Seoul exhibition puts Korean architect
Minsuk Cho in the spotlight

An exhibition at the Plateau gallery in Seoul documents the career of Mass Studies founder Minsuk Cho, the architect behind the Golden Lion-winning Korean pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale (+ slideshow).

Cho founded Mass Studies in 2003, following periods working at OMA in Rotterdam and Polshek and Partners in New York, and having already spent five years co-running a New York firm with former partner James Slade.

The exhibition, Before/After Mass Studies Does Architecture, offers an overview of the Korean architect’s projects since then, from his headquarters building for internet company Daum to a steel-clad art centre in Songwon and the alphabet-themed Korea Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010.

The main bulk of the exhibition is divided up into two rooms, categorised as the “before” and “after” of Cho’s architecture. The first is dedicated to the design process, while the second concentrates on the final presentation of buildings.

Highlights include the Ring Dome, a pavilion first erected on a New York traffic island, which has since travelled to Japan and Italy. Made up of rings of light, it frames a small events area.

The show also includes an array of scale models, drawings and photographic collages, depicting projects that encompass the Southcape golf clubhouse, the O’Sulloc Tea Museum pavilions and the grey-brick Pixel House.

The exhibition continues until 1 February 2015 at Plateau – part of the Samsung Museum of Art.

Photography is by Kyungsub Shin, except where otherwise specified.

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