Bureau de Change: Echo at the Seoul Biennale

For the 5th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, UK studio Bureau de Change built Echo, a freestanding wall on Songhyeon Green Plaza in Seoul. Its surface draws on the craft of the Korean hanok, from clay roof tiles to timber joinery, and its concrete contains crushed tiles taken from demolished hanok buildings.

The biennale, directed by Thomas Heatherwick under the theme Radically More Human, ran from September 26 to November 18, 2025. The studio was one of several invited participants from the UK, alongside Arup, Hawkins Brown, Stella McCartney, Ozwald Boateng and Stephen Webster, with designers and architects from other countries, among them Kengo Kuma.

Echo among other installations on Songhyeon Green Plaza

Echo and other biennale installations on the plaza

The design starts from three traditional crafts: Jewajang, the making of roof tiles; Beonwajang, the laying of tile roofs; and Daemokjang, the carpentry of traditional wooden buildings. Bureau de Change translated them into a contemporary wall built up from many layered elements.

Echo by Bureau de Change, side view of the layered wall

Layers of light and shadow

The surface recalls both the interlocking detail of timber joinery and the rhythm of clay tiles on old Korean roofs. Elements repeat horizontally and vertically, stepping forward and overlapping, so the wall catches a changing pattern of light and shadow. The studio also points to Yeomjang, the craft of woven bamboo screens, and the fine lattice geometry those screens produce.

Upper edge of the Echo wall against the sky

Repeated tile-like elements along the top of the wall

Detail of stepped and overlapping concrete elements

Close-up of the concrete surface with circular openings

Rows of concrete elements on the Echo façade

Close detail of the layered concrete relief

Interlocking elements in the Echo surface

Tiles in the mix

Reclaimed clay roof tiles from demolished hanok were crushed and blended into the concrete. Besides tying the wall to the buildings it refers to, the tile gives the surface a slight shift in colour from one part of the façade to another.

Echo seen from the front on Songhyeon Green Plaza

For Bureau de Change, the wall is a way to rethink what a façade can be: forms taken from local craft, made with modern materials and building methods. The studio describes it as an echo of the past that carries ideas for the future.

Visitors walking past Echo and other installations

After dark, lights at the base of the wall pick out the depth of its relief. Echo stood among the other biennale installations on the plaza, part of a programme that brought architects and designers from around the world to Seoul.