Huge quantitesquantities of towering serried blocks ranked in columns of uniform grey concrete, backs to the north, faces to the south, their relentless progress across the plains unstoppable. It's hard for your first impressions of Korea not to be coloured by the sheer visibility of modern housing developments.

Penitentiary or paradise? People storage or convenience on a plate? Lets look a little closer at this most conspicuous aspect of Korean culture and see what we can discover.

First of all there are elements of the traditional Korean home which have survived even in these days of urban explosion, housing shortage and construction mania. For example, all apartments have a vestibule, considered part of the exterior, where shoes are removed and stored. Secondly under-floor heating or ondol is also a feature of all apartments; a centuries old tradition, and a uniquely Korean feature of modern dwellings. Finally an orientation from south to north results in ideal conditions for natural light and facilitates the blowing of a natural cross breeze, essential in hot humid climates.

Variation, is however, a bone of contention for many. There's no disguising the monotony of these developments at their worst. Traditional homes have all but disappeared from the market. Korea has transformed itself remarkably, from a country devastated by war and shortages, to a nation on the brink of self-fulfillment. The future has arrived and in these lofty monuments to modern living we may well see a glimpse of how all nations may have to deal with their own inexorable housing problems.