Myeong Dong, one of the most famous site in Seoul, is the place where cultural context of important historical events is interupted by lots of mediocre commercial buildings. Myeong Dong was once high grade city with historic assets until these low -grade programs came in. This huge fluctuation of shops and restaurants caused attracting tourists who want to buy stuff in cheap and easier way. This phenomenon could be beneficial to city’s economy but this city gradually being awful to native citizen and tourist who intended to come to see historical assets and other cultures.
My project’s goal is to alleviate these excessive money-oriented image of city. To achieve that goal, my architectural output will focused on reviving cultural movement at the center of the city. Also this project concerned human behavior to intensify this cultural motivation in that make existing users to access more naturally.
As the masterplan image on the above showing, there are so many commercial buildings in Myeong Dong. My site is at the center of main axis of ommerce to efficiently change this flow by my architecture. There are already many but small places with cultural contexts, such as 1900s cafes, bookstores or workshops of independents performed between colonization from Japan. Those spot’s connection is so weak right now and I planned to deal with this condition.
As a center of these spots, my building take a role as connector to activate cultural context as a past Myeong Dong. To implement the role as connector, I organized programs such as library, theater, workshop and exhibition to concentrate on motivating citizens to increase the portion of cultural performance in the city filled with murchandising. It will be unique from other cultural complex in that these programs are not seperated obviously. The reason for this access is that my goal is to connect dispersed cultural spaces, so I tried to show the connection from smaller scale in this site before starting broader connection.
Assembly of Space Change
Connection, revival of culture. To accomplish these goals, I began with investigating human behavior to apply it to my design, in order to make spontaneous movement between existing users. After analizing them, distributing them into two part. One is the space type which has possibility to be used as cultural use, and the other is not. Extract the space such as alley condition, slope, underground, open space, courtyard then let them to be act as connection between my four main program mass.
The form of this building is started with making a new ground(slab)s in higher level which directly make alleys through four masses. Then levitate the masses from the ground to make wide pathway for users. After setting proper arrangement of masses, make vertical access in each masses. To intensify the effect of each programs, give them a character instead of same forms. Lots of garden space are located on the buildings to attract the users and alleviate heavy atmosphere of cultural programs.
Four different facade material is existing in one building. Theater is overed with brick , exhibition is covered with limestone, workshop is covered with patterned alumium panel. And the library facade, which can see on the section drawing above, is covered with wood panel. Each Facade intensify the identity of each program, such as brick’s warmer and quiet image or aluminum’s light and active atmosphere.
The plan drawings show how platform space perfomed in physical way and programmatic way. In physical way, the open spaces between each programs have portable walls and furnitures that can make users notice the possibility of various events in the space. In programmatic way, workshop space and library share the space with book making experience space. Workshop space and exhibition share the space with exhibiting the outputs in the workshop space such as wooden objects or paintings. Theater share the workshop space as a rehearsal room or dancing room.
LIGHT BY ALLEY
Alley condition is main human scale space in this city made by building forest. Use this form into exhibition space and workshop space in different function. In this image, use alley condition as exhibition route and performing calm atmosphere matchs well with displaying some artistic outputs.
credit
명동문화복합시설
TRANS 4 MER : Cultural Connection by Platform Place
이창재 + 정민하
4학년 1학기
2016