The Question Every Society Has to Answer Every society has to solve the same problem. Two people who have never met need to do something together — sign a contract, exchange money, make a commi…

Built Twice, Differently Each Time Korea's technology industry was built twice. The first time, it was built by chaebol — the large family-controlled conglomerates whose vertically integrat…

Fermentation as a Living Kitchen Resource Korean fermentation is discussed most often as a tradition — something inherited from a pre-refrigeration past when preserving food through lacto-ferme…

A Table That Is Built for Sharing The Korean meal table is arranged differently from its Western equivalent in a way that is immediately visible and whose implications run deeper than aesthetic…

Waste and the System That Shaped It Korea's recycling rate is among the highest in the world. The country recycles over sixty percent of its municipal solid waste — a figure that places it …

A Room That Works Korean apartments are not large. The spatial efficiency that Korean apartment design has developed over decades of dense urban construction is visible in every dimension of th…

The Problem That the Kids Cafe Solves Korean urban parenting has a geography problem. The apartment that most Korean families live in is small enough that extended indoor play by young children…

The Sound That Travels Through the Floor There is a specific moment that most Korean apartment residents know. It is late evening. The apartment is quiet. Then, from the ceiling above, comes th…