Hi! Thanks for visiting my website about the distinctive intersection of democracy and architecture. I hope you take away your own personal experience by exploring this site and that I've urged you to question your surroundings with an inquisitive eye.

 

I've specifically created this page to tell you a little bit more about myself through some background information. Born in Seoul, South Korea, I've had quite the global experience! I moved to California, then to New Jersey, back to Korea, to the United Kingdom, back to New Jersey, back to Korea, and finally back to the USA again, but this time, Atlanta, Georgia. Now, I attend the University of Chicago, pursuing a double major in Economics and English. During my time living on each of these three continents, I've traveled far and wide on family vacations as well as school and individual trips, gaining a unique perspective about the environments that surround us and how such environments affect the people living in them. This time, I decided to focus on built environments in particular, or in other words, architecture. I looked at government buildings, monuments, and even some features as specific as the President's Desk at the Palais Bourbon. I had lots of questions before my research began, some of which still remain unanswered. Did these architectural pieces in various countries around the world portray democratic ideals in any way? If so, with what purpose? How about countries that historically haven't been as democratic? Is it even possible for structures of concrete and steel, of wood and plaster, to symbolize such concepts?

 

But how did it all start?

 

I decided to incorporate democracy with architecture to create something new, something weird — something that was mine. My interest in international relations, history, public policy, and expression through the arts compelled me to explore all of those fields in a single, multidisciplinary project. This combination stemmed from a global life of constant travel that has enriched my own thought processes and experiences, as well as where I was during the conception of the project — an international school in Seoul, South Korea, one of the burgeoning centers of the modern world, with friends from all over the globe concentrated in one institution. I asked myself three chief questions throughout the creation process. Can democracy be portrayed through architecture? If so, how does this affect us personally? And finally, how can political architecture be used for social good?

 

I look forward to soon research countries with different political ideologies. What do the physical environments of such nations represent? Are they different from the architecture of the G7?

 

Enjoy, and please don't hesitate to reach out.