2024 by Jaewon Choi

PORTFOLIO 2024

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION BY JAEWON CHOI

JAEWON CHOI

GRAFTING NEW CONTEXT FOR URBAN FRAGMENTS

Attracting People and Revitalizing the Site

Chouteau’s Landing in St. Louis is an area just south of the Gateway Arch National Park along the Mississippi River. In early 1900s, Chouteau’s Landing used to be the area that led Saint Louis’ economy. However, today it is characterized by vacant buildings and empty lots, is cut off from the urban context of downtown and the Arch Ground Park. The riverside site is blocked by flood protection walls and cut off from the park by massive infrastructural systems of highways and railroads. In addition, most buildings and land have been neglected or abandoned due to the region’s decline in industry and population growth. The project explores the possibility of creating a new context for this neglected and isolated urban fragment by allowing the city to bring events and people back into these marginalized spaces.

RESULT

2022 SARA National Design Awards, 2023 SARA NY Awards Student Scholarship, Excellence Award

Architizer a+ awards Finalist

PROGRAM Extreme Sport Arena

LOCATION

Saint Louis, USA

INSTRUCTOR

Sung Ho Kim

MEMBER

Individual Work

Urban Fragments in Downtown (Chouteau’s Landing)

1942 St. Louis Riverfront after demolition for Gateway Arch 2022 Chouteau's Landing

From the late 1800s to the early 1900s,Chouteau's Landing played a key role in the regional economy. However, new highway infrastructure was built, and the population in the city began to move outward to the suburbs. As a result, the city of Saint Louis suffered from population decline and de-industrialization. In 1930, the government planned Gateway Arch National Park as part of Urban Renewal to make the city more attractive. However, the government could not prevent population decline in the city. Chouteau's Landing is in contact with downtown. But no one visits there. The riverside was blocked by flood protection walls and cut off from the park by massive infrastructures such as highways and railroads. In addition, most buildings and land have been neglected or abandoned due to the region's decline in industry and population.

Grafting New Skins for the broken and fragmented urban context allows the site to revitalize by creating new spatial typologies that are interlaced and mixed with existing conditions. The new skins are the bandage and healing strategy for regenerating the city.

Double Layers

Concept Diagram: Grafting New Skin

SITE

Structural Context

The Project borrowed the form of the Gateway Arch as a structural Context as it moved from conceptual design to architectural design. In this project, the overall shape was designed using New Skin and Arch-shaped structures.

New Skin + Structural Context

Two Layers of New Skin

Steel Rods, Fabric, Chipboard

The first layer is woven with the existing context of the highway to create new iconic spaces. The first layer takes reference from the Gateway Arch and its monumental scale by defining a vertical canopy across the highway and the abandoned ground. The second layer is created to respond to the ground surface underneath the highway. To maximize the existing ground topography, new programs of Olympic standard BMX racing and freestyle arena is developed to bring events and people back into the city.

1/16” Final Model

Grafting New Skin

Final Model Image 2

Half Pipe Track and Entrance

Railroad side View of FInal Model

Highway of Final Model

Gathering Space of Final Model

Black Desert Resort

Walking on the Moon

MEMBER

Wendell Burnette Architects

LOCATION

Black Desert, Saudi Arabia

WORK TIME

September, 2023

PERSONAL PART

Design Development

3D Modeling

Drawing Construction Diagram

Draft Rendering

The IDEA for the otherworldly Black Desert Guest Experience is ‘walking on the moon’, wherein the Black Desert Resort is occasionally touching-down-on-the-ground but most of the time it is floating…hovering just above the cinder cone/lava field edge condition defying gravity and extending each and every lucky guest group along ‘a walking line’ into this sometimes-pitch-black lunar landscape framed by proximate/ distant mountain ranges and into epic sunsets ever outwards into the Red Sea. The guest room plan/resort DNA is about viewing - the expansive room of the landscape – ‘as if you are walking’, i.e. you can look in ‘all-directions-at-once’ including the infinite milky way streaming across the Arabian desert night.

Construction Diagram

1. Civil Work 0. Site

2. Structure

4. Plug in Prefabricated Modular Units

6. Construction on the Site

7. Sun and Wind Screen, Entrance Canopy

8. Construction Complete

5. Vertical Circulation

3. Walkway

2. LANDING ON THE MOON SCHEME

The second scheme for the otherworldly Black Desert Guest Experience is 'landing on the moon', which is more precisely at the 'ideal vantage point/ edge condition' directly below the 'lava fountain' of the cinder cone and the ever-expansive lava field. The foodprint is more compact and therefore its visual impact from the guest approach is minimal relative to client's goals. From approach, the guest suites fully recessed glass will not be seen and maybe only the Living room glass will need to be retractable.

Construction Diagram

2. Construction on the site

3. Plug in prefabricated modular 4. Construction Complete

1. Civil Work, Foundation

Specific Personal Part

Site Modeling with Context

3D Modeling and Draft Rendering with Context - Scheme_1

3D Modeling and Draft Rendering with Context - Scheme_2

Final Physical Model Image - 1,2

Final Physical Model Image - 1

Final Rendering Image -3

Final Rendering Image - 4

Specific Personal Part

Site Modeling with Urban Context Eye-Level View with Urban Context

3D Modeling, Draft Rendering, Final Rendering

Making Site Physical Model with the First Floor, Plants

Bonham Residence

Private Residence Project

Architectural Designer at Wendell Burnette Architects

Project Type: Residence

Role: Design Development, 3D Modeling, Physical Model

Dialogue House Remodel

Private Residence Project

Architectural Designer at Wendell Burnette Architects

Project Type: Residence, Remodel

Role: Design Developmentv, 3D modeling, Final Rendering

CORPORATE RETREATS

Design Process

Axonometric Architecture Drawing

What I focus on the design is utilization and reservation of landscape. Therefore, low floors(education facilities) have interaction with the forest and high floors (Hotel) have a private view of the sea.

The plan of One side hallway can help all guests have a view of the sea.

By concentrating the lobby, resting space, and support facility, the connection between hotel and instruction facilities is active.

B1F: Parking and Service

1F: Education and Support Facility

2,3F: Main Lobby and Support Facility

4,5,6F: Hotel

Rendering Image 1. Rounge and Book Cafe

Rendering Image 2. The Snowscape View

The Instruction facilities planed at projecting parts allow visitor to be educated in the forest.

The parking lot is planed under the piloti naturally made by the landscape

Architecture Plan Drawing

Lecture Theater

Bird’s Eye View of Constructed Project

Site Plan of Constructed Project

Double Room

Facade View Terrace and Ocean View

Completed Construction in 2020

Professional Works

Gyeonggi Regional Headquarters, Korea Asset Management Corporation

Junior Architectural Designer at SAC

Project Type: Working Space, New-build Role: Project Member for Professional Competition, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Document, Construction Management

of My Drawings in Construction Document

Drawing Part

One

Section & Facade Detail Drawing Program: Auto CAD 2012

Professional Works

Gwangju Jeonnam District Headquarters, Korea Asset Management Corporation

Project Type: Working Space, Remodel

Role: Project Member for Professional Competition, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Document, Construction Management

Junior Architectural Designer at SAC Before After

One of My Drawings in Construction Document Section Diagram for Competition

We had to find ways to apply many new systems as this building, which was originally a commercial building, was remodeled into an office building. Because of the low-height floor, we exposed the structure and removed the ceiling. In addition, the underfloor air distribution(UFAD) system was applied to get the floor height as much as possible.

Paramount to the approach of our proposal for Daegu after 10 years are the following:

1. Used CT and IT actively for activating the future of Daegu City where has insisted the conservative countermeasure. (It obviously has a different culture industrial city with distinction because of the participation of the citizens)

2. Newly interpreted the basin which has a special place as the cultural basin.

3. Therefore, our building of this site will stretch to not only main cultural city in the world but also future city of information by the participation of 250 million citizens of Daegu City.

Strategy of Site and Masterplan

This site has different grids from all around (This site is concertrated by the city context) In other words, it is easy for the citizens to approach the site.

When each grid is pulled in this site, the intersection occurs

The existing buildings were placed by avoiding the intersection. ( Intersection areas have been used open spaces )

Therefore, we also planned this idea avoiding the intersection which will be used open spaces like the existing buildings. (It shows that we carefully considered the surrounding contexts )

Master Plan

Location: 2139 Daemyung 3-dong, Namgu, Daegu, Korea. CT and IT will grow like fertile crops by putting CT and IT into new 4 basins which we planned in Daegu