Looking to move past the era of treating historic architecture merely as static museum pieces, Seoul metropolitan authorities are opening the heavy wooden doors of the city’s public "hanok" — traditional Korean houses — to become interactive backdrops for contemporary civic life. Starting this summer, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will dramatically scale up community programming across its network of public properties in the historic Bukchon and Seochon neighborhoods, municipal officials said Wednesday. The pivot follows a highly successful spring season that saw over 44,000 visitors, alongside a tidal wave of interest in a new pilot program offering free wedding photo sessions for newlyweds inside designated historic properties. The lottery-based wedding photography initiative initially drew dozens of couples vying for just four slots when the program was launched at the Hong Geon-ik House, one of the city's best examples of a merchant's home from the 1930s. Couples cited a desire to escape the sterile environment of commercial studios in favor of the natural lighting, slopi