In the Sungkok Global Ambassador (SGA) 2011 orientation, The K Team from the School of Architecture prepared a major project. It was an exhibition in London, which proved to be a great opportunity to introduce Swoo Guen Kim, the first Dean of the College of Design of Kookmin University.
Through the 10 day trip in Britain, they presented Swoo Guen Kim, Kookmin University, and furthermore, Korean culture to the world.

"Tell us about The K Team's SGA project"

At first, we tried to do many things with different objectives and reasons. But we decided to choose what we know best as the topic for our project.
The first topic was introducing “Swoo Geun Kim” who was the first dean of the College of Design, and also a great architect in Korea.
The other topics were introducing Kookmin University and then Korean culture.

There are two things that inspired us when we chose the topic, a project named "Being Swoo Geun Kim" School of Architecture in 2010, and the exhibition, "DENSE MODERNITIES: KIM SWOO GEUN" in Berlin, Aedes Am Pfeffergerg.
The exhibition "DENSE MODERNITIES: KIM SWOO GEUN" was held at a global architecture gallery in Germany. It was the first exhibition in the history of the gallery for an artist who is no longer living. All these things told us the direction to go for The K to proceed with the SGA in 2011. We planned, prepared and executed the best way to introduce “Swoo Geun Kim”, Kookmin University and Korea to the world with the slogan "The K: Kim Swoo Geun, Kookmin, Korea".

"What made you to choose ‘Swoo Geun Kim’?”

“Swoo Geun Kim” was the first dean of College of Design at Kookmin University. Compare to other universities, the College of Design at Kookmin University had a unique concept when it started. At that time, most design colleges belonged to the Department of Fine Arts. But Swoo Guen Kim established the College of Design as a comprehensive design school just like Bauhaus.
Before Swoo Guen Kim, people considered only two schools as good design schools in Korea: Seoul University and Hongik University. But through his effort, the College of Design at Kookmin University became one of the best schools in Korea.

He is also a great architect himself. He designed outstanding structures including the National Assembly building and the Olympic main stadium. He was not just an architect but also a person who contributed greatly to the culture and arts in Korea. As Time Magazine dubbed him the Lorenzo Medici of Seoul in their article in 1977, he was not only one of Korea's best architects, but also a great supporter of the arts.

"Tell us about the schedules for the 10 days"

# 1. Before the Official Schedule - Berlin

Our team's first destination was Berlin. We visited Aedes Am Pfefferberg which is a world-famous gallery. As I said, there was an exhibition of Swoo Geun Kim, and it was the first time for the gallery to have an exhibition of an artist who is no longer living. We felt like we must see it before the official schedule started in Britain. We arrived in Berlin on July 6 with the last day of the exhibition being on July 7. So we went to the gallery right after we got there. At the exhibition, we could see very familiar photographs and models.

On the last day of the exhibition, the children of Swoo Geun Kim came to organize personal articles and we revisited the gallery to meet with them. We had an opportunity to talk with gallery staff and Swoo Geun Kim’s children. It was a great time to detail our activity plan and also get a solid foundation for our project.
We asked the meaning of the exhibition and the answer was very different than what we had assumed. We thought introducing Swoo Geun Kim and his works to world would be the most important thing. But they said making someone who is no longer living popular is meaningless, but what is most important is to let the world know there are many kinds of unique architectures and architectural culture in Korea. They also hoped the exhibition could help Korean architects step into the world.

# 2. Official Schedule Day 1~ Day 5 - London

The showroom we got was where Kingston University students exhibit regularly. Though the showroom had well-equipped facilities such as lighting and a projector, there were traces of the past exhibitions. So we started with painting the showroom for our exhibition. We painted whole walls with white paint and made a grid to fit in with prepared drawings. Just like that, we madly prepared for our exhibition, which would be on the very next day.

And we joined the Graduate School of Architecture's interim review with Leo Duff, the dean of the School of Architecture. After their presentation and review process, we were able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of Kookmin University, which I think was a very good thing. Students at Kingston University showed strong interest and asked many questions about Swoo Guen Kim's works and also the curriculum of Kookmin University. We gave them time to look through the exhibition and discuss it after our presentation. Our first day ended successfully.

The rest of our exhibition went fine as well. And on the last day, The K was divided into two teams and went to different places. Team A went to Cambridge to prepare the exhibition at Anglia Ruskin University, and team B went to Kingston University to remove the exhibition.

# 3. Official Schedule Day 7~ Day 9 – Cambridge

Cambridge, where Anglia Ruskin University is located is a representative university town in the UK. There are dozens of colleges with great history including Trinity, Kings and Queens around the River Cam, which is flowing through the center of the city. We were thrilled because of our exhibition in this peaceful and beautiful university town. We went to the showroom without a break, after unpacking at the dormitory where we were staying during the preparation and exhibition.

Ruskin Gallery was named after John Ruskin. He established Anglia Ruskin University, and was a well-known critic in art and architecture. We were surprised by the scale of Ruskin Gallery. This galley was about twice as wide and three times as high as our first gallery. We started preparing the exhibition with maximum usage of the gallery display equipment and our digital materials. We made grids and created prepared drawing on the walls. It was same manner as the last exhibition. Fortunately, we finished the preparation earlier than we planned, because the team members gained experience from the last exhibition. Using the remaining time we had rehearsal for the presentation.

The exhibition at Anglia Ruskin University started and we became busy once again. Unlike the presentation at Kingston University, our presentation there was on the last day. But we went to Ruskin gallery early in the morning on the first day, because we could not leave our showroom empty. We were amazed that more people than we expected came to our exhibition. We explained to each of them our work and what this exhibition was all about.

# 4. Official schedule Day 10 - the Last Day

On the last day, the last presentation of The K team began. As we did our best, we were satisfied with the result. After the presentation, we had a chance to talk about Korea, Kookmin University and architecture overall. Of all the people, students who were majoring Interior Design showed the most interest about Kookmin University. They asked about many details of our school, such as the curriculum, the maximum number of people for studios and also school fees. We tried to answer every question they asked as best as possible.

After the entire official schedule, Professor Andew Claiborne asked what our next plan was. We told him our official schedule was over, so he asked us whether we could leave the works and photographs that we used in the exhibition. He said it would be a new experience for his students, which they really need for their study. So we decided to leave our works and photographs except for one model that needed to go back to Korea. We left them because we felt that if our work could be presented to more people and help them in any way, it would be a very good opportunity for us as well.
With Professor Claiborne's pleasant proposal, we finished our official schedule in England.

"Do you have any final comments?"

This summer felt very short for our team. During this summer, our architectural models and drawings were presented to the world for the first time.
We want to thank the College of Architecture students. They provided their wonderful architectural models, even though they were very busy preparing for the Triennale. We also want to express our gratitude to Professor Hye Jung Choi for coaching us, and professor Gil Ryong Park for providing precious materials before he retired last semester. I am still thrilled by the fact we had the opportunity to have an exhibition all by ourselves. It was a meaningful chance to introduce Kookmin University to the world, and also to broaden our view. We all are so thankful to the SGA for allowing us to make such a good memory.