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The Urbanist
What relationship does South Korea have with public art? Plus: Dubai Design Week and Riba president Chris Williamson.
00:29:14
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- [00:12]
A
Hello and welcome to the Urbanist, Monocle's program all about the built environment. I'm your host Andrew Tuck.
- [00:18]
B
Coming up, my goal is not to transform city directly, but to create environments where transformation becomes possible quietly, personally and organically.
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A
We start with a South Korean contemporary artist who joins us to discuss the country's relationship with public art through the lens of their recent installation in Seongnam. Then we head to the Emirates to hear from the winner of Dubai Design Week's annual Urban Commissions competition. Plus, the new president of REBA joins us to discuss their appointment to the position a few months ago and the Institute's recently announced Asia Pacific Awards 2. That's all ahead in the next 30 minutes right here on the Urbanist with me, Andrew Tuck. It's undoubtable that South Korea has become one of the cultural heavyweights on the world stage, with the country's music, TV and cinema having a massive impact beyond its own borders. So how does the country embrace public artworks? And how does the built environment interact with installations both temporary and permanent? South Korean contemporary artist Jin Joon Lee recently joined Monocle's Tom Edwards in our studios in London to talk about his craft and how he sees locals relationship with public artworks. Tom began by asking Jin Joon Lee to introduce himself and the work that he does.
- [01:48]
B
I'm Jinjun Lee. I'm a media artist and professor at kaist. It's Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea's leading science and technology university. My lab is like MIT Media Lab, a place where artists, scientists and engineers work together to shape new forms of creative experience. I often describe myself as an artist who creates experience of spatial transition. I'm interested in those moments when a familiar place suddenly feels when nature, technology and human body overlap and when people sense a quiet shift in how they relate to the world. My practice is influenced by Korean and East Asian idea of guardians and in between space liminality, where the boundary between reality and imagination becomes fluid.
- [02:38]
C
Tell us a little bit about your recent work from September, just a couple of months ago because I think that amazing confluence of all these ideas really embodies what you're talking about. But tell our audience a little bit about what you did in September.
- [02:52]
B
Yeah. The project is called Sine Awakening Balloon, presented at Bundang Central park as the opening of the Seongnam Media Festival. Just a couple of months ago, we transformed nearly 200 meters of forest into a large open air theater using 16 ultra high resolution projectors, lasers, orchestra music and eventually the sound of the 1000 on the voice choir of the 19 minutes program, we presented 10 pieces. One was new work that I composed with the help of AI, a human arranger and conductor, and live performance. The other line were reinterpretation of the film music about world. I chose this because world destroys both human lives and the natural world. And placing those melodies back into a live living forest creates a powerful contrast between destruction and renewal. So we also invited 1,000 local residents as well to rehearsal and to sing with us. So the community's presence and breadth became a vital layer of the performance itself. To make the environment respond to all these human and AI voices, we drawn, scanned and three dimensionally mapped the entire forest. The tree shifted colored like autumn leaves turning. And at times the whole landscape seems to breathe and move with the choir as if the forest itself were participating in the performance.
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C
When you prepare a work, you can prepare the sonic experience, the lights, all of the logistics. But what I guess you can't prepare for is the reaction of that audience you mentioned, members of the public who were there. Tell me a little bit about what was their reaction? Because as you said, they became part of the performance. What was their reaction like?
- [04:49]
B
The direction was much stronger and more emotional than I expected. Many visitors said they felt as if they had stepped into the dream. Not a normal concert or normal artwork, but space where the forest, the sound, the people were breathing together. Some people told us the experience brought back childhood memories of walking in nature and night. The other said the combination of the world, film, music and the living forest was made them think about fragility, loss and the possibility of healing. And for the citizens and audiences, the experience was incredibly meaningful. They felt proud because they weren't just watching something, they were part of the artwork itself, co creating the space with their own voices. So many of them even turned on the lighting on their mobile phones and waved them gently in the dark, singing along and moving with the forest as it shifted. The simple gesture, lighting, sound and motion made the whole environment feel even more alive, as if community, the choir, the forest were breathing together at once. The biggest response we heard again and again was that people had never seen public art that felt this alive, this communal, and this emotional deep.
- [06:13]
C
And tell me a bit about what your perception is of the relationship with public art in South Korea. This is in Seongnam, of course, but if we look at the country broadly, my sense is always there's very high social capital across the country to generalize, and that people are very invested in shared experience, in community resources. But how would you describe the Relationship with public art generally, I think South.
- [06:36]
B
Korean cities are improving, but the relationship is still developing. Korea has incredible artistic talent and some of the most advanced technology in the world. But popular art is often treated as objects to be installed, rather than experience that people can enter and share together. In many cases, the focus is still on creating landmarks or decorations instead of building spaces where people can feel, reflect, or connect emotionally. And I think that where the real potential of the public art lies not in the object itself, but in the experience it creates and the community it brings together. So the good news is that this is changing. Projects like Cine Forest showed that when technology, nature, people come together, public art can become something truly communal and transformative. South Korea is moving in that direction, I feel. And I believe the next decade will open much more space for experimental, emotional and participatory forms of public art.
- [07:46]
C
Tell me about why public art matters. I mean, it seems in a way a kind of facile question, because you described the experience already with Sune Forest. It built community. People felt moved emotionally. It's so powerful. But why does it matter for cities in particular that they really engage with public art with real intentionality? Why is that important?
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B
Public art is important because it gives a city something that buildings and infrastructures alone cannot provide. A shared emotional life. Cities are made of concrete, data and efficiency, but they are also made of people, their memories, their fears, their hopes, their sense of belongings. The public art creates moments where stranger pulls together, feel something together, and recognize that they are part of the same place. It can turn a busy street into a moment of reflection, a park into a space of healing, or forest into a temporary cathedral of sound and light. And in a time when both human and nature are often exhausted or damaged, public art reminds us that spaces can be cared for, transformed and made meaningful again. That is why public art matters. Not because it decorates a city, but because it helps people experience the city as a living, emotional environment on that they share with others.
- [09:22]
C
You put that beautifully. Do you try then, with your work? Are you seeking to change people's perspective? Is that an active ambition? Because it's interesting. You talked about working in liminality in those liminal spaces. Is one of your objectives to give people some certainty in uncertain times, to give them something to hang on to? Do you try at the beginning of a project even as ambitious as Cineforest, are you seeking to change people's perspectives?
- [09:50]
B
Well, to be honest, I don't try to change people or cities in a direct or forceful way. Art shouldn't tell people what to think. Instead, I try to open a space, a moment when someone feels that the world around them has shifted even slightly. So when a forest begins to breathe within a thousand voices, or when technology and nature respond to each other in real time, people often experience a small change inside themselves. A pose, a question, a sense of connection, or simply a feeling that they never expected. So if that moment stays with them, they carry it back into their daily lives. And and when individuals change even a little, the city change with them, not through instruction, but through their experiences. So my goal is not to transform city directly, but to create environments where transformation becomes possible quietly, personally and organically.
- [11:00]
A
Jin Joon Lee there in conversation with Tom Edwards and my thanks to them both. We head to Dubai now for the city's Design Week. Inaugurated 10 years ago, this annual celebration continues to promote design in the UAE's most popular city. Among its exhibitions and workshops, the event also holds an annual competition called Urban Commissions. This year's winning proposal was titled When Does a Threshold Become a Courtyard? By UAE based design and research studio Some Kind of Practice. Monocle's man in Dubai, Insamin Rashid, went along to meet one of the founders of Some Kind of Practice and explore their winning commission.
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D
At the very heart of Dubai Design district, amid glass towers and polished storefronts, a humble courtyard has quietly stolen the show. It's called When Does a Threshold Become a Courtyard? The winning entry for Urban Commissions 2025 by UAE based studio Some Kind of Practice. Founded by architects Abdullah Abbas and Amal Darwish, the studio's installation sits like a pause in the city, open, porous and instinctively familiar. Built from concrete blocks, plywood and arish woven palm fronds, it feels more like a majilis and than a monument.
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E
We wanted to look at what makes a courtyard a courtyard. We look at it historically, programmatically, functionally, but also materially. So when you look at the materials in the courtyard, that was a huge part of it as well. So when you look at it from outside, you're questioning like what's happening? Like it has a specific form. You see a lot of adish. You also have a bit of the concrete block speaking at the bottom. But when you enter into the space, the courtyard is protected. So you walk into this transitional circulation space where you get this connection to the sky as well, and then you walk into the courtyard. So historically and traditionally the courtyard is always protected.
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D
The courtyard unfolds gradually. You step through a shaded passage, the Lewan, a traditional Emirati threshold, before arriving at an Open to sky clearing. The light dances across the Irish screens. The air feels lighter, cooler.
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E
When you walk into a building, you never walk directly into the building. You usually enter what we call a liwan. So the liwan is this transitional space that brings you from the outside into the courtyard. But the function of a courtyard was always multifunctional. Depending on the season, usually the courtyard is either used or not used. So it's a very flexible space. During the winter period, families would usually come out to outside and sit together and sometimes would even like bring out their beds and sleep outside. So what we also did with our space is we left it empty. It's a multifunctional space. Throughout the week, we're going to have multiple programming that happens which will transform the space. So, for example, we will have a lecture that happens. We're also going to have like a dining experience where we're going to be arranging like a central table that will be underneath this aperture. So that is also in how the courtyard used to be used functionally.
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D
Abdullah and Amal's design stems from months of fieldwork traveling across the Emirates, from mountain villages in Fujairah to abandoned homes in Umm Al Kuwain. They studied how the old hoosh courtyards were shaped by climate, craft and community.
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E
One of the major things that we wanted to look at is proof of materiality, because we always hear about materials like a, or even like stone or corrugated sheet. We kind of see it, but we wanted that proof. So through our field work, we went to like this abandoned neighborhood in Omilgay Wayne. So when we went over there, it's a lot of it has been demolished now or like through time. It's withered, but that's where we see the liwan. Why did we want to do this? Because we didn't want to go to one of the recreated villas. We wanted to go and find villas that have been preserved from back then and untouched, even though they haven't withstood the toll of time. The liyuan is very much present. The hosh, the courtyard is very much protected. Part of our research is we wanted to connect the three biomes of the uae. The three biomes being the coastal regions, the desert regions, and the mountainous region. Materially, for example, in the mountainous regions, they used to stack rocks to form their boundary. But what we did is we also wanted to combine it with current architectural practices. So we wanted to make it a point where you do get some of this newer material. So we replaced the stone with concrete blocks, but we maintained the Wood. So this wood has all been sourced here from the uae, Everything completely off the shelf. The arish panels were brought from Jebel Ali, but they're originally from Ajman. The arish was sourced from Ajman. So we got like the local craftsmen also to come and install their pannons. So the entire thing, nothing has been imported.
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D
It's a design that builds with what's present, not imposed, a principle the studio hopes to see revived in contemporary Emirati architecture.
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E
Unfortunately, the connecting factors are minimal, because nowadays we've completely changed the way we build our houses. So, for example, in the past, the boundary of the building was the start of the house.
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F
House.
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E
There was no boundary wall. And then the house begins. So you enter directly into the house most of the time. Nowadays we have four walls surrounding our villas, and then you have a villa at the center of it, which could be interpreted as a courtyard. Those boundaries are still maintaining that privacy. They're still doing the function of what it was. But architecturally, the way we construct our houses has completely changed. Luckily, there are a lot of houses that you will find to this day where they have a boundary wall, but they still have a courtyard at the center of their house. So what Emil and I are kind of looking at is to kind of bring back that thinking, to bring back that type of architecture, because I feel like it was something that we left too early.
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D
When I walked inside, it felt instinctively familiar, like a majlis awaiting coffee and conversation.
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E
All you have to do is put up some seating and it becomes a.
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D
Majlis, becomes a magilis. Literally. The first thing I thought when I walked in exactly was like, it is designed obviously for kind of multi purpose, but straight away, the feeling I got was like, sit down. It's a majalis.
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E
Yeah, it's.
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D
You can really fit it out like.
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E
That, especially in the outdoors when the weather is a lot nicer. The arish is an extremely porous material. It's not blocking wind from coming in. You don't feel stuffy on the inside. You don't. It's not even dusty. That wind coming in and out is a huge part of it. And this aperture is also adding to that as well.
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D
Beyond beauty, some kind of practice champions material honesty and reuse. What Abdullah calls design for disassembly.
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E
One thing I think that's really, really huge, it's happening a lot in the world, but this idea of design for disassembly. So especially for temporary structures like this in D3, we made sure that most of the materials that you see over Here can be returned and reused for other purposes. So for example, the wood is going to be returned, all of the Arish is going to be returned to other sites because the company that we worked with specialized in Arish and Arish construction. So from here it's going to go to maybe the National Day celebration that's going to be happening next month. That idea I think is really, really important, especially for temporary structures, especially again in the outdoors. So in the uae we're very seasonal. In the winter, a lot of these things pop up. So why not build something like this that is really lightweight, very cheap, not that difficult to assemble, doesn't need to be overly clean and perfected, but can be put up as easily as it is let down.
- [18:56]
D
It's a sustainability rooted in traditional, the same resourcefulness that once defined Gulf architecture. When does a threshold become a courtyard? Isn't just an installation. It's an argument for slowness, for shade, for sitting still, even a reminder that in design, as in life, meaning often lives in the spaces between.
- [19:20]
A
My thanks to Insamin Rashid for that report. The Royal Institute of British Architects inaugurated a new president in September this year after the incumbent, Muyiwaoki, completed his two year term. Chris Williamson is the new member at the helm and he joined me recently to discuss, among other aspirations for his tenure, two newly announced awards in the Middle east and Asia Pacific regions. I began by asking Chris what he's most excited about in his new role.
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G
It's quite daunting because it's got a 200 year history, so I've run my own architectural practice for 40 years, but you've only got yourself to account for in that situation. But you do feel sort of the weight of history which comes with a role like this. I'm looking forward to it. It's been fun so far.
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F
I know from one of your predecessors you get to wear a medal if you want to on occasion, and you get to turn up at all sorts of events. But what kinds of things? Because actually there's a serious side to it as well. You get access to government ministers, you can lobby, you can put forward proposals. What are the kinds of things that you are hoping to achieve as president?
- [20:30]
G
Well, they are. The things you've mentioned are the things I'm most excited about. I think we need to be more influential in political circles, so I've started a presidential advisory group because I think it's important that the government and regionally as well, both nationally and regionally, locally we're seen as specialists. We have great knowledge Experts of all sorts of things like we're at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, conservation, heritage. My particular specialism for the last 40 years has been infrastructure. Started off with the Jubilee Line project and just finished two Elizabeth Line stations and been able to do work like that, similar work internationally as well. But I think government doesn't always see us as having great specialisms. They often see us just generalists. And I think it's important that we stress. So that's one of my major aims, is to get better connection. And so I was at the Labour Party conference stressing the importance of quality in the one and a half million homes that we're trying to build. So I think getting quality in the built environment on the agenda is my major aim over the next two years. And I have had to get my two year plan past the board and council, so that should be adopted. And that's what we're working towards. And I have specific aims along the way to try and achieve that.
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F
Just on that, because I'm intrigued. The number of 1.5 million homes. There is huge skepticism in the building trade about whether this is feasible and as you say, feasible to deliver that quantity of homes at the pace during one administration and at quality. I know from speaking to many of your colleagues, there is also some concerns around that. What's your feeling as the President about what needs to happen to get anywhere near that figure and deliver it in a way that is sustainable? And it has this other thing that gets shunted into the sidelines often. Some beauty and some texture and some.
- [22:37]
G
I think we've certainly got the skills to do it in terms of design. I mean, one of the things I've done in the last two months is judge the Sterling Prize and Appleby Blue that won, that is a great example. That was for elderly living. But some of the quality of the work that UK architects do and REBA members is admired around the world. Another thing I've had to do in the last few weeks is phone up our nomination, which has to go to Buckingham palace for the Royal Gold Medal. And that was very emotional. You know, phoning up somebody and asking them if they would accept it if our nomination is accepted is a very emotional thing to do. So in terms of design quality, we've got those skills. It's a big ask to build 1 1/2 million homes in what's rapidly running out to be four years rather than five. So we have to involve small and medium enterprises in order to do that. We can't just rely on the volume House builders to achieve that quality. So I think we've put forward our suggestions and been lobbying government for how we could achieve that or help achieve that.
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F
Now, Chris, you mentioned the Sterling Prize there, but Reba's involved in many UK prizes for architecture, for build quality, for best practice. But now you're spreading your wings, you're heading to the Middle east, you're heading to APAC and doing awards for those regions as well. Let's remind people that REBA stands for the Royal Institute of British Architects. But many of the nominees are certainly not Brits and they're not in the uk. So what's happening here? What's the ambition?
- [24:19]
G
I think we want to help raise design quality throughout the world. We know that our awards, the Sterling Prize and the way that we set out our awards, in contrast with most awards, we're very thorough in the way that they're judged. All the shortlisted entries are visited, so it's a very thorough process. I've judged other awards which are basically judged on the nicest photographs in a way. You often don't get to see the building. It's important to go and see the building, speak to the client, speak to the architects and look around it. That's how architecture should be judged. I think the thoroughness of the way that the RIBA Awards are set up is very important.
- [25:03]
F
Tell me for the Middle east edition, when we look at that region, it's fascinating actually meeting many UK architects as well. I know this goes beyond UK architecture, but the region is a great employer of British skill and many of the people who your members are certainly heading to, the likes of Riyadh and Doha and Dubai. What are some of the projects that you've seen that have intrigued you?
- [25:27]
G
I'm always impressed with the work internationally. There's a couple in particular. There's the Al Mujahdilah Centre, which is Baidillah, Scofidio and Renfra. They designed the Road in Los Angeles and the High Line in New York and that's a mosque and a centre for women. So it has a skills based. Some of the programs that come out are very exciting and very forward thinking. The UK leads the world in design. We export a lot of skills. But I think my experience in working abroad is you can learn a lot from other countries as well and learn from what other countries are doing. Working in Australia, for example, customer care is a great thing and they always involve the customers in all of their transport projects. Lots of research. So that's. You learn lots of things from working in different places and there's lots of innovation and new technologies. There's the World Food Waste Teahouse in Dubai which is by Mitsubishi Jishu Design and that's using tea waste in construction. So like the Bartlett here in London, they're actually using natural materials in the construction industry. So there's some great innovations. And similarly in Asia Pacific a lot of the work that's coming out of that region is incredibly innovative. Whereas maybe 10 years ago there was a lot of copying going on, now it's really cutting edge design.
- [27:05]
F
I always feel the same when we go to the likes of Abu Dhabi or Dubai these days, that actually the knowledge that sits there now, it's a transference of knowledge back and forth. It's not that they're just recipients and they're not just clients, they're actually generating ideas and solutions and especially when we think about climate and I guess the same for when you look at apac. Are there projects there that have excited you when you've seen them?
- [27:27]
G
Yeah, no. There's the Shenzhen Energy Ring by Schmidt, Hammer Lassian and that's a waste energy power plant. So the program again is very important, very futuristic, very forward looking. In Bangladesh there's a fantastic project, the BRAC University, which is on not just a brownfield site which we try and put forward, but this is a derelict dumping ground and it's now home for 20,000 students. And it's a very low energy cross ventilation natural scheme. So it's a fantastic profession. And to see the diversity of schemes that get put forward is wonderful. It's one of the great aspects of my job is being involved in this.
- [28:16]
A
Chris Williamson, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects there, and my thanks to him for joining me in the studio. The winners of the Middle East Awards have just recently been announced and the APAC award winners will be announced in December. You can head to Reba.org to find out more. And that's all for this week's episode of the Urbanist. You can follow us for new editions of the show every week. And you can subscribe to Monocle magazine for reports on all things design, architecture and urbanism too. Just visit monocle.com the Urbanist is produced by Carlotta Rebelo and by David Stevens Evans, who also edits the show. I'm Andrew Tuck. Goodbye and thank you for listening, city lovers.