Kyu Sung Woo was born in Seoul, South Korea and received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Architectural Engineering at Seoul National University. He came to the U.S. in 1967, where he studied architecture at Columbia University receiving a Master of Architecture in 1968. Woo then received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design at Harvard University in 1970.
Woo has taught at the Mass. Institute of Technology and at Harvard , and won the Ho Am Prize in the Arts in 2008. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
After graduation he worked closely with Josep Lluis Sert at Sert, Jackson & Associates (1970-1974). He was an Urban Design Consultant for Harbison New Town, South Carolina (1973-1980), senior Urban Designer for the Mayor's office of Midtown Planning and Development, New York, NY (1975), founded Woo Associates in 1978, principal of Woo and Williams (1979-1990), and principal of Kyu Sung Woo Architects, Inc. in 1990, where he has continued his focus on creative design solutions in the United States and abroad. During his architectural career Woo has built extensively, with many major design works implemented, including the 1988 Olympic Village in Seoul.
The work of Kyu Sung Woo has been reviewed in numerous architectural publications in Asia, Europe, and the United States including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, three books profiling his work, Casas and Whanki Museum, have been published.