( CNN ) -- Contemporary and often abstract , Minsuk Cho 's buildings can baffle , delight and dazzle . The 44 year-old South Korean is one of the world 's foremost architects who is drawing upon different ideas while trying to convey a modern form of Korean architecture . `` Korea is a peninsula culture which contrasts from the big land culture of China , which is incredibly rich , and also the island culture of Japan , '' Cho told CNN . `` We 've been very influenced ; it 's almost like a bridge country to observe the many other influences of the past . Also , there is some tough history . '' Trying to distill amorphous concepts of Korean-ness into physical form was Cho 's task when he designed the South Korean pavilion at the recent Shanghai Expo . For an architect who had spent a large part of his professional life outside of South Korea it was a unique experience . `` I 'd been influenced by many other cultures , so that was a big challenge to address this Korean quality in a contemporary way , '' Cho said . `` We had a time challenge situation because they selected the design very late and most of the other pavilions had designs already . So -- bigger and faster -- and we had to deal with the economic situation . The combination of those three was tough -- a bigger , faster and cheaper situation -- which has become almost default situation in Asian cities . '' Many of Cho 's buildings are in South Korea , but some of his temporary structures , such as the `` Air Forest '' set up in Denver , U.S. , in 2008 and `` Ring Dome '' seen in Milan and Yokohama , have made it abroad . Cho grew up believing he would be an artist , but it was only after he picked out a book from his father 's library that he was inspired to follow in his father 's footsteps and become an architect as well . That was when he was 12 years old and after he graduated from Yonsei University in South Korea he moved to the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia , New York . From New York he moved to the Netherlands to work for OMA , an architecture firm led by Rem Koolhaas . His time working with Koolhaas , who is often called a `` starchitect '' as one of the industry 's best known names , had a great affect on Cho . `` I think that what I learnt from him is that sometimes you get impatient with limitations but limitations can be a leverage ... it just takes more patience and intelligent investigation about these limits , '' he said . `` He 's really a positive role model . But usually [ the term `` starchitect '' ] has a negative term for people that have plateaued at their creativity and start selling their brand name which is also happening a lot here . [ Koolhaas ] is constantly visiting and learning and observing from this country and enriching his own work . '' It was not until 2003 that Cho made it back to South Korea to set up his firm , Mass Studies , so some questioned if he was the best candidate to design South Korea 's pavilion at the Shanghai Expo . But for Cho his time abroad and work in general is much more than just a national concern and forging a singular identity . `` As an architect it 's not about replacing one identity but more about enriching our work , '' he said .
Cho is a contemporary architect from Korea . Worked with Minsuk Cho 's with firm Mass Studies . Cho designed the Asian pavilion at the Shanghai Expo .