Background – This building, completed in 1966 in Seoul's Sinchon district, was built during a period of rapid urbanization. Aerial photographs by Kim Han-Yong from the same year show the Han River area still largely undeveloped, while the city, under its push for rapid construction, was beginning to transform the urban landscape at an unprecedented pace. The history of the building over the past five decades is unclear, but its condition today is severely deteriorated. Four of its eight columns extended beyond the site boundary, and what is now a four-story structure began as a modest two-story building on independent foundations. Later, a third floor of masonry and a fourth floor of lightweight steel were added, leaving the structure stacked precariously, like a Jenga tower.
