Kim Hyon-Sob
金顯燮

Prof. Hyon-Sob Kim studied architecture at Korea University as an undergrad and completed his doctoral thesis on the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) and European modernism at the University of Sheffield, UK in 2005, funded by the Korean Government Overseas Scholarship. A research grant from the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK) enabled him to proceed to a subsequent project on East Asian influence on modern architecture at the same institution for the next two years. Since he was appointed as a professor of architectural history at his alma mater Korea University in 2008, he has extended his research interests, particularly to historiography of modern architecture in Korea. His recent publications include Architecture of Korea University (2016, in Korean), Architecture Class: History of Modern Architecture in the West (2016, in Korean), a Korean translation (2017) of Building Ideas: An Introduction to Architectural Theory by Jonathan Hale, ‘DDP Controversy and the Dilemma of H-Sang Seung’s “Landscript”’ (2018), and ‘The Hanok Paradox: Modernity and Myth in the Revival of the Traditional Koran House’ (2019). Prof. Kim was a visiting researcher at the Building Research Institute, Japan (2001), and the University of Helsinki and the Alvar Aalto Academy, Finland (2005-2006), as well as a visiting scholar at the Havard-Yenching Institute (2014-2015). His second stay at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, for one full year in 2022, was possible thanks to its 2021-2022 Special Grant, and the research topic is “Korean Architecture Described in Western Publications, 1876-1910”. His website is: http://archistory.korea.ac.kr/professor.htm