Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign 2007

Estee Lauder, a mega global cosmetic company, has promoted the awareness of breast cancer and this year the highlight of the event, 'Pink Illumination', was held in Seoul City Hall Plaza colouring the city hall's facade with pink lights. What a pinky idea! This event has also been organised in other cities like NYC, Sydney etc.

63 Building

63 Building(height: 249m) used to be the highest building in Seoul until it had to give its first rank to Tower Palace lll with 264m of height. Besides the space for offices, this building also has an observatory-63 Golden Tower, an aquarium-63 Sea World, and I Max Theater with a screen of 24x20 m. I haven't discovered more about 63 Building since my first and last visit in 1988.

Superstition

Do you believe in superstition? I hardly do but I think some of them exist for reasons. You may remember Jongno Tower I posted more than a week ago. Behind this quite modern building, there is a little odd-looking golden monument. The locals say this is a memorial tower for those whose remains were found under construction of Jongno Tower. Before setting up this tower, it is said that dozens of construction workers lost their lives, who were directed to keep struggling on digging by a builder who ignored the bones from the underground.

What kind of superstitious stories do your towns have?

Jongno Tower

Like every city in the world, Seoul also has some landmark buildings and Jongno Tower is one of the most striking ones in the north side of Korea. Designed by the architect, Rafael Vinoly, this building has a hollow space from 23rd to 30th floor. The letters set on the front side is '삼성증권(Samsung Securities)' that shows the owner of the building.

Namdaemun

This is Namdaemun(the original name is Sungnyemun), which was the main gate of the castle surrounding Seoul and built in the late 14th century thus the oldest wooden architecture existing in Seoul. At present, as one of Seoul's landmarks, the name is famous for the old market in the area, which is said there are everything you want. Therefore, I strongly recommend you to visit this market to enjoy the real lives of ordinary folks.

When I was about to take a picture of this giant gate, a man carrying a trolley entered in an angle. It looks like I cut his feature from another photo and pasted him onto this one, which is, to me, the best part of this photo. This guy standing in the middle of the road with modern cars passing by him is in a similar position with Namdaemun being surrounded by the much taller modern buildings.

Sky, Cloud, Steel, Glass

Quite natural and quite artificial.

But, after all, they all look harmonious.

This is the building of Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul.

Chaotic Signs

What I hope to be changed in Seoul and its satellite towns are chaotic signs on the outer walls of buildings. Among these many shops in this building, I don't feel like entering any store. In addition, there are three different languages: Korean, Chinese and English

The photo was shot near Beomgye Station in Anyang, one of Seoul's satellite cities.

서울 및 위성 도시의 풍경 중 바뀌었으면 하는 것 중 하나는

건물의 외벽의 어지러운 간판들이다.

이 많은 점포 중 그 어느 한 곳도 가고 싶은 마음이 생기지 않는다.

게다가 한국어, 중국어, 영어의 3개 국어로 되어 있다.

사진은 서울의 위성 도시 중 하나인 안양 범계역 부근에서 촬영하였다.

Architecture 건축

What I think distinguishes architecture from other types of art is it penetrates into our daily lives: every moment we walk on, sit on, lean on, lie on objects built.

I took this photo at Shinsegae Department Store main branch in Namdaemun.

내 생각에, 다른 예술 분야와 건축을 구분짓는 가장 큰 차이는

건축은 우리의 일상에 깊이 침투해있다라는 것이다.

매 순간 우리는 지어진 건축물 위에서 걷고, 그 위에 앉고, 기대고, 눕는다.

사진은 남대문에 있는 신세계 백화점 본점에서 찍었다.