Jin Young Song earns multiple international honors for facade research

Jin Young Song, UB associate professor of architecture, has received multiple recent international honors for his research on facade systems, including an invitation to the 3rd Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021 and two competition wins, one of which has earned Song a project commission.

Song pursues research in facades in relationship to their community contexts - social, ecological, technological and functional. Song says facades are critical elements of telling a community's story and representing its culture. He hopes his facade design creates a threshold for understanding and appreciation between building program and culture-making through architecture. 

"When architects open a humble and kind conversation through the unique materiality and morphology, I believe users will generate their own stories and memories around it," says Song. 

Last Fall, Song was invited to the 3^rd Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021, which explored the theme of CROSSROADS, Building the Resilient City. The event featured designers, urban planners, architects, scientists and theorists from across the industry and around the world.

Song's work was featured in the Architecture x Infrastructure section, exploring the relationship of architecture and engineering technology. "Stick, Snap, Stack: Reconfigurable Stacked Lattice System" adopts accessible and reconfigurable building methods to support the culture of dynamic placemaking. The system offers a resilient construction framework with a craft-based alternative construction system. Stick, Snap, Stack is modeled on traditional wood joinery, integrating the simplicity of "stacking" with a "snap-on" interlock system for the unique piece-to-piece mechanism. The possibility of building variable structures which are self-supporting minimizes the need for skilled labor. It also enables easy disassembly at the end of the lifetime of the program. The reconfigurability of the stacking system demonstrates the overall sustainability of the built environment through adaptability and multi-functional design. View Jin Young Song present his concept for and development of "Stick, Snap, Stack"

Stick, Snap, Stack is among a series of projects by Song that innovate the "block" performance, generating facade systems that integrate art and design with engineering and construction efficiencies and practical industry applications. Song and his team explored a custom stackable system using terra cotta blocks for the 2021 Architectural Ceramic Assemblies Workshop, co-organized by UB's School of Architecture and Planning, Boston Valley Terra Cotta and UB's SMART Community of Excellence. 

Song also recently secured first-place and project commission for his submission to the 'Hongdo Information Center’ design competition organized by National Park Service in Korea. Song's proposal employs a system of customizable prefabricated concrete walls using rocks native to the Hongdo Island region of South Korea. The facade creates a framed ‘window’ as a reciprocal function to both the visitors and operators of the program. This window allows viewers to witness panoramic scenery of the ocean while the service programs are arranged efficiently on the side. It is framed by a unique skin design reinventing the experience of the island's pebble beach through the concrete facade panels. Its texture implies the time, wind, water and sunlight that shaped these rocks. As a result, the facade of the information center represents a holistic perception of this island. 

Song also won an honorable mention (3rd place) in the ‘Dobong Library Competition’ organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The library is to be sited in a historic preservation zone, with a graveyard dating back to the 14th century and with members of the Joseon dynasty, palace Eunuchs and many unknown people among those buried there.

In his proposal, Song employs the facade to connect the building to the stories behind the gravestones and the physical objects that represent them, maintaining the essence of the site. His system employs colorful terracotta baguettes with distinctive connection designs that create diverse angles and depth. The design gesture allows a viewer to see the aggregation of those elements differently depending on the viewing angles, time, and weather.