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Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility / LIFE Architects

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Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Exterior Photography
© Kyungsub Shin

Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 2 of 24Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 3 of 24Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 4 of 24Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 5 of 24Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - More Images+ 19

  • Architects: LIFE Architects
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  1108
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2023
  • Photographs
    Photographs:Kyungsub Shin
  • Lead Architects: Jeeyoung Han, Sooyong Hwang
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Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 18 of 24
© Kyungsub Shin

Text description provided by the architects. What stance should a building take on the bustling streets near Hongik University, filled with the vibrant energy of a university town? "Folded Ground" is a neighborhood facility that thoughtfully explores ways to interact with its surroundings on a site bordered on three sides by Wausan-ro and a playground.

The site, located right in front of this public and cultural space, is a project that not only serves as a backdrop to the area's cultural context but also needs to fulfill a commercial role as a neighborhood facility. The biggest challenge at the start of the project was figuring out how to make the interior spaces of the business and commercial facilities respond to the vibrant atmosphere of the Hongdae area. With three sides of the site visually open, we considered the relationship between the surroundings as seen from the outside and as experienced from within.

Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 2 of 24
© Kyungsub Shin

The site, facing three sides of Hongdae's Wausan-ro and the playground, was deemed to have an especially important visual relationship with its surroundings. While always bustling with people, it also creates a peaceful atmosphere within the park. We pondered how to engage with such a place and foster a relationship with it. The three continuous facades act as a single expansive "ground" that responds to the site's diversity. As these surfaces fold and overlap, they create new relationships between interior and exterior spaces.

Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Interior Photography, Glass
© Kyungsub Shin
Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 22 of 24
Floor Plan
Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 24 of 24
Diagram
Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 13 of 24
© Kyungsub Shin

The building's interior spaces, balconies, and concrete exterior skin provide pockets of open space within the densely packed urban environment. These spaces are mediated to form distinct relationships with the surroundings, depending on their functions: commercial areas requiring external exposure, office spaces demanding appropriate privacy, and voided areas for vertical circulation.

Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 14 of 24
© Kyungsub Shin
Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 5 of 24
© Kyungsub Shin

The diagonal concrete structure fragments external views into dynamic, multifaceted frames when seen from the interior. As one moves vertically through the interior spaces, it feels as though they are exploring within the structure itself. This structural element, which crosses between the inside and outside, allows for an experiential continuity between above and below, as well as between interior and exterior.

Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Image 4 of 24
© Kyungsub Shin

The views that pass between the structural elements offer users unexpected scenes. Within the enveloping structure, users feel a sense of maintaining a comfortable distance from the complex and dynamic context of Hongdae. Pedestrians, too, can discover a building that provides a moment of respite when they come to the playground, away from the sudden and overwhelming flood of buildings and signs in Hongdae.

Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility  / LIFE Architects - Exterior Photography, Concrete
© Kyungsub Shin

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Project location

Address:Mapo-gu, South Korea

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
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Cite: "Folded Ground Neighborhood Facility / LIFE Architects" 28 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed 23 Feb 2025. <https://www.archdaily.com/1026027/folded-ground-neighborhood-facility-life-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

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