Seoul creatives brand Heatherwick’s Humanise Wall "a profound lack of judgment"

Two creatives chosen to contribute to the Humanise Wall at Thomas Heatherwick's Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism have criticised the installation for being insensitive to its South Korean context.

Writer Maya West and Seoul based artist Elliot Woods, who were both part of teams selected in an open call to create pieces to be featured on the Humanise Wall, have expressed anger to Dezeen about the installation.

Designed by Heatherwick Studio as the centrepiece of the biennale, which is directed by studio founder Heatherwick, the Humanise Wall is a 90-metre-long installation in Songhyeon Green Plaza park in central Seoul.

It is covered in a combination of large-scale text, artworks and images of buildings from around the world.

Heatherwick has pitched the wall as "like a magazine, but 16-metres high", intended to grab locals' attention and provoke a conversation about the built environment.

But West, whose work features on the wall, is unhappy about the installation.

"I think building a huge wall shows a profound lack of judgement and taste," said West.

West collaborated with architect Melody Song on a project titled A World of Common Things for the biennale, but told Dezeen she has since "functionally stepped away".

Woods, co-founder of Seoul-based art and technology studio Kimchi and Chips, argued that the site's history means that the choice of a wall is inappropriate.

The plaza was inaccessible to the public for 110 years, having been controlled by Japan during its colonisation of South Korea and subsequently the US, before reopening in 2022.

"Then a couple of years later [after the reopening], Heatherwick built a giant wall there, aligned to create a north-south division in the spiritual heart of Seoul, for the purpose of trying to occupy as much visual attention as possible," said Woods.

The site was selected by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and also used as the main venue for the previous Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in 2023, curated by South Korean architect Byoung Soo Cho.

West and Kimchi and Chips both responded to an open call in late 2024 as part of the biennale's creative communities programme, which called for works to be included in a "hero installation" that would be "envisioned as a large-scale Jogakbo tapestry".

However, neither understood that the installation would be a wall, and both said they would not have entered proposals if they had.

"I think coming to a divided nation and blithely building a huge wall shows a profound lack of judgment and taste," said West.

"It's clear that building this structure was just something they were excited to do; it has nothing to do with Seoul, or Korea," she continued. "I would never have been part of it if I had known."

Heatherwick has revealed that his studio initially devised twisting-wall concept 26 years ago, for Blackburn station in northern England.

West described her team's original proposal as a community-based project with a modular, participatory installation component.

"It became clear that the only actual output the biennale wanted from us was a 2D image somehow reflecting this concept, to put on what would essentially be a huge billboard," she explained.

Kimchi and Chips told Dezeen that it decided to withdraw its proposal after finding out that this year's biennale will be centred around Heatherwick's Humanise Wall.

"I didn't know anything about the wall until the first meeting with Heatherwick's team, after they accepted our proposal," Woods told Dezeen.

"They only wanted us to make a picture for the wall, which was very confusing to us as it didn't make sense in relation to what we had proposed."

According to Elliot, his team considered the possibility of adjusting the proposal, but decided to withdraw because they could not resolve their intentions with the criteria presented by Heatherwick's team.

"We definitely have zero regret pulling out," continued the Seoul-based, British designer.

"Our original proposal involved working with a local culture centre in the north of the city to host projects that solidify local identity in the face of rapid redevelopment in the area."

Kimchi and Chips designed a much smaller wall-like installation within Songhyeon Green Plaza park for the last Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in 2023.

Woods also criticised Heatherwick's approach as general director of the biennale.

"The biennale is formatted as a proposal to the city based on his philosophy, declaring that the world of architecture itself has been making cities too 'boring', and Heatherwick is here to save the day," said Woods.

"He states that architecture mumbo-jumbo is the main problem, so instead he will talk directly with the public," he continued. "As we know from politics, ridiculing the role of experts and institutions is the anti-democratic stance of a populist authoritarian."

Speaking to Dezeen ahead of the biennale, Heatherwick explained that he was aiming to directly engage with the city's public rather than replicate the "echo chamber" of other architecture festivals.

"I think there are now two or three hundred different creative biennales and the classic thing about the biennales is that they are for people within the industry," he said.

"We so frequently perpetuate an echo chamber – I'm sure there are dentistry biennales and the dentists all speak to the dentists."

However, Woods claimed this approach meant the biennale does not give room for a multitude of opinions.

"There is no platform for debate, discussion, alternative visions or open-ended methodologies built into the biennale," said Woods. "His Humanise vision is the start and end of every thread in the biennale."

"Seoul doesn't need to be redeveloped by a visionary architect and a cadre of international celebrities, we instead need to be more engaged with the culture that is being bulldozed beneath these redevelopments."

"Seoul is one of the best places to live in the world. It doesn't need a visitor to try and radically fix it with a giant wall. There's more truth and beauty to be found in the reality of what is already there."

Heatherwick Studio and the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism were approached for comment, but did not respond before publication.

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism takes place from 26 September to 18 November 2025 in Seoul, South Korea. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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