From K-pop to K-design, Korean culture is spreading around the world, and architecture is no exception. A recent example of this global resonance is the international recognition of the Hanok Heritage House, a project rooted in traditional Korean architecture. The project recently won the World’s Best Hotel award at the 2024 Prix Versailles Prize, a prestigious architecture award presented at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Led by Seoul-based design studio Listen Communication, renowned for reinterpreting traditional Korean aesthetics, the project showcases a fascinating blend of cultural memory and contemporary living. At its core, the Hanok, a typical Korean wooden structure, is a contemporary space plan, with meticulous furniture and lighting design, and a collaboration with local craftsmen to bring out the finest details, from the interior finishes to the finest details.
The Versailles Prize jury, chaired by Benjamin Millepier, described the house as “a building that inspires harmony and evokes a world-class beauty rooted in place.” The award is widely recognized as the “Pritzker Prize of commercial architecture,” and this is the first historic Korean win in the hotel category.
As the global design community focuses on Seoul, the fact that a project designed by a Seoul-based designer won first place demonstrates the growing international interest in design. Once confined to museums and textbooks, Korea’s heritage is now being reinterpreted through architecture, interior design, and lifestyle, making its way onto the global stage. At the intersection of past and present, the Dahanok Heritage House project demonstrates how Korean tradition can evolve without being erased, and how modernity can gain soul through heritage.