Prologue: The Familiar Yet Difficult World of Architecture

Chapter 1: Architecture and Architects
What does an architect do?
Rem Koolhaas, the humanist of architecture
Buckminster Fuller, the Renaissance man of the 20th century

Chapter 2 Architecture and Style
Why does architecture differ from era to era?
Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture
Postmodernism and the Architecture of Communication

Chapter 3 Architecture and Regions
How does architecture vary from region to region?
Alvaro Siza, the poet of architecture
Wang Shu, Beyond the Local, Towards the World

Chapter 4 Architecture and Tradition
What is the relationship between our country's traditional and modern architecture?
Kim Soo-geun, Contemplating Koreanness
Kim Jung-up, Contemplating Koreanness

Chapter 5: Architecture and the City
How do cities and architecture influence each other?
Sejong City: A Planned City That Created Everything Anew
Architecture Connecting Cities: Three Projects

Chapter 6 Architecture and the Public
What can architecture do for society?
RCR, Publicness Created Through Beauty
Yeongju City: A Mecca for Korean Public Architecture

Chapter 7 Architecture and Digital
How will digital technology change architecture?
The flower of avant-garde architecture, Zaha Hadid
UNStudio: Architecture that Brightens the Future

Epilogue If you want to become an architect

Architect, style, region, tradition, city, public, digital
7 key keywords about architecture
From DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza) to Villa Savoye,
Taking a close look at the main buildings
Think about the 'space' we inhabit

"Architecture Stories Told by an Architect Dad" is a book written by the author, a practicing architect, as if he were telling a story to his three teenage children about "houses and architecture," a subject that is so familiar to us because it is always with us, yet so little we know about it.
He has written about the architectural works of world-renowned architects that he has personally seen, as well as the concerns and experiences he has encountered while designing houses and public buildings, so that you can vividly experience architecture here and now.

- Volume 7 of the [My One Letter] series


▶ Architecture is a vessel that holds life.
We are always with architecture.
Everything from the school we go to every day, to our workplace, to our homes, which are our everyday spaces, is architecture.
But because it is always with us like air, we don't live consciously.
As a result, we do not have a proper understanding of architecture, which not only plays an essential role in protecting us from the external environment, but also plays a key role in creating the cultural style and urban form of an era.

This book selects seven important keywords about architecture and examines world-renowned architects and the buildings they designed that fit those keywords, along with the concerns I had as a practicing architect.
Through these stories, readers learn how architectural styles have changed over time, how architecture influences the local environment, what constitutes a high-quality building, and what attitude and qualities an architect should possess.
In particular, it helps us understand in a balanced way how architecture has shaped and transformed our lives through various perspectives on architecture.


▶ Architecture of the here and now, pointed out in seven keywords
The author selects seven keywords that he considers most meaningful in architecture, 'now' and 'here', and explains them one by one.

First, we start with the characteristics of an 'architect' who designs buildings, and then introduce the history of the development of architecture and the regional characteristics of architecture through the keywords of 'style' and 'region' of architecture.
In 'Architecture and Style,' we examine the historical background of modernism, the foundation of modern architecture, through the work of Le Corbusier, a master of modernist architecture, and his representative buildings such as Villa Savoye, and the new architectural characteristics contained within them.
In addition, by closely examining Wang Shu, the first Chinese architect to receive the Pritzker Prize, and his representative works such as the Ningbo History Museum and the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art, we can see how the characteristics of southern Chinese folk architecture were reflected in his architecture, and how the regionality of architecture plays an important part in modern architecture.

In 'Architecture and Tradition', we discuss how Korea's traditional style has been passed down, focusing on two of Korea's leading architects and the buildings they designed.
In addition, the keyword 'city' introduces the construction and urban regeneration of Sejong City, while talking about the scale and expansion of architecture, and the keyword 'public' introduces Yeongju City, the center of public architecture in Korea, and RCR Architects, which introduced Catalan architecture in Spain to the world, reflecting the social role of architecture and interest in public architecture.
Lastly, through the theme of 'digital', we introduce design methods that are rapidly changing due to technological advancements, and unfold the architectural world of DDP and designer Zaha Hadid that was made possible by digital technology.

▶ Taste the world of architects
The author introduces the world's most active architects and the struggles that led to their masterpieces, allowing readers to examine the architects' intentions, history, and artistry contained in their buildings from various perspectives.
It also introduces architects with diverse aspects through Rem Koolhaas, who introduced philosophical elements to architecture, and Buckminster Fuller, an architect and inventor. It also shows the contrasting paths taken by commercial architects as well as their unique methods of incorporating tradition into modern architecture through Kim Swoo-geun and Kim Chung-up, two architects representing modern Korean architecture.
We also introduce major architects, from Álvaro Siza, who is still active at the age of ninety and continues to build his own buildings with regional characteristics around the world, to UNStudio, which has established a solid position on the world stage by incorporating intellectual depth and ideas encompassing philosophy, mathematics, and science into its architecture.
Through this, it shows that an architect is a profession that must encompass not only engineering skills but also humanities depth, allowing young people who dream of becoming architects in the future to get a taste of the world of architecture.

▶ Introducing Korea's architectural masterpieces that can be visited at any time.
This book introduces not only famous foreign architecture, but also representative buildings by Korean architects and buildings built in Korea by world-renowned architects, making it easy for readers to visit them.
From Kim Swoo-geun's Space Building and Kim Chung-up's French Embassy to Alvaro Siza's Mimesis Art Museum and UNStudio's Galleria Department Store, this book introduces buildings that you can visit if you so choose.
In particular, by introducing public buildings built throughout Yeongju-si, which is known as a mecca of public architecture, anyone interested in architecture can visit and tour the buildings and see with their own eyes the struggles of the architects who designed them and the results of their efforts.