Seoul — Brutalist Revival

Concrete buildings appear throughout this series as part of the everyday city: beside shops and older houses, between parking spaces and overhead cables. Their geometric forms stand out, while the surrounding streets keep them firmly connected to Seoul’s urban life.

The project grew from repeated visits and the recognition of a recurring architectural language. Some buildings were researched in advance; others emerged along the way. Following one address often led to another discovery, turning the search itself into a way of exploring the city.

I was interested in that process as much as in the buildings. Photographing them in their surroundings gives a sense of their scale, their neighbours and the ordinary activity around them.

The series became the subject of ArchDaily’s feature asking whether Seoul was experiencing a “Neo-Brutalist Revival”. That question remains a useful starting point, rather than a conclusion the photographs need to prove.

Seen together, the images trace a visual thread through a complex city: an observation of concrete, geometry and architectural invention at street level.