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Call for submissions: Social Architecture—Open Political Spaces

September 19–25, 2022, 6pm

Young architects from all around the world are invited to submit short films for the young architect competition Social Architecture: Open Political Spaces, which is being organized by Space Coordinator in partnership with Seoul Metropolitan City, Korea.

Social Architecture has been investigating current challenges including post-Covid-19 architecture (2020) and climate change since it was first started by Space Coordinator in 2020 as part of the Seoul Metropolitan City Architecture Promotion Program (2021).

Here, it is assumed that politics can be altered by architecture. We intend to examine and debate the potential for political spaces that respond to the open society of today, reflect the current, and influence political practices. Political spaces have drawn the attention of the Korean public due to the opening of Cheong Wa Dae, the former executive office and residence of the president of South Korea, as well as the upcoming construction of the new National Assembly branch in Sejong City, the country’s de facto administrative capital. However, political spaces haven’t typically been a hot topic in architecture, either due to their longevity, universality, or the fact that they haven’t altered much through the years.

We hope that by bringing attention to the existence and character of political spaces, this call will inspire architects to reconsider and reinterpret current architecture that acts as a stage for political actors, and to propose novel ideas ranging from minor interventions to visions for the future of cities.

Anyone with an architecture bachelor’s degree who graduated in September 2007 or later is eligible to apply for the call. The Seoul Metropolitan City Mayor Award and a total of 15,000,000 KRW are given to the winners. Additionally, events will be planned both online and offline to introduce chosen works.

About Space Coordinator

Jang Yoongyoo, the founder of Unsangdong Architects Cooperation and a professor at Kookmin University, established Space Coordinator in 2008 with the goal of supporting both architects and artists. We think that confrontation can be productive. As a forum, we assemble many viewpoints and ideas to encourage multidisciplinary dialogue.

A young architect competition called Social Architecture has been run by it from 2020 in collaboration with Seoul Metropolitan City. It started a brand-new Instagram-based architecture competition series in 2022 called Space Coordinator that was accessible to everyone, even non-majors, who was interested in the edition’s theme, which was Seoul this time around. Selected pieces were displayed in the Future Architecture exhibition that it co-organized with the Architecture Design Institution of Korea and held at the Total Museum in Seoul. Ten architects from five different countries were invited to attend.

Open call guidelines to be downloaded here.

Submission
Entries will be submitted to spacecoordinator.projects [​at​] gmail.com
Submission documents: original short film FHD, MP4, 16:9, application and diploma
Please download application here
Short films should be 5 minutes or less. 
*Selected works of previous editions of the open call here

Prize and benefits
All awarded projects will receive the Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan City Award and can be displayed online and offline architectural events.
–1st prize, 10,000,000 KRW (1 person/team)
–2nd prize, 3,000,000 KRW (1 person/team)
–3rd prize, 1,000,000 KRW (2 persons/teams)
–Honorable Mentions

Inquiries
[email protected] or Instagram 

Space Coordinator
41, Changgyeonggung-ro 43-gil, Seongbuk-gu
Seoul
South Korea

www.spacecoordinator.com
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