Tiny towers

The CN tower stands one ruler tall, its lookout bubble the size of a baby fist. In the gift shop of the 63 Building, you can buy the CN tower for twenty bucks. Pieced together, it stands next to the world’s other famous towers, like a puzzle trying to walk.

Seoul is the 1925 Voisin For Paris, slabs of efficient modern concrete, and an echo of what might have been. We say sometimes it looks like the midpoint between a depressed futurist and a tired architect, both on lookout for upcoming dismal days.

The streets are abuzz with vendors and vibrant urban noise. But behind the 63 Building’s quiet glass windows, floating in a smoggy sky, the uniformity is bleak. The endless rectangles are the building blocks of child’s Lego uninspired.

Still, fingers pressed to glass and unending city, there is something in the awe.