Architorture. The word embodies all the sunrises we’ve seen, the aromas from a buffet of adhesives we’ve breathed, and the possible pint(s) of blood we’ve accidentally donated in the name of architecture. The name ‘Archipleasure’ (건축쾌락) was meant as a simple antonym which celebrates the countless ideas that are born in architecture schools- that there was a reason why we sacrificed days of sleep for even the smallest of projects. That the work achieved more than catharsis. And that, all in all, it was a pleasure.

Archipleasure evolved as a means for close friends to put their education into practice by forming a creative initiative. And through collaborations, we discovered ourselves constantly challenging the given 'prompts.' Our aspirations always sought to deliver what would be most appropriate and meaningful for the environment in question. We insist that our training in architecture has taught us not to become strictly builders, but rather, free thinkers that garner the ability to perform in many ways. We have worked with many people from various disciplines and proudly acknowledge their irreplaceable roles in making this ideal possible.

We believe that our discipline requires us to learn most, if not all, from our own work. Archipleasure is a platform outside of the accepted realm of architectural practice and education to explore, experiment, seek new opportunities, and provide pleasures of all sorts. We may appear lighthearted and boorish, but our work is a serious culmination of intensive research and comprehensive reasoning.  Through exhaustive processes of producing alternatives, attempts are made to at least touch upon all necessary considerations and conditions. Our strengths lay in demonstrating conceptual depth as individuals and as a team. We ambitiously seek to hone our abilities in translating and executing these ideas. The fundamental hope for the work is that it brings joy and pleasure to the mass. Increasing our potential as thinkers and creators requires recognizing the issues, understanding who we can help, and expanding the spectrum of articulate solutions that may be offered.

We are not specialists yet, perhaps we will never be. But, as striving professionals, our unceasing intrigue and curiosity that is ‘Archipleasure’, is our excuse for trying the things we do and being the things we are.

Current disciplinary ambitions take these insights and explicate on the marginal and overlooked occurrences in contemporary urbanism— how seemingly inconsequential things form the basis of major movements and systems— and from which subversive and more playful interventions are generated. The work consistently seeks renewed interpretations of architecture that cast more inclusive ambitions and exuberant prospects for the built environment. It finds relevance in the colloquial and creates a more holistic approach to socially constructed facets of the built environment. The aim is to redefine accepted notions of data, or knowledge production, find alternative ways to represent them, and increase spatial literacy– to find deeper associations and wider implications in little details of everyday life. With increasing urbanization and diversification of populations, it behooves the discipline to constantly and critically reexamine the historicism that defines architectural knowledge today. Broader and more progressive frameworks will help define them more accurately and acknowledge new perspectives of the human condition.