Seung H-Sang graduated from Seoul National University and continued his studies at Vienna University of Technology. After a fifteen-year apprenticeship under renowned architect Kim Swoo-geun, he established IROJE Architects & Planners in 1989. As a member of the pioneering 4.3 Group that revitalized Korean architecture, he also helped found the Seoul School of Architecture to explore innovative approaches to architectural education. His academic career includes a visiting professorship at the University of North London in 1998 and teaching positions at Seoul National University and Korea National University of Arts. His publications include The Beauty of Poverty (1996), City of Wisdom, Architecture of Wisdom (1999), Architecture, Signs of Contemplation (2004), Fingerprints (2009), The Tomb of Roh Moo-hyun: A Landscape for the Self-Exiled (2010), and All Old Things are Beautiful (2012). Central to his work is “the beauty of poverty,” a philosophical approach that critiques Western civilization’s 20th-century dominance. This distinctive vision has earned him numerous prestigious awards, including the Kim Swoo-geun Culture Award and the Korean Architecture Award. For his visionary coordination of Paju Book City’s development, the American Institute of Architects awarded him an Honorary Fellowship. In 2002, he became the first architect selected for the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s “Artist of the Year,” culminating in a major retrospective exhibition. His work, internationally recognized through solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Europe, and China, currently spans Asia, America, and Europe—particularly active in China. In 2007, the Korean government honored his contributions with the Presidential Prize in Culture and Arts. He served as commissioner for the Korean Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale, as artistic director of the 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale, and as Seoul’s inaugural Chief Architect from 2014 to 2016.​