Jong-Soung Kimm: Romanesque Architecture

Jong-Soung Kimm (B.ARCH. ’61, M.S.ARCH. ’64) is a Korean-born architect with roots in Chicago as both an Illinois Institute of Technology alumnus and a former employee of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s architecture firm. On January 22 Kimm will present and discuss his new book, Architect Jong-Soung Kimm’s Romanesque Architecture Photo Essay—Germany and Belgium, at the College of Architecture.

Kimm came of age as an architect during a heyday of Modernist architecture. He started his career by working on Mies projects such as the Toronto-Dominion Centre and the Brown Pavilion at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts while working at Mies’ firm during its later years, from 1961 to 1971. Kimm was also a faculty member at the College of Architecture starting in 1966, teaching for 12 years and serving as assistant and interim dean.

Soon after, Kimm moved back to Seoul, South Korea; opened his own design consultancy, SAC International; and created contemporary works such as the Olympic Weightlifting Gymnasium for the 1988 Olympic Games and the Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art in Gyeongju, South Korea. In 2014 Kimm was awarded the Korean Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the Order of Merit by the Korean government.

Despite his Modernist roots, Kimm is fascinated by the architectural space of Romanesque architecture of the Middle Ages. An especially adept photographer, Kimm has visited and photographed Romanesque churches and monasteries in Europe since 2002. Those photos are presented in Romanesque Architecture Photo Essay, which provides insight into how these structures influence conceptions of architectural space and volume that transcend architecture’s various genres.

The event—co-sponsored by the College of Architecture and the Mies Society—is free, but registration is required. A reception will follow the presentation.