Jeong Jaeheon’s architecture has an ambivalent impression: on the one hand it is strong and resolute, on the other hand it is soft and sweet. It is enigmatic in that these seemingly conflicting estimations coexist simultaneously in his architecture. In order to explain this phenomenon, we may refer to some historic ideas: ‘The intellect is responsible for choice, distribution, arrangement, and so on, which give the work dignity (dignitas); the hand is responsible for laying, joining, cutting, trimming, polishing, and such like, which give the work grace (gratia); the properties derived from Nature are weight, lightness, density, purity, durability, and the like, which bring the work admiration(admiratio)’ (Leon Batista Alberti, De re aedificatoria, 6.4). In this regard, his hands contribute to the grace of his architecture as much as his…
