Yewon Ji
Yewon Ji is a designer and educator with a distinguished focus on low-carbon design currently pursuing SMArchS Architecture + Urbanism at MIT. As a partner at the award-winning firm Ji Otterson Studio, she has led visionary projects that push the boundaries of climatic design across various scales, from architectural intervention to master planning. She has a decade of professional experience from Behnisch Architekten, University of Stuttgart Institute of Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK), and Gensler.
Projects
Post Carbon Seoul
This research investigates the rapid and continuous cycle of residential building renewal in South Korea, a process shaped by the country’s unique socio-economic conditions, real estate speculation, and regulatory frameworks. Traditionally driven by demolition and full reconstruction, this cycle has fostered a culture of disposability, treating buildings as short-term financial assets rather than durable infrastructure. This research seeks to find strategies to lower the carbon cost of new neighborhood developments through synergistic combinations of adaptive reuse, retrofit, and new low-carbon housing construction.
Year: 2024 - 2025
Year: 2024 - 2025
Recipient of the 2023 Seoul Biennale Prize
The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism
Looking ahead 100 years, Seoul aims to restore thermodynamic balance with its natural features, materials, and energy resources. To achieve this, a network of thermodynamic exchange between landscape, constructed material, and people will be established, surpassing the quality of life in current neighborhoods. This includes restoring the river’s edge as a wetland, making the riverside accessible to the city’s entire length, and implementing green corridors and urban promenades to restore natural air conditioning and breeze cycles.
Year: 2023
The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism
Looking ahead 100 years, Seoul aims to restore thermodynamic balance with its natural features, materials, and energy resources. To achieve this, a network of thermodynamic exchange between landscape, constructed material, and people will be established, surpassing the quality of life in current neighborhoods. This includes restoring the river’s edge as a wetland, making the riverside accessible to the city’s entire length, and implementing green corridors and urban promenades to restore natural air conditioning and breeze cycles.
Year: 2023
2nd Prize - Banpo Han River Park 2-stage International Competition
Ji Otterson Studio with Transsolar and BCHO Architects
The first of its kind situated above the Olympic Highway, could set new safety benchmarks. It is surrounded by a high canopy that prevents objects from being thrown onto the highway, protects against harsh winds, direct sunlight, rain and snow, which is crucial for both comfort and cultural preferences in Korea. The park and museum are barrier-free: The design is linked seamlessly by a pathway that runs through multiple attractions, including exhibition spaces, a café, and a cooling plaza, creating a diverse and integrated visitor experience.
Year: 2024
Ji Otterson Studio with Transsolar and BCHO Architects
The first of its kind situated above the Olympic Highway, could set new safety benchmarks. It is surrounded by a high canopy that prevents objects from being thrown onto the highway, protects against harsh winds, direct sunlight, rain and snow, which is crucial for both comfort and cultural preferences in Korea. The park and museum are barrier-free: The design is linked seamlessly by a pathway that runs through multiple attractions, including exhibition spaces, a café, and a cooling plaza, creating a diverse and integrated visitor experience.
Year: 2024
Top Prize - Seoul Station International Ideas Competition
The new station design begins from this understanding seeking to integrate a new performative landscape for the city within an organically planned three-dimensional transit network below grade. The new Seoul Station will be daylit and healthy in contrast to most of Seoul’s underground spaces. The porous landscape above serves as the project’s organizing and unifying structure, bringing nature into the station through skylights and gardens. The station will also integrate a new sustainable technology hub near the commercial programs, allowing it to serve as the focal point of Korea’s new sustainable economy.
Year: 2024
The new station design begins from this understanding seeking to integrate a new performative landscape for the city within an organically planned three-dimensional transit network below grade. The new Seoul Station will be daylit and healthy in contrast to most of Seoul’s underground spaces. The porous landscape above serves as the project’s organizing and unifying structure, bringing nature into the station through skylights and gardens. The station will also integrate a new sustainable technology hub near the commercial programs, allowing it to serve as the focal point of Korea’s new sustainable economy.
Year: 2024
