Kyu Sung Woo – Olympic Village, 1984. Post-modern Korean architecture It wasn't until the late 1980s and early 1990s that an entirely new generation of Korean architects had the freedom and the financing to build Korean architecture in a distinct Korean manner. This was a result of architects studying and training in Europe, Canada, and even in South America, and seeing the need for more of a sense of unique style, and more sophisticated materials. There was a new determination that nationalistic architectural elements had to be revived and refined. Buildings had to mean something within their cultural context. Post-modern Korean architecture is defined as from 1986 to 2005. Cultural and museum buildings have followed; with city halls and buildings for the civil service appearing generally in a New York/Chicago style rather than following London or Paris trends. Individuality and experimentation became the new cause for young architects, however the country as a whole was slow to move from the old traditions into seeing good architecture aesthetics as being important to the sense of a village, town, or city. Change was forced at times against intense resistance, and new buildings evolved at great cost to the architects and builders and within a great tension. Much of the growth of new architecture came from retail stores, clothing shops, bistros, cafes, and bars; and the underside of architectural commissions, rather than from major government contracts or the financial and corporate community. Foreign corporations setting up Korean headquarters also brought in an entirely new spirit of architecture to define their own visions. In recent years a number of large and iconic modernist projects have been developed in Seoul such as the 2008 Dominique Perrault building at Ewha Womans University, the 2012 Seoul City Hall extension by iArc and the large Dongdaemun Design Plaza designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2014. Important architects at this time include: See also Daemokjang Korean fortress List of fortresses in Korea Korean pagoda List of gates in Korea Hahoe Folk Village Yangdong Village of Gyeongju Korean Folk Village Hanok Iljumun Hongsalmun List of Korean architects References Further reading Fletcher, Banister; Cruickshank, Dan, Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture, Architectural Press, 20th edition, 1996 (first published 1896). . Cf. Part Four, Chapter 25. Sung-woo Kim: Buddhist Architecture of Korea, Hollym Publishers 2007, . External links History of Korean architecture by Shin Young-hoon A Brief History of Korean