The Marmot’s Hole

The Hankyoreh reports that some major works of late architect Kim Swoo-geun have been torn down or are on the verge of being town down.

Last year, of course, the Hanguk Ilbo building in Junghak-dong — built in 1968 — was torn down. Now, the Tower Hotel (1969) and Seun Arcade (1967) face a similar fate. The Tower Hotel’s distinctive concrete exterior will be covered in glass, which is kind of odd, considering that the city cultural properties committee OK’d the hotel’s renovation on the condition that the exterior not be destroyed. The Seun Arcade, on the other hand, will be torn down completely as part of Seoul City’s plan to incorporate the neighborhood into a green corridor linking Bugaksan and Gwanaksan.

Kim Swoo-geun Cultural Foundation director Kim Won, who worked with the great architect, noted that many places in the Gangbuk area — including Kim Swoo-geun works — will be disappearing over the next couple of years thanks to redevelopment and the building of so-called “New Towns.”

Marmot’s Note: As you know, I’m a big fan of Kim Swoo-geun — see here, here and here for photo essays dedicated to his work. Obviously, it saddens me to see any of his work torn down or, in the case of the Tower Hotel, defaced.

Still, cities are a living organism that are perpetually transforming. Accordingly, you can’t save everything; the most you can hope for is to choose well the things you can save, and that whatever replaces the rest is an improvement.