JEJU WEEKLY

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Saying goodbye to the 'last of the paper architects'Architect Itami Jun passed away on June 26. He was 74.
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¡ã Itami Jun. Photo courtesy Itami Jun's daughter, Yoo Ehwa
"Japan's Korean architect" was my first big interview. I had flown to Seoul to talk with Itami Jun about being named the chief architect of the Jeju Global Education City. I remember I was nervous waiting for him in the posh penthouse cafe of the Shilla Hotel. He was having a nap, I was told.

When he walked into the cafe, he was dressed in black, a fedora, and sporting a goatee. He ordered a glass of red wine and asked if I wanted one. I was working, so I declined.

I just learned that on June 26 Itami Jun passed away. He was 74.

He reminded me of a Jazz musician, speaking in metaphors and abstracts with flare, and with an artist’s tongue that I could not understand. He was animated and used his hands to reconstruct his buildings in explanation. He spoke with passion and seemed in awe of nature’s perfection. His designs, he said, were to create an intimate relationship between man and nature. “It is Asian philosophy; the humble way of asking if I can put my art in to nature,” he said.

He sipped his wine and told me that architecture cannot be learned, and that if he were a professor, he would ignore theoretical work and instruct his students “to go outside and contemplate a stone.” Though I had only met him once, he seemed made from something hardy and at the same time from something soft. He was my kind of guy.

During the interview he talked of his disdain for the clean lines and the use of computers in modern architecture that sap creativity. His daughter Yoo Ehwa said that he worked by hand with pencil and paper, never once using a computer. She said “he always says that ‘I am the last paper architect.’”

After the interview he said he’d give me a call the next time he was in Jeju and we’d continue our talk of contemporary architecture.

I left the interview feeling elated and in a sprint to catch my flight back to the island, wondering when his next trip to Jeju would be.

I regret not accepting that glass of wine.
¨Ï Jeju Weekly 2009 (http://www.jejuweekly.com)
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