The second book in the 'My Life as an Architect' series, looking at the Seoul buildings that have shaped the practice and outlook of the celebrated Korean architect Byoung Cho. Since founding his practice BCHO Architects Associates in Seoul in 1994, Byoung Cho has built a reputation as the key architect driving the expansion of one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Influenced by Korea’s rich aesthetic tradition, Cho utilizes understated forms to create serene buildings that yield powerful and subtle experiences for their inhabitants. His work focuses on seemingly simple structures and has a strong regard for nature and sustainability. This companion to Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo presents twenty-nine portraits of the buildings and districts of Seoul that have most influenced Cho, from a 12th-century shrine to a 14-metre-square concrete box, and includes a number of his own designs. Lively texts are interspersed with the architect’s own drawings and elegant photographs printed with a coloured tint. In mixing personal asides with architectural and historical detail, the book builds up a multi-layered picture of Seoul, and offers a unique insight into Cho’s architectural philosophy.

In The Intimacy of Making Swiss French photographer Helene Binet takes us on a visual journey through a world of stone, walls and gardens that define and celebrate the Korean art of making. In pure and calm photographs we discover traditional Korean architecture through a Western lens. The purity of the motifs sharpens one's eye for the often-overlooked beauty and harmony in our own environment and history, as well as for the care of craft and composition. This book is a reminder against our often fleeting and careless perceptions. In her photographs, which were taken over the course of the last three years, Binet looks at three typologies of traditional architecture in Korea: the Confucian school and sacred place Byeong- san Sewon; garden and tea house Soswaewon; and the Jongmyo Shrine. Her camera combines both the nature and the built structures and reveals the soul of the three sites. The photographic essays are accompanied by two texts: Korean architect, Byoung Soo Cho, offers insight into the cultural and architectural history, while art and design critic and teacher, Eugenie Shinkle, focuses on the "making."