Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2025 opened on September 26 under the direction of world-renowned designer Thomas Heatherwick.
 
Heatherwick’s curatorial theme is both simple and bold: “Radically More Human.”

The phrase itself reads like a manifesto. He refers to today’s cities as suffering from a “Blandemic”—a pandemic of blandness—criticizing how architecture around the world has become increasingly uniform, emotionless, and detached from human experience.

This year’s Biennale sets out to challenge that condition: to reimagine the city as a space where emotion, warmth, and sensory experience can return.
 

A Cold City Meets a Warm Wall

The Biennale’s signature installation, the “Humanise Wall,” stretches nearly 90 meters in length and comprises over 1,400 steel tiles. It weaves together more than 400 architectural images from 38 countries along with emotional records contributed by community groups.

This monumental structure is not just a wall—it’s a mosaic of emotions and memories, integrating fragments of different cities and cultures into a single architectural tapestry.

The design takes inspiration from the traditional Korean jogakbo (patchwork wrapping cloth). Just as imperfect fragments of fabric come together to create beauty, the wall suggests that cities, too, are completed through the shared emotions and memories of people.

When Everyone Becomes an Architect
 
One of the most compelling aspects of the 2025 Biennale is its approach to participation.
 
The project ‘Walls of Public Life’ invites creators from diverse disciplines—chefs, fashion designers, car designers, and artisans—to reinterpret architectural façades.

The 24 wall structures presented in this exhibition demonstrate various methods of creating essential “visual complexity” in façade design.

These structures use materials, textures, and patterns as emotional languages rather than merely functional components. Together, they show how decorative and tactile elements can make architecture more emotionally resonant and deeply human.
 
“Architecture should not be an expert’s language,” says Heatherwick, “but one that everyone can feel.” This simple yet powerful shift defines the Biennale’s core message.
 
In addition, an Open Call Project drew 83 proposals from citizen groups, with 10 community teams selected to realize their ideas across Seoul’s everyday spaces.
 
These works embody the rise of “architecture of empathy”—a participatory approach that redefines architecture as something created with people, not imposed upon them.
 
 

Has the City Lost Its Emotions?

In preparation for the Biennale, the Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted a survey of 2,000 citizens.
 
A striking 97% said they were “dissatisfied with current housing design,” while over 90% believed that architecture directly affects their mood.
 
These results affirm that cities are not just physical structures but emotional environments.
 
Heatherwick remarks, “When architecture becomes insensitive to human emotions, the city itself falls ill.”
 
Seen this way, the Biennale becomes more than an exhibition—it is a cultural prescription for the emotional recovery of cities.
 

 
From Seoul to the World: Designing the Emotional Future of Architecture
 
Since its inception in 2017, the Seoul Biennale has evolved through a series of themes:
 
2017: Imminent Commons
2019: Collective City
2021: Crossroads: Building the Resilient City
2023: Land Architecture, Land Urbanism
 
In 2025, “Radically More Human” feels like the culmination of that journey.
 
 
Its underlying premise—“Cities are completed not by technology but by emotion”—is both timely and transformative. The ‘Emotional City Conference’, held during the opening week, gathers architects, urbanists, artists, and citizens from around the world to discuss how to design cities that feel, heal, and connect. It marks Seoul’s evolution from a city of physical growth to one of emotional intelligence.
 

 
The City Is Ultimately the Face of Its People
 
The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2025 attempts to return the city to its human face—to replace cold concrete and glass with structures imbued with emotion. It explores how architecture influences the human psyche and how cities can once again embrace those who live within them.
 
As Heatherwick puts it: “Architecture is like skin. It must be warm for people to breathe.”
 
Seoul, at this very moment, is dreaming once again of a city that is radically more human.

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2025 — Main Venues
 
1. Open Songhyeon Green Plaza
 
- Main exhibition site featuring the large-scale installation《Humanise Wall》
- Located east of Gyeongbokgung Palace, central Seoul
- Address: 48-9 Songhyeon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
 
 
2. Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture
 
- Venue for academic programs, conferences, and related exhibitions
- Address: 5 Deoksugung-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
 
 
3. Citywide Satellite Venues
 
- Public spaces, alleys, and community areas throughout Seoul
- Embodying the Biennale’s vision that “the city becomes the exhibition itself”

- Dates: September 26 (Fri) – November 18 (Tue), 2025
- Admission: Free
- Opening Hours:
> Open Songhyeon Green Plaza — 10:00–21:00
> Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture — 10:00–18:00 (Closed on Mondays)