Graduation Project Booklet

PROJET DE FIN D’ETUDE

ALEXIS M. LEGER ENSAPB

PAUL GRESHAM NOEL DOMINGUEZ

2017-2018

JUXTAPOSITION

Seoul is a city of contrasts. The capital's disparate scale can be seen as a consequence of its rapid evolution. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the country's growth has been meteoric.

With the impossibility of a slower urban evolution where contrasts would gradually diminish, we observe juxtapositions of scales, styles and dimensions.

But beyond an almost instantaneous reconstruction, we can also observe the disparate character as a value rooted in the country's culture.

For example, the morphology of certain neighborhoods.

Gangnam is a modern area where buildings change frequently.

Yet a simple aerial photograph is all it takes to understand the hierarchical organization of the built environment. Like a theatrical set, the buildings along a main thoroughfare are all tall and modernized. We cross this frontage of buildings to enter the block. The scale of the buildings and lanes changes instantly.

These smaller, rhythmically paced streets are where you stop for a smoke or a chat. what you proudly display / what you keep to yourself The soul of Seoul is primarily based on a diversity of scales, functions and typologies knotted into a functional and efficient infrastructure grid. The further into the block you go, the smaller the scale of the infrastructure, buildings and public character, but the greater the diversity of programs and forms, complexity and quality of spaces (from a human scale point of view). The blocks are surrounded by a layer of tall corporate, hotel and official buildings. The street that comes after this first layer is already a more informal, shared space where services for the main streets are located (stores, restaurants, bars).

The city of Seoul gives the impression of two cities, one appearing to be the original urban fabric of low-rise neighborhoods with diverse activities and small-scale businesses, and the other large-scale - the modernist city separating business districts, housing, major thoroughfares and recreational areas.

Both are divided into fragments that are juxtaposed like a patchwork quilt.

The modern city is gradually replacing the low-rise city. Qualitative public spaces seem to be doomed in the post-war city, and the desire for planning forces total control of activities, resulting in a lack of flexibility.

It's not a question of returning to a city made up entirely of small heights with more diverse activities, but of trying to preserve a certain balance between two lifestyles whose contrasts make up the capital's richness.

세운상가 - seun sangga Kim SooGeun (1931-1986) 세운상가 - seun sangga Kim SooGeun (1931-1986) Une travé de béton de 1km.

A 1km span of concrete.

Le secteur autour de Seun Sangga est un point névralgique de l’évolution de la ville. Non seulement historiquement par le The area around Seun Sangga is a key point in the city's simple fait qu’il est le plus ancien mais aussi aujourd’hui par les difevolution. Not only historically, simply because it's the oldest part of férentes opérations afin de le rendre plus agréable. On note poncthe city, but also today, thanks to the various operations undertaken tuellement des interventions souvent symboliques, sous le signe de to make it more pleasant to live in. The interventions are often l’espace public et de la promenade. symbolic, under the banner of public space and the promenade.

The historical context is particular, as the Korean War is over and the period is one of reconstruction. A series of large buildings were planned throughout the capital.

The Seunsangga building has strong symbolic significance.

Commissioned by an authoritarian head of state and financed by the United States, the building fills a void. During the war, the Japanese dug trenches in the urban fabric to prevent the spread of fire. Seunsangga was subsequently placed in one of these gaps.

This can be seen as a desire to forget: the void left by the Japanese is filled by modernity.

Occupied by Japan during the Second World War, the urban fabric of Korea's capital was cut by large trenches dozens of meters wide.

Since most of the buildings are made of wood, and the city is often bombed, these large empty strips prevent the fire from spreading.

At the end of the war, with the country no longer occupied, the town lay in ruins. The only areas still preserved are the wide cracks carved by the occupying forces.

In the 1960s, architect Kim Soo Geum proposed to fill this void with a long building of shops and housing - an inner city. The project is clearly tinged with a utopian spirit close to the modern movement.

L’incarnation d’une autorité supérieure, comme un élément naturel.

The embodiment of aautorité superior authority, L’incarnation d’une supérieure, like a un natural élément naturel.

Puis l’oncomme s’approche et il element. semble disparaître.

Then closer and seems to disappear.

Puisyou l’on get s’approche et ilit semble disparaître. un édifice linéaire, unitaire, froid, intériorisé par a linear, unitary, cerné cold, interiorized building un édifice linéaire, unitaire, froid, intériorisé un tissus composite, sans limites, extériorisé surrounded cerné parby

composite, limitless, fabric unatissus composite, sansexternalized limites, extériorisé

The object of analysis is the 4th element to the north of Seunsangga. is particulièrement enclosed between L’objet d’analyse est Itplus le various symbolic elements of the district's new 4e élément au nord de Seunsangga.

Celui-ci estlook. enclavé entre différents éléments symboliques du renouveau du quartier.

A

B

- to the north lies the UNESCO-listed Jongmyo Park - In the south, Cheonggyecheon is a river around which the city of Seoul was founded. Covered in asphalt during the war, it has now been dug up and transformed into a waterside promenade.

These two programs, with their emphasis on memory and strolling, symbolize a new mentality in Seoul's city planning.

B

A

These massive projects - those of the 60s and 70s - were intended to be a destructive, dominating symbol. Yet they fell into a trap.

These large-scale projects quickly became unpopular as their respective environments changed in ways contrary to expectations. The occupants often left, leaving the site in a state of hibernation.

The decreasing value of Seunsangga's interior spaces has eventually drew the surrounding small businesses inland.

Re-creating something different from what was planned.

They have even moved into the living spaces on the upper floors. The absence of hierarchy and the high number of floors has encouraged smaller shops and more flexible logistics.

The rigidity of this building, which initially destroyed and modified the existing urban structure, ultimately preserved it from gentrification.

A

B

C

C A B

D

E

F

D

E F

composé de trois secteurs :

composed of three sectors: . a continuous relationship with the ground ( A ) . un. arapport au(B) sol dans la continuité (A) A new floor . un sol (B) B . anouveau disconnected space, a bubble ( C )

. un espace déconnecté, une bulle (C) C

C

B

B A

A

B

C

A number of factors in Seunsangga's history explain the generally negative image people have of the building.

Firstly, at the time of construction, local residents were already mobilizing against the project. Local artists were already aware of the destructive potential of a such mass.

Subsequently, the aggressiveness of the building's overdeveloped supporting elements perpetuated the image of the authoritarian head of state attached to the edifice. A symbol of a troubled era, when living standards rose sharply at the cost of suffering for a whole section of the population.

As the various disappointed occupants of Seun Sangga move out, local craftsmen move in. In the end, they occupy a large part of the available floor space.

At the same time, another activity took root in the giant's narrow corridors: pornography. The lack of fluidity between the inside and outside world enabled adult cassette sellers to keep a low profile, making Seunsangga the temple of VHS pornography in the 70s and 90s.

In a country where pornography is still illegal, Seunsangga's reputation is once again tarnished.

The financial crisis of 2008 called into question a real estate system that consisted of destroying and then rebuilding per- manently. It was at this very moment that the decision to demolish Seunsangga was also called into question: a section of the building was demolished, then the demolition project was halted.

The seunsangga structure is an oversized concrete cage.

412 cells

9m x 6m x 3m The regular, neutral grid of the central building offers adaptability.

It's a canvas, like a liquid form reacting to its environment.

There are contrasting environments on 4 sides, which it can adapt to if it gets rid of its shell.

To survive, the two entities have to help each other, because they are doomed to disappear.

Contamination of a woven body Geometry of an organic slick

We can see the appearance of the trenches during the war.

On observe bien l’apparition des tranchés pendant la guerre.

1927

1927

1953

1953

We can then try to compare the urban fabric of 1927 with the one we find today.

On peut alors atenter mettre en parallèle leSome tissu urbain 1927 avec There's cleardecorrespondence. of thedeexisting routes are celui trouve aujourd’hui. traces ofque thel’on networks that were cut through during the war.

On remarque une correspondance claire. Certaines voies existantes sont les traces des réseaux que l’on a tranché pendant la guerre.

analyse du tissus urbain simplification

urban fabric analysis channel hierarchy

analyse du tissus urbain

hiérarchie des voies urban fabric analysis

channel hierarchy

B B

B

A A A

C C C

AUne first première main track (A)principale (A) voie voie secondaire tournant autour(B) de l’ilot (B) AUne secondary road around the block auofcœur de l’ilot(C) (C) AUne thirdtroisième enteringrentrant the heart the block A first main track (A) Chaque voie, peuaround importe son statut,(B) possède des cavités.

A secondary road block Every track, regardless of the its status, has cavities.

A third entering the heart of the block (C) Plus on s’approche centre deof l’ilot on observe de taille of sizes The closer you get toduthe center theplus block, the moreune youhiérarchie see a hierarchy mais aussi de complexité.

Onstatus, peut l’assimiler à un niveau de privacité.

Every track, regardless of its has but also complexity.

It can be likened to acavities. level of privacy.

The closer you get to the center of the block, the more you see a hierarchy of sizes but also complexity. It can be likened to a level of privacy.

Dense, small-scale industrial sectors like Seunsangga provide access to jobs that don't require a university education, but offer fairly strong career progression and skills acquisition opportunities. In contrast to service or retail businesses, manufacturing SMEs enable a lasting rela- tion with local communities.

For these reasons, governments around the world are beginning to recognize the value of these industrial sectors and their central position in the city.

Seunsangga's primary qualities are . rapid exchange of information .synergy between the various players .simplified product customization The problem with the major intervention policies to date is that they focus on a single, global, instantaneous regeneration, not a continuous process.

There's been a certain amount of awareness since the river was redesigned.

The main idea behind a balance between control and laissez- ser-faire is to differentiate between what can be controlled, what needs to be controlled, what needs to be repaired/modified and what needs to be left freer.