The sight of paw prints left behind in concrete brings a number of thoughts to mind: you imagine the cat that walked across the concrete when it was still wet; the slight dirtiness of the concrete suggests that this must have occured a long time ago. Despite that, your thoughts don’t wander to the workers who had poured the concrete in the first place. It is incredibly difficult to properly look at common, everyday things like this.

For example, imagine you saw an umbrella that had been forcibly tied to a vending machine with wire. What was the purpose here? Had it been done so that people could order a drink on a rainy day without getting wet? Or was it out of some concern for the vending machine itself?  Sungbum Heo, founder of “architectural/practice”, talks of urban behavior and city sculptures like this as a new form of nature. A portion of his thoughts and questions can be seen on the photographs of Seoul, South Korea, of his Instagram page.

“architectural/practice”, which was established in 2020, focuses on the ever-evolving concept of “nature” and, as it seeks to redefine it, continuously deals with architecture, environment, and the city. This practice isn’t just limited to planning, but also extends to workshops, publishing, and writing. In “Seoul: Glitch City”, an essay by Sungbum featured in Flash Art, he uses the worldview from The Matrix to delicately talk about the writers and architects who work in Seoul, a city which has taken Rem Koolhaas’s architectural principles to the extreme.

https://flash—art.com/article/seoul-glitch-city

A careful observation of the city underpins the activity of “architectural/practice”. Recording, drawing, and translating the subjects of these observations—which can seem haphazard or have a bricolage-like atmosphere—into other media is at the heart of the project. It is interesting to note that, in British English at least, “architectural practice” can also refer to an architectural firm. However, this usage of the word is unfamiliar to me, and when I look at Sungbum’s images and captions, I think of the act of practicing (to train and improve at something) architecture. The act of practicing how to look at nature for the purpose of architecture.
In Japan in the past, we were wowed by Genpei Akasegawa’s Thomasson and Takarajimasha’s VOW. And now with “architectural/practice”, I have found that looking at the city through the eyes of an architect is incredibly enjoyable.