Out of the Ordinary

About

he Cass, London Metropolitan University announce ‘Out of the Ordinary: Award Winning Works by Young Korean Architects’,  a major architecture exhibition, taking place from 6 to 28 February at The Cass Bank Gallery in Aldgate East.

The work of nine winners of the Korean Young Architect Awards, one of Korea’s most coveted awards, will be on display, for the first time in London. Curated by Hyungmin Pai, Golden-Lion winner at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014, and a former Visiting Scholar at The Cass, the show explores the recent radical changes to Korea’s built environment, and looks at how young practices adapt to new challenges with unconventional solutions.

Projects by Chae Pereira Architects, Joho Architecture, JYA-RCHITECTS, Wise Architecture, UTAA Company, D·Lim architects, Lokaldesign, IAEO Architekten,and Oujae Architects have all been chosen for their careful and innovative approach, concerned with sustainable, mindful architecture. Ranging from small urban interventions to major master plans, the projects selected for ‘Outof the Ordinary’ delve deep in to topical issues of Korean architecture today.Material experimentation with both high-tech and traditional, local production;the emergence of new kinds of client groups and projects, combining both private and institutional commissions; architectural invention within extremelimitations of resources – are all key themes explored in the exhibition at The Cass, designed in collaboration with London-based Gatti Rhodes Architects.

Presented through a combination of photographs, architectural models, andfull-scale details, these projects reveal a new aspect of contemporary Korean architecture, where inventiveness and resourcefulness play a key role.Alongside this body of work, a selection of specially commissioned artworks byrenowned photographers Kyungsub Shin and Thierry Sauvage further captures the wider physical and social context, giving an overview on Korea’s remarkable architectural environment. This is Hyungmin Pai’s first international exhibition after his winning pavilionat the Venice Biennale 2014. Talking about the exhibition, he says:

The global financial crisis has had a deep impact on Korean architecture; theconditions of architectural practices have changed fundamentally andradically. ‘Out of the Ordinary’ analyses the new ecology of Korean architecture, and the strategies and methods of nine innovative youngarchitectural practices. Though opportunities for conventional, commercial, public, and institutional projects are no longer ample, new kinds of clients andprojects have come on the scene. We want to explore and celebrate the newcreativity emerging from projects that are socially relevant, but extremelyconstrained in budget and space. Working without precedents, these young practices are changing the very nature of contemporary Korean architecture.

http://thecass.com/news-events/2015/february/out-of-the-ordinary