Thomas Heatherwick will serve as both General Director and curator for the 2025 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism scheduled from September 1 to October 31, 2025. Established in 2017, this biennale is Asia’s largest, serving as a platform for innovative solutions to urban challenges and attracting nearly 3 million participants across four editions in seven years. Read SURFACES REPORTER (SR)’s complete report below:
Thomas Heatherwick will lead the fifth Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism from September 1 to October 31, 2025. In its fifth edition, this biennale tackles urban challenges, fostering innovative solutions and discussions.
© Zequn Gui
According to the announcement, Thomas Heatherwick said: “We are honoured and thrilled by this appointment to curate our first Biennale. There are over 300 biennales taking place around the world today. But the original ambition to use them as vehicles for debate and engagement with the public, too easily gets lost in professional echo-chambers, which most ordinary people don’t engage with.”
“We plan to turn the concept of a biennale inside out and create a big, full-throttle conversation with Seoulites. We want to get to the heart of what matters to them and their city and help make new buildings in Seoul radically more human.”
Moreover, Heatherwick Studio won a global competition with their design for a new public park on an artificial island in the Han River in Seoul. The Soundscape project aims to create captivating spaces at different heights, serving as venues for musical events and artistic interventions within the biodiverse landscape.
Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government