Incisions/Insertions

Prior to 1910, Seoul’s urban fabric remained constant for almost 500 years; the street network demarcated by a series of processional routes between the palace and city gates that lead out towards the provinces.

The original walled city; a constant for 500 years

 In a bid to fasten economic and social control over the capital, the occupying Japanese imposed infrastructure that would provide the template of the contemporary city.

This began with enlarging main thoroughfares and constructing new roads under a policy designated ‘the ordering of streets’.

'The ordering of streets' incisions into the existing fabric

Later, larger voids were cut into the old fabric of the city to accommodate the railway, administrative buildings, churches and schools.  

       Japanese map of Seoul 1927: black and white areas indicate insertions 

A map dated 1927, when read with its modern equivalent builds a narrative about where these insertions were made, where they remain and where they have been reabsorbed by the city.    

Inserted voids, retained voids, reclaimed voids