SUPERFICIAL SEOUL:

CULTIVATING THE EPISODIC, EXOTIC, & EROTIC IN A CULTURE OF ERASURE

Graduate Thesis Project
Advisors: Aarati Kanekar & Aaron Betsky
Fall 2014 - Spring 2015

*DAAP Directors’ Choice Award
*DAAP Distinguished Design in Urban Design Award


The following statements are all factual, but their juxtaposition is entirely incidental:

- The average age of apartment buildings in the Korean city is twenty-one years
- South Korea is ranked 15th in the world by nominal GDP
- Seoul has one of the highest population densities amongst major capital cities
- South Korea has the 2nd highest suicide rate in the world
- The first major development in Seoul’s urban modernization was the Sewoon Sangga Megaplex
- South Korea has the highest plastic surgery rate in the world
- Gangnam Style was the first Youtube Video to reach one billion views worldwide

The incredible energy from Asian boom cities such as Seoul is rooted in the overwhelming density and culture within the city, supported by the underwhelming genericism within its urban form.  This dichotomy of conditions has created a paradox in the city where identity is both precious and a commodity (a precious commodity) meant to be sold to the most efficient bidder.  "Progress" was once the word for a brighter post-war future, but it has eventually turned into a symbol for urban disillusionment and neglect.  For Seoul, this pinnacle of progress can be attributed to a significant piece of modern architecture that would set the impressive, and yet daunting, pace of the rapid urbanization of the city and its people: the Sewoon Sangga megaplex.

SUPERFICIAL SEOUL utilizes the controversial Sewoon Sangga site as a testing grounds for new urban experimentation that invert and amplify the specific spatial culture of the Korean "-bang" (room) that has become a reactionary by-product of the generic conditions of the city.  Through this lens, concepts of erasure, transformation, and amplification will be expanded upon based on the foundations of the site's loaded history and the city's questionable trajectory.