« Vertical Utopia » is a series focusing on the urban morphology of South Korea. It pictures the country’s fascinating growth better known as the « Miracle on the Han River ». It deals with architecture, housing market, domestic lifestyle, demographic and territorial evolution.

The analysis is made from the perspective of « Tanjis » which are massive and standardized units of dwellings that appeared in the 70's in the South Korean urban landscape. The emergence of Tanjis, following the lightning growth in the country, has been seen as a solution to the urgent need in dwellings, made possible by the concept of standardization in the construction process.

Tanjis in South Korea were supported by the public authorities and shown as a model of the contemporary world and as a symbol of material wealth. Today they account for more than 60% of the housing market in South Korea and can be seen everywhere.

It seems that the inhabitants are fine with this model but the reality points to a lack of alternatives. Indeed, a paradigm shift occurred so Tanjis would be the major type of housing, thus resulting in architectural and landscape uniformity, urban system malfunction, housing market prices increase, vanishing of traditional districts and associated communities. It seems that the vast majority of the buildings is built by national construction companies without any intervention of architects.

In the urban environment, the rare remains of traditional architecture can be seen in the ancient gates, temples, or Hanok houses. Or, sadly they are incorporated in modern commercial buildings such as Starbuck Coffee, Mac Donalds or even gas stations, tearing out the distinctive roofing shapes of traditional architecture in South Korea.

Korea’s traditional architecture collapsed through three historical periods. The Japanese invasion and occupation (1910-1945), the Korean war (1950-1953) and the following economic growth of the country (1953-ongoing).

Until the end of the Korean war, the country was mainly filled with individual houses and the horizontality was the main model. The 60’s came with the first buildings and then the huge Tanjis in the 70’s. Verticality invaded the land.

The strong presence of Tanjis construction sites all over the country in urban and even rural areas demonstrates the ongoing growth and the adoption of this dwelling model by the South Korean inhabitants who see Tanjis as a symbol of social rise and distinction.

Still, South Korea succeeded where France failed, designing their own version of the concept of “Grand Ensemble Immobilier” to create balanced communities, breeding social ties leading to peaceful environments.

The architectural soulless and austere appearance in these random prefabricated landscapes is fascinating. Yet it is disrupting to notice that a kind of strange utopia has emerged from this phenomenon.

The question of sustainability is at stake since the cost of maintenance on the long term with these huge buildings will skyrocket (maintenance on a 50 year exploitation basis is known to be about 70% of the global cost for a building).

Will this utopia last in the population hearts and uses ?

We already see a new generation of young South Korean architects taking empowerment and trying to get out of the Tanjis’s architectural trap.