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| Park Cheol-soo, former professor of Housing and Urban Design at the University of Seoul / Korea Times file photo |
By Lee Hae-rin
Park Cheol-soo, a Korean scholar and housing and urban design professor at the University of Seoul, who conducted extensive research into the modern and contemporary architecture of Korean housing, died, Tuesday. He was 64.
Born in Seoul, Park obtained bachelor's and master's degrees and a Ph.D. in Architecture and Architectural Engineering from the University of Seoul. He worked at the Korea Land & Housing Corp. before turning to the profession of teaching at his alma mater.
As a city architecture expert, he served in several governmental organizations and projects for the capital's urban planning.
He was a presidential consultant for urban planning and development during the Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-2008) and a member of the National Assembly's office building management committee, Seoul Metropolitan Government's architectural policy committee, the Architectural Institute of Korea, the Korean Housing Association and plenty more.
Park also authored over 50 books on the country's architectural history.
One of his latest two-book series published in 2021, "Genetics of Korean Housing" won several awards including the Korea Book Awards, and the Prime Minister award from the Korea Architecture Award while he was ill.
The series, which compiles 30 years of Park's experience and research ― in over 2,500 pages ― chronicles the nation's iconic residential architectural styles from the 20th century.
Park's work encompasses different kinds of houses that Koreans have lived in from the Japanese colonial occupation and post-war era through to the more recent times of high economic growth. He also shed light on how the country tried to cope with its booming population by expanding multi-household residences, and eventually, arriving at massive apartment complexes.
In response to the architecture circle's dominant criticisms of high-rise apartment complexes for lacking aesthetics, Park believed that an extensive overview of the country's residential housing could provide room for constructive debates and future research.
In his last days, Park continued writing even while receiving medical treatment. His latest book on Seoul's Mapo apartment, the country's first-ever apartment complex built in 1962 during the Park Chung-hee authoritarian era, will be released next month.
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