Interview with Professor Wook-Ju Jeong of Program in Landscape Architecture
Last September, professor Wook-Ju Jeong of Program in Landscape Architecture in SNU CALS, won the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award at the "2023 13th Korea Landscaping Awards" for creating a Hwangmae Garden within Hwangmaesan County Park. Through an interview with Professor Jeong, we were able to hear more details about the contest.
Q. Please briefly introduce what kind of contest the "2023 13th Korea Landscaping Awards" is.
A. The "Korea Landscaping Awards" is a contest hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and organized by The Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture(KILA) in accordance with the Landscaping Promotion Act. With a space and facility created within 10 years from the date of announcement, we select a field and submit it. Through document evaluation, on-site inspection and national participation evaluation, 13 awards are given, ranging from the President’s Award to the Minister Award and KILA President’s Award. We received one of them.
Q. What made you participate in the contest?
A. We submitted project of Hwangmae Garden in Hapcheon Hwangmaesan County Park. Hwangmae Garden was satisfactorily constructed in 2018. Then, I thought it would be nice for many people to know about this space, and there also was an opinion of public officials in charge of the garden park about submitting it to a contest like Korea Landscaping Awards in a way that could promote the garden, so I submitted it.
Q. I heard you created the "Hwangmae Garden", so please explain what kind of place it is.
A. Hwangmaesan County Park used to be a ranch area for cattle. Cows eat most of the plants of Hwangmaesan, but not the azaleas. When the ranch closed and the cows went out of business, only many azaleas remained, and the residents' interest and effort was added to form a large-scale colony of azaleas. Because of this, the spring of Hwangmaesan became famous for the azalea festival. We call it a cultural landscape. This is because it is a space that did not occur naturally but was created through human intervention. Azaleas became a characteristic of the space, and eulalia grass naturally occurred in the rest of the pasture. In autumn, eulalia grass spread tremendously, and the eulalia grass festival also became famous. So, even before starting the project, it was famous for its azaleas in spring and eulalia grass in autumn. However, the park had a part not managed and organized by professional system, and we received a request by Hapcheon County Office. The request was to make Hwangmaesan a four-season tourist destination. In 2017, while working on a project called ‘Basic design for Hwangmaesan County Park’ in the lab, I thought about what kind of plants I could turn into a themed plant community in summer while protecting azaleas and silver grass, and how to create a winter landscape. When I actually saw Hwangmaesan, I found out that it was a space like an untrimmed gemstone, and through the basic design, I proposed a master plan that said, 'It's much better to treat this good space like this.' In 2018, as the entrance was built, the construction was completed in the fall of 2018, and now the plants have grown well and the park have become a nice place.
Q. Was there any difficulty or challenge in creating a garden?
A. Difficult or challenging aspects included long travel times and reconciling differences of opinion. There was no direct train to Hapcheon, so I had to travel 3 to 4 hours each way. Sometimes I even traveled that distance just to see the garden for an hour. So I couldn't check the garden often. In reconciling differences of opinion, we had to convince the Hapcheon County Office why this design was good. Also, during construction, rather than directly using artistic support materials, we proceeded through a construction company, and it was difficult because there were differences of opinion when explaining the desired direction to them. In fact, coordinating opinions is a characteristic of this job, but still the most difficult thing is meeting people, and also the most important thing is persuading people, being persuaded by people, and coordinating.
Q. I wonder what the significance of the garden creation activities is.
A. People take it for granted when a garden exists, but without it, it's just an open space and you can't appreciate the scenery around you. In other words, it's natural when it’s there, but it’s not, it's hard to ascertain its value. I believe that landscape designers not only create new things, but also refine gemstone-like spaces with potential that people don't easily recognize into jewel-like spaces. People think of a garden as a place with lots of flowers, but it's just one of the areas of landscape design that connects with one's emotions and senses. Landscape designers also increase the value of the landscape by connecting them to the nearby landscape as well as the garden itself. So, the most important thing in design and composition is to increase the value by highlighting the ordinary and inconspicuous aspects of open and common space.
Q. Please tell me if there are any other areas you want to study in the future.
A. When it comes to research, I'm very interested in urban spaces. In particular, I'm interested in using urban spaces better and eliminating spaces that can't be used by combining keywords such as landscape, plants, and environment, based on landscape architecture. I'm basically a designer, so I keep doing those things through design. Also, I'll continue to work on projects such as Hwangmae Garden to further increase my professionalism. Among them, my biggest interest is in the city. Finally, I'll be interested in balancing the city and the environment based on landscape architecture.
Q. Is there anything you would like to say to the students?
A. I think everyone is doing well on their own. But overall, Seoul National University students have so many concerns that I think worries often interfere with their career paths. Appropriate worries help the career path, but sometimes excessive worries hold back. So it's important to worry appropriately. It could be a good idea to worry but at the same time, consider whether those worries might be holding you back.