BOSTON, USA — Next month, at the annual Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Design Awards, Korean-born architect Woo Kyu-sung will receive the Harleston Park Medal for his graduate student housing project at Harvard University.
Awarded each year since 1923, the Harleston Park Medal recognizes “the single most beautiful building or other structure” built in the metropolitan Boston area during the past ten years. Architect Woo Kyu-sung will receive the Harleston Park Medal next month for his graduate student housing project at Harvard University (photo courtesy of Woo Kyu-sung Architects).
Woo, who received his undergraduate degree in architecture at Seoul National University and his master’s degree in architecture at Harvard University, has a long list of professional achievements to his name. The veteran architect designed the Athlete’s Village in Seoul for the 1988 Olympics, the Whanki Museum in 1992, the Arts of Korea Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1997, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas in 2007. The graduate student housing project at Harvard University, designed by Woo at the request of his alma mater and completed in 2008, sits on the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the entrance to the school campus.
With a two-story waterfront balcony, environmentally friendly design, and an abundance of Harvard’s trademark red bricks, the complex evokes both the historic traditions and the modern legacy of the prestigious institution. Or that’s how Woo himself put it, in an interview with Chosun Ilbo on February 22. Woo, who was in Korea to check on the progress of his Asian Cultural Complex project in Gwangju, gave a brief summary of his design philosophy as well -- architecture as a dialogue between the designers and the people who use their structures.
Though over 70 years old, Woo continues to be active in producing new creations, with recent projects including the KAIST Institute for IT Convergence, a new building for health care delivery and social sciences at Dartmouth College, a five-star luxury hotel in Accra, Ghana, and a residential complex in Istanbul, Turkey.
“For me, it’s not about throwing my name or my brand around here and there,” remarked Woo. “I think the most important thing is to create buildings that are right for our time and right for their locations.”
The aforementioned Asian Cultural Complex, also called “Forest of Light,” incorporates several light-filled structures. Conceived as both a memorial and a citizen’s park, the complex is being built at the site of the historic May 18 uprisings in Gwangju. The project is set to open in 2014. More information on Woo and his works can be found at http://www.kswa.com/.
*Article from Korea Magazine
