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Architects: Architects H2L
- Area: 323 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Namsun Lee
City, Architecture, Street
The ‘Yeonmujang Road’ is 10 meter-wide and 1.2-km long road that runs through the center of ‘‘Seongsu-dong’’. Buildings on this road become larger as you walk from the East to the West. Small businesses such as hairdressers, launderette and letting agencies are located in these small building and larger building are occupied with factories. There is a mixture of both residential and industrial atmosphere on this road. Anterior aspects of these small buildings are occupied with small businesses mentioned above and rear/posterior aspects of these building are residential properties with small courtyards. From an architect’s point of view, these small courts have huge development potential.
Urban Revitalization / Architectural Refurbishment
I had an opportunity to remodel one of small buildings that was built in the 70s on ‘Yeonmujang Road’. In the 70s, it used to be a very common practice to surround a building with a granite wall. My aim was to create the space around these small properties by utilizing the ‘L’ shaped courtyard in the back while preserving the granite wall surrounded the building therefore reconstructing the space while restoring some of its original charm.
First of all, I revealed the rear aspects of the 70s residential property by replacing concrete walls with glass walls with structural strengthening utilizing steel frames. In the courtyard, a maple tree was planted off-center with surrounding dark granite decking which allows passers to gaze through the building and focus on the courtyard with the 70s appealing granite wall. White vertical extension was utilized and the railing fills the void which was secured with metal wires had minimal thickness to help passers focus on the courtyard.
I feel very sad about the historic scenes being completely replaced with the modern scenes and I hoped to recreate the everyday history of the 70s Seoul through this project. In addition to creating the new space, I replaced the original entrance facing the front of the building with the glass wall mentioned above creating linear façade. Instead, entrance was relocated to the rear aspect of the building therefore the visitors are guided to the courtyard via an alley. This allows the visitors to experience the 70s charm that was recreated through this project upon entering the building. The window of the wall facing the alley was filled with bricks of 2018, harmonizing with the granite, the materials of the 70s and dark granite stone chips were layered in the alley as a medium to connect the bricks and the granite of the 70s. I was hoping this alley could lead to the 70's architectural experience on the city road to 2019.
‘‘Seongsu-dong’’, a semi-industrial area that emerged naturally in the 1960s, is being reborn as an area for urban revitalization. Over the course of fifty years, this property has been transformed from a small business + residence to a modern furniture showroom and a trendy café while maintaining its original charm. My main aim was to exhibit the compatibility of the 70s and modern architecture that would blend into quirky character of today’s ‘‘Seongsu-dong’’ that has beautiful harmonization of both old and new…
