Narrative Architects was founded in 2020 by Namin Hwang and Sihong Kim. Our aim is to provide positive solutions for architecture and society through architectural concepts and design ideas.
We consider the cultural background, perspectives, and personal or collective experiences associated with the projects. Our work begins with understanding the surrounding context and expresses the unique meanings of each project through various elements such as form, space, materials, and imagery. We embrace an extensive approach to architecture, seeking to understand and propose the environment, cultural aspects, and social context in which the building is situated in a unique way. Our goal is to foster a healthy interaction between architecture and society.
Namin Hwang, Architect / KIRA
Namin Hwang graduated from the Department of Architecture at Seoul National University and founded Narrative Architects after gaining professional experience at several small design-oriented architecture offices. Her work aims to expand the epistemic framework of architectural thought through the transdisciplinary integration of knowledge, focusing on spatially articulating the complex narratives of human history and urban life. She understands architecture not as a fixed form but as a processual and adaptive construct, continuously shaped by social and environmental transformations. Her work explores the reconfiguration of urban space and the transformative potentials of architecture in response to these dynamic conditions. She currently serves as a Public Architect for the City of Wonju, a Design Planning Architect at Seoul National University, a Women’s Architect at Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH), and a GH Young Architect at Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Corporation. She teaches an architectural design studio at Seoul National University and has previously led a design studio at Kangwon National University. In 2023, she received the Minister of Culture Award at the Korea Spatial Culture Awards and has been recognized with multiple international design honors, including the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award.
Sihong Kim, Architect / KIRA
Sihong Kim graduated from the Department of Architecture at Dongguk University and received his master’s degree from the same institution. He gained practical experience at several young, design-focused architecture offices before co-founding Narrative Architects with Namin Hwang, initiating an independent practice. He conceives architecture as a discursive and projective medium that negotiates social demands, absorbs urban contingencies, and reflects cultural transformations, situating itself within the lived experiences of the contemporary. Rather than remaining bound to fixed meanings or formal hierarchies, architecture must operate within conditions of temporal instability, programmatic friction, and unpredictable relational assemblages that constitute the dynamics of an ever-evolving environment. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Architecture at Kookmin University, where he leads an architectural design studio. He has also previously taught a design studio at Sejong University. His recent inquiry focuses on how artificial intelligence may intervene in and expand architectural processes through cognitive reconstruction—a mediated interplay of image and text that reconfigures spatial imagination and authorship. In 2023, he received the Minister of Culture Award at the Korea Spatial Culture Awards and has been recognized with multiple international design honors, including the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award.
Projects
2025
Pildong Youngeun Paper Chungmuro Headquarter
Dosan Park Mixed-Use Building Competition
2024
Iksan Seongdang Port Nongak Training Center, Winner
Miryang Arina Youth Theater Artists' Shelter, 3rd prize
Huamdong Airbnb Renovation
Pildong 3-ga Art Workshop Building Renovation
2023
Gangneung Unification Park Observatory Tower, Winner
Tallinn - Seoul Timber Pavilion
Dong daemun Library International Competition
Jinju National Museum International Competition
Korea University LMR Lab & Faculty office Interior design
Tartu Downtown Cultural Centre International Competition, 4th prize
Julpo Urban Regeneration Warehouse Renovation
Gyeonggi Gwangju Libreria del Tigre Extension & Renovation
Jeolla Confucianism promotion agency, 3rd prize
2022
Julpo Urban Regeneration Basecamp Extension & Renovation
Andong Onhye House
Buan Art Factory
Jin House
Carpenstreet HQ Interior design
Songjiho Visitor Center, 2nd prize
Saewon Complex Community Center, 2nd prize
2021
Wanju Brewery, Winner
Buan Art Factory, Winner
Gumi Urban Regeneration Center, 3rd prize
Cheongju Seowon Youth Culture Center, 3rd prize
Improving access to the CMOA and Memorial, 2nd prize
2020
MCST-Seoul Public Art Project 1, Finalist
Featured
Julpo Regeneration Series, ArchDaily, 2025. 02
Korea Herald Biz, Interview, 2024. 5
Onhyeri Jung Youngja House, ArchDaily, 2023. 11
Architecture & Urban Space vol.51, auri, 2023. 10
Onhyeri Jung Youngja House, SPACE magazine, 2023. 9
Onhyeri Jung Youngja House, BOB magazine, 2023. 9
Korea Institute of Registered Architects ANC news, 2023. 7
Wide AR23 : 05-06, New Rising Architect, 2023.5
KIRA monthly vol.660, Korea Institute Of Registered Architects, 2024. 4
Buan Art Factory, ArchDaily, 2023. 2
Jin House, Magazine. Brique, 2022. 11
Jin House, ArchDaily, 2022. 10
YCK(Young Creative Korea), Interview, 2020. 8
BridgeNews, Interview, 2020. 6
Monthly Greenhouse for You, 2020.3
Evening Standard, 2020. 3
Experience
Gyeonggi Housing & Urban Development Corporation GH Young Architect, 2024 -
Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation SH Female Architect, 2023-
Seoul Nat'l University planning and design architects, 2022 -
Wonju City Public Architect, 2022 -
Innovative architect for school space design, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, 2022 - 2024
Teaching
Seoul Nat'l University, Lecturer, 2025 -
Kookmin University, Lecturer, 2025 -
Sejong University, Lecturer, 2024 -
Kangwon Nat'l University, Lecturer, 2022 - 2023
Guest Lectures
Kookmin University, 'Computed Architecture: Redefining the Architectural Design Process', 2025
Ganhyang Club 207th Lecture 'Curtain Call Under 40+', 2025
Ganhyang Club 201st Lecture 'Turbulence, Indeterminacy and Whimsy', 2024
Kaywon University of Art and Design, open campus lecture, 2020
Exhibitions
The Hidden 8.3% - UIA2024 Kuala Lumpur 'Diversecity'
2023 The Good Place Awards in Korea Winners Exhibition, Culture Station Seoul 284, 2023
Gyeonggi Children's Museum, 2020
Pangyo Museum, 2020
Awards
2024 iF Design Award: Architecture Design, Buan Art Factory
2023 The Good Place Awards in Korea: The Minister's Award, Buan Art Factory
Contact
3F, 35, Toegye-ro 36-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 04625
T (+82) 070-8864-0703
F (+82) 0504-090-9864