Space – August 2026

Summary

Space's August 2026 issue (Vol. 61 No. 8, Issue 705) celebrates the magazine's 60th anniversary with a Frame feature on Hyunjoon Yoo and HYP Architects, whose four projects — from OAR Contemporary Art Museum to Sungsil Church — explore architecture as a system of relationships rather than objects. The cover credits photographer Roh Kyung for the building study that anchors the issue's visual identity.

Hyunjoon Yoo and Bang Yukuyung discuss "searching for the reference line of relationship" in the Frame interview on page 26. Four projects follow: OAR Contemporary Art Museum on page 34, Gochang Hwang Yunseok Library on page 42, Musical Staff cultural park on page 50, and Sungsil Church on page 58. Chang Yongsoon critiques the aesthetics of relationships created by sequence and scenery on page 66. Lee Sunmin takes the Relay Interview slot on page 126.

Project features include Saekdong House by Chung Isak and a.co.lab architects on page 74, Old Barnyard by IDR Architects on page 84, Bricks Building by Luyoun Architects on page 94, and Yeonsu Youth Center on page 100. Focus sections cover Seoul City Hall's Seosomun Building 1 exterior remodelling and the MID Building by NOA Architecture. The Exhibition feature reviews "Wrinkles and Layers: Architecture as a State."

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Content Guide

▸ Frame Feature / Projects / Focus / Exhibitions / Interviews

p.24 · Reference Line, Section, Sequence
Hyunjoon Yoo + HYP Architects introduce their methodology: every project starts with a single "reference line" drawn across the site from which all sections and sequences derive. The line is never purely functional — it responds to sun path, view axis, and existing vegetation.

p.34 · OAR Contemporary Art Museum
HYP's museum in Jeju uses a stepped concrete section that doubles as exhibition wall and circulation ramp. The ramps eliminate door thresholds, allowing gallery spaces to be reconfigured without demolition.

p.42 · Gochang Hwang Yunseok Library
A public library built into a hillside, with a reading room that projects over the slope on a cantilevered steel frame. The glazed north wall captures indirect daylight while the earth berm on the south side regulates interior temperature.

p.50 · Musical Staff
A cultural park in the shape of a musical staff, with pathways laid out as notation lines and performance pavilions at note positions. Each pavilion is tuned to a specific frequency — walk from C to B to hear the scale.

p.58 · Sungsil Church
HYP designs a church where the sanctuary roof slopes upward toward the altar, with a slit window at the peak that directs sunlight onto the baptismal font at 10 a.m. year-round.

p.66 · The Aesthetics of Relationships
Chang Yongsoon critiques HYP's work, arguing that the reference-line method produces buildings that are visually resolved but emotionally neutral. The essay compares Yoo's approach to the "weak architecture" theory of the 1990s.

p.74 · Saekdong House
Chung Isak and a.co.lab architects build a polychrome house in Seoul using coloured concrete panels cast in nine custom shades. The colour palette comes from the hanbok spectrum — red, blue, yellow, white, and black.

p.126 · Relay Interview: Lee Sunmin
Lee Sunmin, principal of Lee Sunmin Architects, discusses sticking to fundamentals while balancing commercial and public commissions. He argues that mid-sized firms produce the most innovative work because they can afford to take risks.

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Editor's Take

A 60th-anniversary issue could coast on nostalgia, but Space uses the milestone to double down on what it does best: exhaustive project documentation with critical context. The four HYP project spreads deliver enough construction photography and detail drawings to inform built work. Chang Yongsoon's critique is sharp enough to avoid hagiography. Weakness: the anniversary content is limited to a brief editorial note — no timeline, no back-issue retrospective, no reader letters from six decades. Best suited for practitioners who want buildable detail, not just concept imagery.

Strengths
• Four HYP projects with full construction documentation
• Chang's critique provides genuine counterpoint
• Saekdong House colour-palette research is original

Weaknesses
• Anniversary issue lacks any historical retrospective
• MID Building Focus is too short for a signature project

Verdict: Essential — The best single-architect treatment Space has published this year.