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Minsuk Cho established Mass Studies in his home city of Seoul in 2003 after graduating from Columbia University in New York and honing his skills with U.S. firms and OMA. His practice has flourished, winning acclaim for a diversity of projects. But the competition to design the Wonnam temple (replacing a decrepit 1969 structure) was his first religious project, and he was initially hesitant. What persuaded him was the challenge of weaving a new building into a labyrinth of alleyways, and creating a sense of place in a fast-changing townscape at the historic heart of the city. Neighbors include the medieval Joseon Dynasty palace, rebuilt after wartime destruction; the Seoul National University (SNU) medical campus, high rises and generic blocks that replaced single-story wood houses. Cho wanted to respect the past while giving the temple a fresh start.
Won is a reformed Buddhism, founded in 1916 when Korea was a colony of Japan. Like the reform movement in Judaism, it is progressive and describes itself as an everyday religion. The Wonnam temple has a congregation of around 250, and it serves as a community gathering place, hosting a diversity of events, as well as a spiritual resource, with spaces for worship and meditation in the main U-plan Dharma Hall, a community hall linked to it at different levels by bridges, and a detached annex. Archetypal Buddhist temples stand alone in the mountains and draw a stream of pilgrims. Cho had to create a new model that would have a distinct character while becoming an integral part of a context he describes as “a moving target”. And he wanted to open up alleys that had been blocked, likening them to arteries in the human body, so that the new buildings could be approached and entered from different directions. To complement Mass Studies’ sculptural concrete forms, an architect specializing in historic reconstruction designed the Inhyewon Donors Memorial, a traditional wood building...
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On Continuity
Barozzi Veiga
The editorial, “On Continuity” by Fabrizio Barozzi, examines the design approach of the Barozzi Veiga studio...
Freie Waldorfschule Uhlandshöhe
Behnisch Architekten
Behnisch Architekten designs new spaces for the Freie Waldorfschule Uhlandshöhe in Stuttgart...
Primary School Extension
PBEB Architetti
PBeB oversees the expansion of the Travagliato primary school...
