Seoultopia

The project is a reaction to the International Idea Competition held by Union International des Architectes (UIA) paralleled to the UIA 2017 World Congress, looking into biosynthetic ecology in the Seoul City regeneration. Taking a speculative stand, our project touches upon three subjects: biosynthesis; post-human; urbanity.

We have the understanding that biosynthesis literally means simple compounds joining together to form macromolecules, the process of which is similar to urban regeneration that starts from the bottom up. Post-human means that in the future, human beings will be more physically-abled and will be in the state of cyborg. For example, all people in Seoul could fly. Besides, in the post-human society, other creatures will live in peace with human beings, the latter no longer being the premiere ones on the earth. When it comes to the word urbanity, the project is a proposal of a new kind of urban life in Namsan, and the community here may become a role model for people who live in high-density places seeking for a natural, green and sustainable environment. By designing a series of buildings that lift Haebangchon’s residents up to the air, a huge area displaying Namsan topographical features becomes the potential place for various plants and animals. Human beings and other creatures are connected by multiple floor levels to gain mutual benefit. The so-called SEOULTOPIA community recapture the spirit of those megastructures in the last century, particularly in the 1960s, from Le Corbusier’s Algérie’s Projects to the Metabolism movement, and from A. B. Walker’s project Life to those dazzling fantasies of Archigram.