Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 309

Sunlight streamed into the quiet office, making dust motes dance in the air. The smell of strong coffee mixed with the scent of old paper from the design magazines on the shelves. Ah-young felt comfortable here, surrounded by her work.

The sound of her typing filled the room, each click and tap echoing softly from the warm wooden desk. Her long, slender fingers flew across the keyboard.

*Click-tap-tap-tap-dat-dat-dat!*

On the bright screen, words appeared, line after line, neat and precise. She had written many pages already. It was more than just a simple document; this was something special.

*Tap!*

Ah-young pressed the Enter key, finishing a paragraph. She leaned back in her chair and looked at the top of the screen. The title shone back at her:

**[The Life of an Architect]**

Ah-young smiled. This was it. Finally, she was telling Seo Woo-jin’s story.

It was a simple title, like an essay, a collection of thoughts, or maybe a biography.

Pour, pour, pour—

She stopped writing for a moment, picked up the kettle, and poured coffee into a glass cup.

The warm coffee filled the glass. She smelled the aroma and took a sip.

Ah-young frowned a little. Maybe the coffee was too hot.

Then, she moved the mouse again.

Click!

“Now that I’ve written this much… should I start editing?”

Scrolling up, the screen showed four or five pages in a flash.

She reached the first page.

[22 Years Old, A College Student’s Challenge]

She began to read what she had written.

Ah-young was the editor of the design magazine *Artica* and a big fan of architect Seo Woo-jin.

She had once studied design.

And she had once worked in an architect’s office.

Ah-young loved architecture and design more than anything. The designer she respected most was Seo Woo-jin.

‘The most amazing designer I can imagine. That’s Seo Woo-jin.’

She was now writing the story of Seo Woo-jin.

This story would be in this month’s *Artica* magazine.

[In 2010, Seo Woo-jin finished his military service and started college at twenty-two.]

[He seemed like a normal college student.]

[He wasn’t from a rich family, he didn’t have a scholarship, and he wasn’t especially handsome.]

[But he was special.]

[At twenty-two, Woo-jin had a clear dream, a strong goal, and more passion than anyone else.]

[These things are rare at twenty-two.]

Ah-young had worked at *Artica* for almost ten years.

For years, she had this thought in her mind.

Seo Woo-jin was the designer she respected.

She wanted to follow his path and see what kind of life he had lived.

‘What kind of life do you need to live to become such a great architect? I really want to know.’

So, when she had the chance, Ah-young asked to work on this project.

She wanted to be in charge of the special feature called , which would take up a third of the magazine.

She already had a lot of work, but she didn’t mind working extra hours.

She didn’t want to miss the chance to learn more about Seo Woo-jin, as a fan.

‘WJ Studio is helping us, so I won’t get a better chance than this.’

Ah-young decided to write the article herself and plan the whole project.

She prepared carefully for this project.

As the project went on, Ah-young was more and more amazed.

The more she learned about Seo Woo-jin, the more she admired the path he had taken.

[He said he was lucky.]

[He met Park Kyung-wan, who became his best business partner, at his first job. In the summer of that year, he became friends with the famous actor Lim Soo-ha.]

[But maybe they were the lucky ones?]

The story of how he started WJ Studio at twenty-two was well-known in the industry. Ah-young already knew it.

But no one knew exactly how WJ Studio had grown.

In its first year, it got many contracts to design models for big apartment buildings all over the country.

With the money he made, he entered the interior design market.

She wondered how he had convinced Seok-jung, from a very rich family, the third generation to run the family business and create the brand , which was still the best coffee brand in the country.

‘It’s like a story from a novel.’

Even more surprising, he was offered the job to design , considered the best luxury apartment complex in Gangnam, in the winter of that year.

At that time, Woo-jin was just a college student.

[While researching his life, I couldn’t believe what I was reading.]

[I wondered if I had the wrong year or the wrong age for CEO Seo Woo-jin.]

[Because there were so many unbelievable things that didn’t make sense.]

That’s why Ah-young liked this project so much.

Every story she planned and edited was interesting.

[CEO Seo Woo-jin first met the world-famous architect Bruno Sanchez at the SPDC competition.]

[SPDC (Seoul Public Design Contest) is still a dream competition for architecture students.]

[Bruno was a judge at the SPDC when CEO Seo Woo-jin entered his work.]

When she researched the SPDC in 2010, she was disappointed.

She couldn’t find the video of Seo Woo-jin’s presentation when he won the grand prize at the SPDC.

Ah-young wanted to find and watch the video and share the feeling with the readers, but she couldn’t.

But she was lucky to meet someone who could share that feeling.

[The architect Bruno shared his excitement with me.]

[The *Artica* team met Bruno, who was visiting Korea for a project. He told us this story in a short interview.]

[“I still remember that presentation.”]

[“It was an amazing design presentation.”]

[“Everyone there probably had to stand up.”]

She didn’t include his appearance on in the article.

Everyone in the country knew about it anyway.

And there were so many other stories she wanted to tell.

[One of the early projects that helped Seo Woo-jin grow as an architect was the Wangsimni Parafield pavilion.]

[Wangsimni Parafield is always one of the top three buildings designed by Bruno.]

[Experts say that Seo Woo-jin’s pavilion, which used digital parametric techniques, made Bruno’s Parafield even better. It’s called the ‘Architecture of Light.’]

As Ah-young read through her writing, she was disappointed and deleted many pages.

She wanted to include so many of Woo-jin’s stories, but she didn’t have enough space.

It was hard to choose which of Seo Woo-jin’s projects to include.

[When you talk about ‘Seo Woo-jin,’ you have to mention ‘Seongsu-dong.’]

[The reason Seongsu-dong is so beautiful now is because of Seo Woo-jin.]

[This is not an exaggeration.]

[From the beautiful apartment buildings that make up the Seongsu-dong skyline to the beautiful Seongsu Hangang Park and cultural centers along the Han River.]

[And the WJ Tower, which is still considered the most beautiful building near Seoul Forest, and the many office buildings. Seo Woo-jin has influenced every part of Seongsu-dong.]

[Everyone agrees that Seo Woo-jin deserves the credit for making Seongsu-dong a wealthy neighborhood like Gangnam.]

As Ah-young read, she thought about Seongsu-dong.

Like her article said, Seongsu-dong was full of Woo-jin’s architecture and design.

Some people even called Seongsu-dong ‘Woo-jin’s City.’

Ah-young agreed with that.

‘Seongsu-dong is a great place to live.’

She didn’t include , but she had to include , which was also a video program.

The set of , in Icheon City, had great architectural value.

[After Seo Woo-jin became famous around the world, experts from other countries re-evaluated the set of .]

[It’s amazing that the architecture that feels the most Korean and the most modern to people around the world is a drama set.]

[‘The most Korean yet the most future-oriented architecture’]

[Is there a better way to describe Seo Woo-jin’s work ‘Sky Palace’ than this?]

Woo-jin’s famous brand.

had to be included.

After the luxury townhouses called .

Woo-jin created many Arcos all over the country, and they were all successful.

[ became a symbol of ‘wealth’ in Korea.]

[Living in meant you had a successful life in Korea.]

[Many people dreamed of living in .]

[Looking at the brand , I realized something again.]

[Seo Woo-jin is a great designer and architect, but he’s also a great businessman.]

This was how much Ah-young had written.

Even this was a lot for a magazine article.

But she couldn’t stop here.

She had only covered half of Seo Woo-jin’s life as an architect.

Ah-young drank the cold coffee and sat back in her chair.

She still had to write about the most important architecture that made Seo Woo-jin who he was today.

[The most beautiful skyscraper in the world, Samsung Global Business Center.]

And it was also like the second part of Seo Woo-jin’s life as an architect.