Kim Swoo-geun Foundation Marks 40th Anniversary by Launching a Living Archive for the Future

Kim Swoo-geun Foundation Marks 40th Anniversary by Launching a Living Archive for the Future

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On June 13, a commemoration will be held at Kyungdong Church to honor the late Kim Swoo-geun, a giant of modern Korean architecture who passed away 40 years ago. This tribute event is not merely a time to look back and mourn a figure of the past. Instead, it will serve as a profound declaration—unveiling the immense archive the Kim Swoo-geun Foundation has silently built over the past decade and proving how modern Korean architecture connects with the global stage.

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The central pillar of this event is the public debut of the "Archiving Project," an initiative the Foundation has meticulously advanced for over ten years. The countless blueprints, faded photographs, handwritten manuscripts, and oral histories left behind by the master are, in essence, the history of modern Korean architecture itself. The Foundation has systematically classified and digitized these vast fragments, transforming them into vital assets for future generations. This commemorative gathering marks the official first step for these invaluable records to finally step out into the world and begin engaging deeply with academia, the public, and the international architectural community.

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Simultaneously, this event will highlight the Foundation’s global network, which has steadily expanded the horizons of Korean architecture. Since 2015, the Foundation has maintained deep, meaningful exchanges with leading European architectural institutions. It has consistently engaged with the core pillars of the global architectural world, including the Fondation Le Corbusier, the pioneer of modern architecture; the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, which explored the essence of space; and the Fondazione Renzo Piano, a titan of contemporary architecture.

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These international exchanges were never about mere socializing. They served as a conduit for absorbing the sophisticated archiving expertise of established European foundations, while also acting as a vehicle to imprint the originality of modern Korean architecture onto the European market through the lens of 'Kim Swoo-geun.' The combination of a decade’s worth of archiving capabilities and continuous collaboration with both domestic and international researchers since 2015 has finally laid a solid foundation for the globalization of Korea's architectural heritage.

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Though decades have passed since his departure, Kim Swoo-geun’s legacy has returned to us with a vibrant, living energy through this archive. The upcoming tribute on June 13 goes beyond reminiscing about a master’s achievements; it will be a defining moment to witness a dazzling vision of how his legacy will inspire future generations and how Korean architecture will vibrantly thrive on the world stage.

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Kyungtaek Lee (Architect, Director of the Kim Swoo Geun Foundation)Kyungtaek Lee (Architect, Director of the Kim Swoo Geun Foundation)

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Exploring the Intersections of Contemporary Korean and Japanese Architecture through the Archives of Kim Swoo-geun, Kenzo Tange, and Arata Isozaki

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1. Kwang-hyun Park (Kagoshima University)

 The Necessity of Archiving the Works of Kim Swoo-geun

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2. Jin-ha Park (Photographer)

 A Reunion After 40 Years: Kim Swoo-geun

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3. Rika Yamanoue (Oita Art Museum)

 The Arata Isozaki Architectural Archive in Oita City

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4. Saigaku Toyokawa (Chiba University)

 Trajectory and Outlook of Kenzo Tange Research: The Accumulation of Testimony and its Theoretical Development

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2026. 6.13.

Kyungdong Church

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Official Sponsor: OCI Holdings (https://www.oci-holdings.co.kr), Monthly Urbanism (https://www.instagram.com/monthly.urbanism) , ALPA swiss (https://www.alpa.swiss), Japan Foundation (https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/)

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Continuity and Expansion of Architect Kim Swoo-geun's Archive: From Osamu Murai to Jinha Park

This presentation traces the history of architectural archiving that records the spatiotemporal journey of Kim Swoo-geun, a master of modern East Asia architecture, and envisions its future. While Kim's architectural world was previously captured through the lens of the legendary Japanese photographer Osamu Murai, the archiving process had remained stagnant for the past 40 years following his passing. The recent project by photographer Jinha Park is a solo archiving endeavor that breaks this four-decade hiatus, capturing Kim’s architecture through an entirely fresh perspective.

Through this symposium, we will introduce the detailed achievements of this recent archiving work. Furthermore, moving beyond mere preservation of the past, this session aims to discuss the contemporary challenges and future values facing architectural archiving through the lens of modern reinterpretation.

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