The 5th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism opened on September 26 at Songhyeon Green Plaza in central Seoul. Recognized as the largest public architecture festival in Asia, this year’s edition is directed by Thomas Heatherwick under the curatorial theme of how cities can become “radically more human.” Running through November 18, the Biennale brings together exhibitions, global forums, and citizen-led projects to examine the role of architecture in shaping more inclusive and enduring urban environments.
A central feature is the “Humanize Wall,” a 90-meter-long, four-story-high installation composed of 1,428 steel tiles inscribed with contributions from citizens, scientists, and designers. The structure presents 400 projects from 38 countries, designed by 110 architects, and forms a twisting gateway that frames a manifesto advocating new perspectives on architecture and urban life. Conceived as an open-air exhibition, the wall invites visitors to engage with its images and texts at multiple levels of detail.
Nearby the Humanize Wall, 24 “Walls of Public Life” present large-scale building fragments designed by international teams. Measuring 2.4 meters wide and 4.8 meters high, these fragments illustrate diverse approaches to rethinking the exterior of buildings. The contributors span multiple disciplines and cultural backgrounds, including chefs, artisans, architects, and engineers from Korea, Burkina Faso, India, China, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
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The Biennale’s opening program included a ceremony led by Seoul’s Mayor, Oh Se-hoon, followed by “Emotional City,” a two-day forum that convened over 400 activists, academics, and architects. The event introduced three research studies from the Humanize Campaign, addressing the relationship between building facades, public health, and social well-being.
Additional exhibitions are presented at the Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture. These include grassroots initiatives involving more than 500 Seoul residents reflecting on how architecture influences emotional experience; “Emotionally Yours, Seoul,” a participatory digital installation built from public submissions of building facades and associated feelings; “The City’s Face,” which features 25 projects from 21 cities focused on human-centered design; and “From a Bird’s Eye to the Human Eye,” which highlights 18 new architectural works shaping Seoul’s future from an experiential perspective.
In parallel with curating this year’s Biennale, Heatherwick Studio is advancing several major projects in Asia. In Seoul, the studio has been appointed as the design partner for the redevelopment of the Yeouido Daegyo Apartments, its first residential project in South Korea, and was recently selected to lead the redesign of the Coex Convention Centre, reimagining one of the city’s key civic landmarks. Meanwhile, in Bangkok, Heatherwick Studio has unveiled Hatai, a mixed-use development marking its first project in Thailand.