Skip obvious Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Real Seoul architecture story lives in Banpo apartment complex representing 1970s Korean modernist housing experiments when Han River development began.

Seoul Station designed by same architect as Paris Gare du Nord shows Japanese colonial influence before independence. Walk Teheran-ro in Gangnam for glass tower forest representing chaebol economic miracle compressed into single generation.

Architecture tells Korea's rapid development story - from hanok to apartment blocks to skyscrapers in 50 years. Each district represents different development era of Seoul's explosive growth.