In this studio, AI will be our “telescope,” through which we will rediscover our built environment. We will critically question the role of artificial intelligence and deep learning in architecture. Is creativity in architecture only exclusive to humans? Can machines automatically learn and generate meaningful architecture? Can they go beyond quantifiable data and optimization and enter the realm of architectural quality? Can machines capture and generate something as fragile and elusive as “genius loci”? What are the dangers and dark sides when we let the machines loose?
In Seoul, South Korea, the demand for residential spaces has surged despite the population decline since 1990. As the city prioritizes securing a sufficient housing supply to meet the increase in demand, housing redevelopment projects are rapidly being carried out. The projects range from regeneration strategies to complete redevelopment from a tabula rasa. We will explore the idea of transforming urban blocks in response to the rise of demand for homes and change in social‐cultural climates.
Gangnam District, the newest city center of Seoul, that has drawn a lot of interest internationally due to the worldwide K‐Pop song “Gangnam Style”, will be our field of experimentation. With a grid network, superblocks with a division of smaller urban blocks of various scaled buildings, the urban organization of Gangnam District contrasts significantly from that of Gangbuk, the northern region of the Han river. As multiple housing development projects are taking place throughout the district, we will be using AI to process images of Gangnam to capture, collect, learn, and archive the architectural DNA of the local identity and visual characteristics that constitute the identity of the new part of Seoul that was developed in a relatively short period since the 1970s.
The first part of the semester will consist of learning Seoulness through curating data and manipulating a state‐of‐the‐art GAN algorithm to form a liquid archive of Gangnam and its architectural possibilities. With imagined densification strategies that connect the past and future Seoul neighborhood, this creative confrontation will result in a series of proposed Gangnam living urban block “proto‐typologies”, presented as schematic, axonometric drawings.
In the second part of the semester, we will design codes for extending urban blocks, based on the GAN informed proto-typologies. The objective will be to not only densify the existing urban block but also invent new shared collective spaces that enhance the quality of Gangnam urban life through various properties such as architectural form, climatic performances, social and cultural spaces, and more. This second part will result in proposed facade systems (parametric code) that have the capacity to extend urban building blocks with the DNA of Gangnam Seoulness.
The studio will culminate in a final proposal for a precise urban block extension that integrates and expands existing buildings in a specific location in Gangnam, offering strategic solutions for facilitating a collective living community.