[ Archivology ] 100 Years of Yeouido Facades

This project is structured as a museum exhibit, set in the year 2125. The introductory wall plate to the exhibit, titled “Archivology” informs visitors:
In 2120, the Samsazon corporation designated Seoul one of the world’s top three sustainable cities. The distinction prompted many to ask: How did what was, and still is, one of the densest cities in the world balance its growing population and dwindling natural resources to become the paragon of environmental urbanism? Join our team of architectural archivists as we examine the transformation and unification of the South Korean capital over the last century. Our investigation focuses on a discrete architectural module within the urban history of Seoul: a single curtain wall panel. These components are the lenses through which we view the world, the barrier between interior and exterior, and the micro units which build upon each other to eventually connect the entire ecotopia of Seoul.
In the spirit of the 100-year timeline of the 2023 Seoul Biennale, this exhibit combines tactile physical representations as well as digital visualization techniques. The exhibit is organized around 5 scale drawings, each depicting a single curtain wall panel from the years 2025, 2050, 2075, 2100, and 2125. We invite visitors to explore these drawings at two scales: 1) the scale of a single unit and 2) the scale of the city. Visitors can also use their smartphones to access video information on each panel. In the exhibition, these narrative videos depict a larger speculative framework for which each of the panels exist and provide explanations for the architectural decisions and their impacts on the city at large. It is our hope that this exhibit inspires visitors to think at both micro and macro scales, and the reciprocal relationship between the two. Even the smallest architectural components can have a broad impact on an entire city.