Lately, I’ve been reading about Fazlur Khan since I’m a big fan of his philosophy, vision, and thoughts. As I was reading a book written by his daughter, Yasmin Khan, I was surprised to learn that he had traveled to Korea for a building project. The building is called 63 Building. Who knew?

SOM had first entered negotiation with Lucky Development Company (an affiliate of the Lucky-Goldstar Group) in 1978. At that time, a 51-story office tower, with a program area of 1.7 million square feet, was anticipated. Khan had traveled to Seoul to meet with the client to discuss the headquarters project, and, as was his habit, he made note of lifestyles, local food, and important phrases in Korean. The job was put on hold at that point, but when it was resumed, the client had not forgotten his sensitivity to the cultural setting of the project.

Presentation of the final report on schematic design development was scheduled for March 1982, at which time SOM aimed to obtain authorization to proceed into the next design phase. For this meeting, the client specifically requested that Khan be present.

(more…)

Fazlur Khan realized his talents as a structural engineer by working as a partner in design, defining the architectural/structural schemes for building projects together with his architectural colleagues. His personal appreciation of the disparate design priorities of function (usefulness for its purpose), structure (economy and efficient use of materials), and aesthetics (satisfaction of an emotional need for meaning and visual interest) enabled him to assume an influential role in the creative process of designing architecture.

(more…)

I’m feeling a bit bored and in the mood to write something. I just thought of one that I would write about. I recently went to see Taekwondo show in Seoul and was somewhat surprised to see how well-choreographed it was. The accompanying music was pretty good too and the show would have been a lot more boring without any music. One scene that I particularly enjoyed was the fight between one lady and two guys. Obviously, it was choreographed but it was nice to see a lady throwing kicks and punches to the guys in a fast rapid manner. In the beginning, a group of young age ranging from 8 years olds to 13 years olds came out on the stage and exhibited different movements and some various moves. Then, they brought out the wood blocks and started throwing kicks and break the wood. Apparently, it wouldn’t be any taekwondo without those. Wood blocks started to fly out into broken halves and onto the stage and sometimes, the floor underneath the stage. After the younger group was done with their part, the next older group came out and to my own guess, they were approx. between 16 years olds to early thirties. You could see the difference between two groups as the older group exhibited more sharp movement and made some power moves and higher kicks. Sounds were louder, music faster, and wood blocks snapped louder.

(more…)