Architect Kyu Sung Woo Earns Prestigious Korean Arts Prize

Sung Woo -- the first architect to win the award -- takes home a $200,000 cash prize.

by Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 7/24/2008

Korean-American architect Kyu Sung Woo is winner of the 2008 Ho-Am Prize in the Arts, an award akin to the Nobel Prize in prestige. He is the first architect to achieve the honor.

A nod to "Koreans who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of culture and the arts through their creative efforts and accomplishments," the award is annually given to five ethnic Koreans living at home or abroad in the categories of science, engineering, medicine, the arts, and community service. Each winner receives a gold medal, a laureate diploma, and 200 million Korean won (about $200,000 US Dollars).



Credited with urban minimalist design influenced by nature, Sung Woo is principal of his namesake firm Kyu Sung Woo Architects. His projects include the the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas; the Graduate Student Housing at 10 Akron Street at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the Heller School at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts.

He practices in both the U. S. (based in Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Korea.

From top: The Nerman Museum Of Contemporary Art; the Heller School at Brandeis University.
Credits from top: Copyright Timothy Hursley - The Arkansas Office; Anton Grassl/Copyright Esto.