 2008 with exhibitions and publications. The studios included are: Chae Pereira Architects, Joho Architecture, JYA-Rchitects, Wise Architecture, UTAA Company, D-Lim architects, Lokaldesign, IAEO Architekten and Oujae Architects.
'When you start getting more corporate work,' explains Hyungmin Pai, 'you're not "young" any more', so fittingly, the projects on display range from inventive single family homes, to smaller scale urban interventions and cultural work, all concerned with key themes, such as sustainability, innovation and experimentation with materials. The engaging display was designed in collaboration with London-based Gatti Rhodes Architects.
Running up to the end of the month, the exhibition is the first ever presentation of Korean architecture of this scale in London and offers a combination of photographs, drawings and architectural models that aim to tell the story of this 'new ecology of Korean architecture'.
Chang Ucchin Museum by Chae Pereira Architects.
CJ Nine Bridges 'The Forum' by D.LIM Architects
Happy School Project 'Gasa Elementary School' by IAEO Architekten.
Endless Triangle by Joho Architecture.
Namehae Cheo-ma House by Joho Architecture.
Gangjin Children Center by JYA-Rchitects
Shinbanpo Underpass by Lokaldesign
Management Office Annex by OUJAE Architects.
Slow Island Trip Centre by OUJAE Architects.
ABC Building by WISE Architecture
ADDRESS
The Cass Bank Gallery
Central House
59-63 Whitechapel High Street
E1 7PF London
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