What does it mean to practice ecological responsibility beyond performance metrics or carbon calculations? How can fabrication become a design method rather than a final outcome? Founded in Seoul, Yong Ju Lee Architecture is a practice led by architect and researcher Yong Ju Lee. Across installations, research-driven proposals, and cultural projects, the studio positions architecture as an experimental discipline rooted in making: a process in which design emerges from material behavior, prototyping, and fabrication logic as much as from drawing or representation. Bridging professional practice and academia, his work consistently expands the architectural toolkit through computational design, experimental material research, and an evolving commitment to ecology as a responsibility and a design driver. In 2025, the studio was selected as a winner of the ArchDaily Next Practices Awards.
Ecological responsibility, for Yong Ju Lee Architecture, is understood as an aesthetic and constructive logic in addition to its technical obligation. It is expressed through material selection, often emphasizing biodegradable or low-carbon alternatives, as well as through the way architecture is assembled, optimized, and built. Rather than adding sustainability as an external layer, the work integrates ecological urgency into the project's formal decisions, structural systems, and fabrication strategies.
