Site visits: Day 1

Robert and Catrina arrived last night and as part of their visit, we were each asked to choose a place of interest to take the group to.

View of cemetery: photograph and sketch

Tomi took us Seoul National Cemetery, a vast area located amongst the mountains to the south of the river Han. Between thousands of gravestone are small retaining walls, dealing with the topography sensitively.

For Jon’s visit, we went for coffee in a café along the river Han. Built on the floodplain, this café is designed to rise with the water level as it changes seasonally.

Underpass: Looking down, looking up

Afterwards we visited Haewon Shin’s (Lokaldesign) new underpass linking a busy road to the riverside. Here is another example of a retaining wall in Seoul. They're everywhere!...

Seoul, we've arrived

From The River Han to the mountains

We've arrived. We rented bicycles yesterday and cycled along The River Han. It seems that every sight, in almost every direction seems to be framed by a mountain on the horizon. The subject of mountains is an important thread which may lead the project over the next few weeks. How has the city grown around the mountains?

Seoul from above

The River Han and the Namsan Mountain are two unmissable landmarks of Seoul from above and (I am told) at street level too. Concrete highways linking the north and south of Seoul have resulted in endless leftover spaces which I’m looking forward to exploring. The group were shown a clip of The Host which is a film set in Seoul with lots of scenes set near, in, and under these crossings. Worth a watch. 

I also recently met with a friend who grew up in Korea but now lives in London. When discussing my project proposal with him, he said it might be difficult to find evidence of political manifestation everywhere but certain buildings have clear examples. The first example he gave was the Royal Palace built by the Koreans with an important view along the main axis of the city centre with a view to the Namsan Mountain (why this is so significant is still unclear to me). When the Japanese invaded, they blocked this view by building a new structure – two fingers up to the Koreans? This seems like an ideal place to start…