Youths represent a dynamic yet a precarious section of today’s populations. No longer belonging to safe spaces of childhood, but not yet, if ever, integrated into the expected paradigms of traditional family structures, a large portion of today’s youths while seemingly spontaneous in lifestyle choices and welcoming mobility, occupy the vulnerable spaces of the in-between and the prolonged interim. Interim Urbanism investigates the spaces that youths reside in, as they intersect with sustained sociopolitical and economic uncertainties, inequalities, and emergent lifestyles. Considering the role of architecture in defining new ideals of domesticity in an ever-transforming public realm, the exhibition presents relevant historical materials, research documents on selected instances, and design proposals on new typologies of youth habitation. The materials assembled for the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Collective City, present selected critical instances and projections set forth around the historical and contemporary conditions of youth dwelling in New York City. Aiming to provoke the conversations around the possibilities of alternative dwelling frameworks, and engaging rich sociopolitical and demographic complexities of the city, the exhibition include four sets of artifacts—Interim City, New York (120 cm x 150 cm, a composite drawing of historic and contemporary instances of the interim domestic spaces of youth), Architecture of Home (For Now) (100 cm x 200 cm, a taxonomic model of typological and formal excerpts from the existing spaces of youth), Five Proposals for Youth, Dwelling, City (135 cm x 57 cm, a pentaptych of five new youth housing proposals located across New York City), and Interim Stories (a collection of video vignettes of research documents)—that tie together the past, the present, and the possible futures of youth, dwelling, and the city.

Nahyun Hwang is an architect and an educator, and a partner of N H D M, an New York-based collaborative practice for design and research in architecture and urbanism. The studio pursues an expanded practice of architecture working across disciplinary borders and a wide range of scales and modes of output, and the work of N H D M has been recognized through numerous publications and awards, including the 2018 AIANY New Practices New York award, the 2012, 2014, and 2018 AIANY Design Honor Awards. Until founding N H D M, Hwang practiced as a senior associate at James Corner Field Operations and as the lead project designer for the High Line, and previously at Stan Allen Architects; Herzog & de Meuron; and OMA. Hwang holds a master's degree in architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, and is a recipient of Muschenheim fellowship and the New York State Council of Art Grant. She currently teaches at the Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

David Eugin Moon is an architect and an educator, and a partner of N H D M, an New York-based collaborative practice for design and research in architecture and urbanism. The firm’s work, often in a direct dialogue with the cultural, political, and economic complexities of the contemporary built environment, has been exhibited and presented at global venues, including the 5th and 6th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, and the 14th International Architecture Exhibition at  the 2014 Venice Biennale, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Center for Architecture New York, UMMA Stenn Gallery, and the Cornell University Hartell Gallery, among others. Until founding N H D M, Moon practiced in offices in the US, Europe, and Asia, and as a key designer at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam and New York. He holds a master's degree in architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, and currently teaches at the Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.