Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gwangjuboy]

I have lived here for a year and a half now and my major gripe with South Korea is the state of it's present day architecture. The ubiquitous ugly high rise apartments are the single most appalling feature of this peninsula. They are akin to council flats that can be found in sprawling council estates in the UK. At least in the UK that design is limited to those few areas. In Korea I can't escape the suburban ugliness unless I venture out into the countryside. The korean friends I have spoken to acknowledge this and wish for for something more tasteful. Does present day Korean architecture bother anyone else? Or are you unphased by it?
How does it compare to your own country? All views are welcome.

[Tiger Beer]

Its better than China.

Vietnam has the coolest architecture I know.

Compared to the USA (home country).. suburbs are bland and boring as are small towns. Some inner-cities are quite nasty as well. Cities like New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, etc have some pretty cool architecture. As does the lifted-housing around the Gulf of Mexico.. and the adobe houses of New Mexico/Arizona, etc. I guess it depends.

I grew up in Michigan. Basically cottages on the lakes and general midwestern housing with not much interesting stuff. Actually Detroit has tons and tons of cool mansions throughout the city which is really cool.. however due to crime and general deteriotation they have just fallen apart into rot.

Actually I don't have too much of a problem with Korean architecture. I like how most places have roofs to hangout on, plus many of the high-rise apartments have windows on both sides, you can open up the windows and get a great cross-breeze blow through..

[whatthefunk]

This drives me nuts. You would think that in a country with almost 50 mil. people, there would be at least one apartment building that was different. There might be, but if there is I haven't seen it. Even in my small town, the apartments are the same, just smaller. Why is this? Is it just that this style is cheaper than all the rest? Is it that nobody wants to stand out and live in a different kind of building? There must be some explaination...

[gang ah jee]

[funplanet]

this country is, to put it lightly, CLUTTERED!

[Tiger Beer]

But have any of you been to China? Imagine a country with a billion people, all those lands and resouces, and all of the architecture is even more bland and more uglier than Korea. At least Korea has some bright colored roofs here and there. China is one huge big dreay grey of cement-block like buildings in every city I went, all the same.

Korea is bright neon lights, some bright rooftops here and there, and just significantly better than China. Having said that, there are definetely alot better architecture-oriented places beyond the borders of China and Korea.. but you definetely won't find much better in China.

[desultude]

ambiquitous

Sorry. I am still stuck on this word. I sort of like it. Like ambiguously ubiquitous?

[jvalmer]

Anyone who complains about bland architecture in Korea hasen't spent much time in North America (or to ignorant to acknowledge it). Most North Americans cities comprise of bland cookie cutter single family homes in vast sprawling suburbs. Montreal and New York are exceptions to the rule. Japan isn't much different from Korea. In Japan their are less high-rises (I think for earth quake reasons) but the houses look all the same. It's the price you pay when a country develops as fast as Korea has. Most people probably don't really care if the cities and the apartments look the same. I'm sure it is much better than having people live in shanty towns.

[ulsanchris]

IN china if you go to the downtown areas of beijing or shanghai they have some pretty impressive archetecture.

[Gwangjuboy]

[Holyjoe]

That's what's so interesting about the elementary schools here... they may be hideously ugly but they're different!
At least someone put a wee bit of thought into their design (overlooking the fact that the thought was probably 'aided' by several bottles of soju...)

[weatherman]

I am a little surprised on how dull Korean architecture really is. I mean they care so much about apperance, but maybe this only applies to their clothing and image, oh, and maybe their cars too. ~~~ Though it grows on you. I like the mass of humanity living in the apartment blocks, so I grow to like the apartment blocks too. I like the neon lights of the downtown districts, because I like people having a good time. And these day, you are starting to see some building with charactor. Though I have to admit the 80's tile-front buildings, all stained with dirt and other things have to go.

[sickboy]

When I first saw the legions of apartment buildings out here, my first reaction was : whoa, which side of the border am I on? It reminded me of the view of Bratislava across the Danube.

For a country that loathes communism so much, they sure picked up on the aesthetic.

-sick

[rapier]

It reveals a fundamental lack of imagination, expression, or individuality in the people. We create our environment as much as it creates us.
I used to ask my middle schoolers what they used to do as kids. They gave invariably the same answers: played on the swings in identical looking playgrounds, or skated in identically laid out car parks.
I feel sorry for them.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

About 20 years ago (I think) I remember prince Charles, who was an architecture buff, chewing out a group of architects at a speech for making boring, unimaginative English buildings. But at least England still has centuries worth of amazing cathedrals, castles, and other buildings.

My apartment has a beautiful view of the ocean.. which can be seen when I walk up the stairs and look out the window on the backside of the building. My balcony faces another apartment. Some bureaucrat couldn't possibly have the building facing in the other direction as it would not be precisely the same as the other fifty buildings in the complex. Shame.

Ken:>