In 1988 I started an architectural practice in Adelaide, South Australia: 'Paik Associates'. In 1994, I arrived in Italy with my wife, a child of emigrants from southern Italy, and our two sons. I circulate between Rome and Bevagna where we live, and Chiusi where I design gardens with the great naturalist, Enzo Margheriti. I dabbled in graphic design for a few years. I learnt to write in HTML. I produce the online journal, 'Our Architecture' and maintain the literature studies site, 'Fine Minds'.

I learnt English at the age of nine. I learnt Italian as a matter of necessity.

I write essays to separate opinion from spirit. I write poems where the words make the thoughts. 'Magnus White', (my name translated into English) is a singer-songwriter.

My personal background is nomadic. My parents are both from northern Korea. They escaped to Seoul from the Soviet invasion at the end of WWII. I was born in 1957. My family moved overseas when I was nine. A few years later I was sent to Westminster School in Adelaide. Thereafter I studied a year of engineering, then switched to architecture at the University of Adelaide. I graduated in 1982.

 
The realisation of this office building has a certain mystic quality, to do with how Enzo Margheriti and Taeho Paik happened to meet and end up working closely together since 2008. It is a result of a collaborative effort by Margheriti, Ing. Michele Verdi, Arch. Ivano Malizia, Rossella Ragazzini and Taeho. The roles were explicitly different. The conceptual site plan, the building plans and elevations were prepared by Enzo and Taeho. Rossella proposed the portico, modifying Taeho's original design which had circular doric columns, which Enzo thought was a bit over the top for the offices of an agricultural business. From these ideas Michele and Ivano prepared the architectural and structural documentation for approvals and tenders. The building company of Edoardo Maccari of Chiusi made it. Rossella also did the Interior design and fit out. From the purchase of the property, inception of ideas to completion it took about three years, opening for use in May 2017.

It is one of four pieces of construction on the site comprised of: the main office, two annexes, a large warehouse and a myriad of ancillary structures for storage and maintenance.

From here between 7:00-7:30am, small trucks laden with materials, tools and teams of gardeners head off to various parts of Tuscany and beyond into the Italian hinterlands to make and tend to gardens owned by some fabulous people.