No one can deny the beauty and excellence that permeates Korea's unique architecture.
HAAS, How Architecture and Art Started, which links such excellent Korean architecture and tourism programs, is drawing attention.
Kim Hyun-jung, CEO of HAAS Studio, said, “Our company is a tourism startup where people who love architecture gather to introduce the excellence of Korean architecture.”
“Based on the philosophical question of 'how architecture and art began, we inform people of the hidden beauty of architecture in our daily lives and provide architectural tourism services.”
HAAS Studio recently launched 'Archiroad', an architectural culture travel app. 'Archiroad' is a compound word of Architecture and Road, which implies the meaning of traveling along the road and guiding the road to the building.
Archi Road is a local culture-oriented O2O (Online to Offline) app that guides people to travel to "cool places" with domestic architectural storytelling-based themed travel videos and connects local residents' guides to travelers.
From the end of 2017, CEO Kim prepared for a start-up in earnest, trained at KOSME(youth startup academy), and gradually understood the ecosystem of startups, laying the foundation for the business.
Through the "2020 Y&Navigator Accelerator Operation Program," HAAS Studio is growing further to attract successful investment and growth in the tourism industry, with supports such as customized mentoring, start-up education and networking, investment links, and Y&LAB (Market Realization Test).
HAAS Studio is a team formed by a group of friends who majored in architecture or related departments and who like architecture, so they have a different perspective on the city and travel.
CEO Kim said, "I don't think of architecture as just information or knowledge, but try to know the history and meaning and see things in depth."
"To guide the aesthetic meaning of architectural space, we aim for an architectural trip where we can see, hear, and experience with our senses, such as focusing only on colors, walking gently on sand on the floor, or feeling the touch of walls."
"Here is a humanistic whisper that guides history and meaning. The Archi Road service will continue to evolve, and will provide a different journey through architecture"
Kim said she talked a lot with many people when she started her own business.
"When I had only passion, I tried to approach strangers, such as people on the street, people sitting alone in cafes, and ask them about architectures."
"At that time, the answer was, 'Why do you travel for architecture in Korea? You should go to Europe to see the architecture,' and I felt a sense of mission to learn more about our country's architecture we can see in our daily lives."
HAAS Studio is currently carrying out two major projects.
Architecture education programs or exhibitions that can be collaborated with local governments, and Arch Road, a guide service for enjoying architectural tours, are being built.
Archi Road is provided in the form of a video guide that can contain both spatiality and temporality so that you can feel the nature of the architectural space as much as possible in accordance with untact(new buzz word in Korea referring to the combination of prefix 'un' and the word 'contact') era.
Kim said, “The goal is to make people pay attention to Korean architecture while traveling”
"Everything you can touch on a trip is related to architectural cultures, such as cafes, lodgings, and famous galleries. Our goal is to make people enjoy the architectural culture while traveling, and to make foreign tourists come to our country and feel our own architectural culture."
