Hi everyone,
I recently got back from a trip to Seoul, korea, and was deeply impressioned by the change of the city itself in the past 10 years since I'd been there. Does anyone have experience working in Seoul or in other parts of Asia who has thoughts on how it's been and how it is like to work there? I'm thinking of going there for a year after finishing up at columbia in the next couple years. Would love to hear from you.
i too would love to hear about korea/seoul experiences? i have been working for a year now since i finished my m.arch, and i would love to go to korea to work - my korean, however, is pretty poor but i like to think i can pick it up quick quickly (being korean and all)...i would love to hear about language issues? visa issues? and if you work there, are you paid fairly, or is it basically working-enough-for-kimchi kinda thing? lastly, what is the standard-of-living costs compared with say nyc, sf, etc...? thanks!!!
from what i've heard from friends it is very difficult to work as an architect in s.korea because the cost of living is ridiculously high and honestly architects do not get to do a lot of innovative stuff, because a lot of western architects are hired for that purpose. My friend worked for these architects in Seoul and all they did was CDs of buildings designed by american architects.
That said, there is indeed so much growth going on in that part of the world that just being there will be a huge learning experience, and there are a very few firms that are trying to make some difference...
hmm...that doesn't really surprise me - same story, different place - "few firms that are trying to make some difference..." i think i've heard that phrase before about pretty much every city i know of. then again, maybe i'm just a cynic.
I am currently working at the architecture company in Seoul. I totally understand what you ment, and it is pretty glad to hear that you liked Soeul.
Well, If I were you, I would start finding specific firms trying to hire international architects. What I mean is, usually, they just hire Korean, and if they have to work with international architects, they just co-work with them for certain projects. As 'sameolddoctor' said, it is true there are a lot of projects working with american or european architects, but it is NOT true that they only do CGs of buildings designed by foreign architects. At least there are many GOOD architects who have a great sense of design.
If you don't have any problems speaking Korean, I would try to contact big-size Korean company. However, if you do, it might be hard to find a company hiring foreign architects. I've never seen foreign architects working for any Korean architecture firm. There might be a few companies, which intent to hire foreign architects.
I’m not sure whether you’ve heard of Joe Slade. He did pretty good job in Korea. He was a co-founder of Cho Slade Architecture, and Cho is a Korean architecture who used to work with him. Take a look at his projects in korea. He might have some projects still going on in Korea. You might be able to have a chance to come to Korea. Who knows??
If you have any questions post here or e-mail me. I would love to help you out. Good luck.
I was thinking about having my internship in Korea, but I don't really know if it will be easy to find a compeny that will except me for internship.. specially that I'm not Korean.
I am Saudi .. so i can speak Arabic, English and I can understand Korean too.
Currently I am doing my architecture from india.and was highly impressed with Korean architecture.and sudden growth in their architecture.i want to apply for internship in South Korea.i need your suggestions and guidance regarding to internship in korea.
I'm an architect and I'm stuying landscape architecture. I expect to finish my Master degree in one year but I would like to know if someone knows about how or where can I apply for a job (for a short time: maybe 6 months or one year to get experience here). I speak english and spanish but korean only the basic.
Thanks!
Aug 16, 17 10:14 pm ·
·
r0sef1nch
Hola, espero no llegar tarde. También me gustaría saber si has podido encontrar trabajo o como te fue en Corea. Hablo también ingles, español y pienso estudiar coreano porque quiero hacer un master allí. Como fue tu experiencia. Agradezco tus comentarios. Gracias
hiii I'm a foreign students I just completed my high school I really wanna know if it would be worth it to do my bachelors in architecture in South korea?
May 29, 23 8:05 am ·
·
Non Sequitur
Maybe... who knows? How much research have you done on your end? Do you expect us to make adult decisions for you?
May 29, 23 9:37 am ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
Working in korea
Hi everyone,
I recently got back from a trip to Seoul, korea, and was deeply impressioned by the change of the city itself in the past 10 years since I'd been there. Does anyone have experience working in Seoul or in other parts of Asia who has thoughts on how it's been and how it is like to work there? I'm thinking of going there for a year after finishing up at columbia in the next couple years. Would love to hear from you.
apologies in advance for the lame post:
i too would love to hear about korea/seoul experiences? i have been working for a year now since i finished my m.arch, and i would love to go to korea to work - my korean, however, is pretty poor but i like to think i can pick it up quick quickly (being korean and all)...i would love to hear about language issues? visa issues? and if you work there, are you paid fairly, or is it basically working-enough-for-kimchi kinda thing? lastly, what is the standard-of-living costs compared with say nyc, sf, etc...? thanks!!!
It will be quite hard... I think korean copmanies are not open to foreigners... they only use korean.
from what i've heard from friends it is very difficult to work as an architect in s.korea because the cost of living is ridiculously high and honestly architects do not get to do a lot of innovative stuff, because a lot of western architects are hired for that purpose. My friend worked for these architects in Seoul and all they did was CDs of buildings designed by american architects.
That said, there is indeed so much growth going on in that part of the world that just being there will be a huge learning experience, and there are a very few firms that are trying to make some difference...
hmm...that doesn't really surprise me - same story, different place - "few firms that are trying to make some difference..." i think i've heard that phrase before about pretty much every city i know of. then again, maybe i'm just a cynic.
hey, thom
I am currently working at the architecture company in Seoul. I totally understand what you ment, and it is pretty glad to hear that you liked Soeul.
Well, If I were you, I would start finding specific firms trying to hire international architects. What I mean is, usually, they just hire Korean, and if they have to work with international architects, they just co-work with them for certain projects. As 'sameolddoctor' said, it is true there are a lot of projects working with american or european architects, but it is NOT true that they only do CGs of buildings designed by foreign architects. At least there are many GOOD architects who have a great sense of design.
If you don't have any problems speaking Korean, I would try to contact big-size Korean company. However, if you do, it might be hard to find a company hiring foreign architects. I've never seen foreign architects working for any Korean architecture firm. There might be a few companies, which intent to hire foreign architects.
http://www.sladearch.com
I’m not sure whether you’ve heard of Joe Slade. He did pretty good job in Korea. He was a co-founder of Cho Slade Architecture, and Cho is a Korean architecture who used to work with him. Take a look at his projects in korea. He might have some projects still going on in Korea. You might be able to have a chance to come to Korea. Who knows??
If you have any questions post here or e-mail me. I would love to help you out. Good luck.
typo. Joe slade-James slade
thanks a lot for the advice...i can't wait to try
Hey,
I was thinking about having my internship in Korea, but I don't really know if it will be easy to find a compeny that will except me for internship.. specially that I'm not Korean.
I am Saudi .. so i can speak Arabic, English and I can understand Korean too.
I hope someone can help me here.
Currently I am doing my architecture from india.and was highly impressed with Korean architecture.and sudden growth in their architecture.i want to apply for internship in South Korea.i need your suggestions and guidance regarding to internship in korea.
mate...this thread was made in 2006....
^ Careful there, PC warriors be like: "Stop racism!"
Hi everyone
I'm an architect and I'm stuying landscape architecture. I expect to finish my Master degree in one year but I would like to know if someone knows about how or where can I apply for a job (for a short time: maybe 6 months or one year to get experience here). I speak english and spanish but korean only the basic.
Thanks!
Hola, espero no llegar tarde. También me gustaría saber si has podido encontrar trabajo o como te fue en Corea. Hablo también ingles, español y pienso estudiar coreano porque quiero hacer un master allí. Como fue tu experiencia. Agradezco tus comentarios. Gracias
Monty Python - The Holy Internship
hiii I'm a foreign students I just completed my high school I really wanna know if it would be worth it to do my bachelors in architecture in South korea?
Maybe... who knows? How much research have you done on your end? Do you expect us to make adult decisions for you?
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.