Seoul

This book focuses on understanding how a megacity like Seoul can be read as a formal architectural composition and not an endless urban sprawl.

Rafael Luna is the co-founder of the architecture firm PRAUD, a senior lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, and the director of the Infra-Architecture Lab. He received a master of architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2010) and his Ph.D. in architecture focused on infra-architectural typologies as urban models from L'Accademia di architettura dell'Università della Svizzera italiana, Mendrisio, Switzerland (2022). Luna is the award winner of the Architectural League Prize 2013, and his work has been exhibited at the MoMA, Venice Biennale and Seoul Biennale. Luna was a co-curator of the Cities Exhibition for the 2019 Seoul Biennale, awarded by the Mayor of Seoul. He has professional experience from the offices of Toyo Ito and Associates, KPF, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Martha Schwartz Partners, dECOI, Sasaki Associates, and Machado and Silvetti. He served as an assistant professor at Hanyang University from 2018 to 2022, previously teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design. His writings have been published in journals such as G+L, Topos, MONU, SPACE, and IntAR Journal, and he was a guest editor for AD magazine's September 2021 issue Production Urbanism: The Meta-Industrial City . He is the co-author of I Want to Be Metropolitan , the North Korean Atlas (received the DAM award), and A Language of Contemporary Architecture: An Index of Topology and Typology .

List of figures Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Introduction: Understanding Seoul in the Context of Urbanization -A Brief Introduction to Seoul -The State of Urbanization -Urbanism And an Architectural Reaction Chapter 2 A History of Infra-Architecture -Industry and Mobility -Decentralization -Megastructure as Urban Scaffolding: -Metabolism -Performative Landscapes -A Recap for Seoul Chapter 3 Nine Typological Islands -Joseon Dynasty Period (1394-1896) -Daehan Empire Period (1897-1910) -Japanese Occupation Period (1910-1945) -Park Chung Hee Period (1963-1979) -Globalization Period (1980-2002) -Cultural Industry Period (2002-present) -Application of Architectural Typological Islands Chapter 4 The Infra-Architectural Typology -Description and Brief History of Seoul's Underground System -Paradigm Shift Toward a Metro-Centric City -Programming the Megastructure -System as a Megastructure Chapter 5 Toward an Infra-Architectural Urbanism -Theorizing an Infra-Architectural Urbanism and Interior Urbanism Bibliography Index