Subjective Objectivity
Architecture is about giving shape to life. Every single different stories people make that I wonder.
Hope my attitude toward life, people, and space be drawn at the figures.
Immersed in small things, may be wary of big things.
Wish I could be an balanced architect based with subjectivity based of objectivity.
I used to think this was the beginning of your story. Memory is a strange thing. It doesn't work like what I thought I did. We are so bound by time. By its order...
<Stories of yours and others>, Ted Chiang
Not fancy, but fertile.
Curriculum Vitae
Name
Birth
E-mail Phone Brunch
MinJun Gu 1995.04.10 / Republic of Korea
winmike2541@gmail.com
+82 10 5619 2510 brunch.co.kr/winnie2541
Education School of Architecture, Hongik Univ. 2017 - Present
Han-il High School 2011 - 2014
Experience KIMNAM 2022. 07 - 2022.08 / Internship
2021. 04 - 2021. 07 / Internship
Solidstates 2019.07 - 2019.08 Internship
Catalyst 2017. 04 - 2018.04 / Part Time. Marketing Team
Activities
Founder of Studio ATDA
2022.02 - Present
Bruch Writer 2020.08 - Present
Military Service(Auxiliary Police)
2019. 08 - 2021. 03
Student Representative
2019. 03 - 2019. 07
Platform B
* 2022.09 - 2022.12
* Academic Work
* Personal Project
* Bomun-dong, Seoul, Republic of Korea
* Distribution Center, Sports Centre, Residential
GEOGRAPHY
The site Bomun-dong, as a part of Sungbuk-gu, is filled with domestic handicrafts factories supplying clothes to the fashion hub of Seoul, Dongdaemun. Changshindong and Sungin-dong are similar to Bomun-dong in the aspect that they have domestic handicrafts factories as well. But those three towns differ in geographical characteristics. The formers’ landscapes are steep while the latter’s slope is quite gentle. The differences are shown obviously in the figure-ground.
MOTORCYCLES, SCENERY, INDUSTRY
Motorcycles, which deliver unfinished fabric and clothes between Dongdaemun and Bomun-dong, are major elements forming the scenery of the town. Narrow one-way roads combined with delivery motorcycles makes pedestrian environment dangerous. The decline of domestic clothing industry and the rise of autonomous mobility technology trigger novel imagination about the future scenery of Bomun-dong.
Distribution system of domestic clothing industry is divided into time-based delivery system, individual order-based delivery system, and place-based delivery system. The first is a system which truck delivers fabric and clothes visiting domestic factories int the town at the appointed time. Motorcycles carrying goods between customers and factories run the second system. The last is a system in which goods are delivered to specific place and the person interested pick up the goods. ‘Platform B’ is designed to fulfill the needs of current distribution system. In ‘hybrid delivery system’ autonomous mobility robots manage the distribution in the town, while other mobilities manage the out of town deliveries.
Motorcycles, as a major mean of delivery, are easily found in Bomun-dong. Some of them are remodeled to carry more clothings and fabric.
SITE, PROGRAM
Two factors are considered for the location of the Platform B : 1. Large scale development should be possible to accompany the amount of distribution commodities. 2. Access to Sungin-road which current delivery traffics use mostly for the distribution should be easy.. Taking account to those factors, the decided site is currently occupied by 12 identical residential buildings. Because of fences surrounding the residential buildings, small alley inside the current block is in no use despite of its existence.
Platform B is comprised of distribution center with autonomous mobility robots, residences for one-person household and small family, and sports center for the locals. Both the distribution center and sports center need large scale spaces for operational reasons. Thus, two programs are placed in the middle of the mass as a form of platform while residences are attached to the platform on the side.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE, STRUCTURE
The project presumes the future in which autonomous mobility and people are mixed. Taking the uncertainty into account, Platform B is designed to accommodate uncertain programs and uses of the future.
Two residential masses are supported by surrounding columns and core structures in the middle. On the other hand, diagonal trusses in between core and shear walls support the platform. Platform B strategically vacates the space for uncertain future occupancy. Furthermore, piloti space on the ground level is emptied for semi-exterior space for commodity loading area, parking lot for personal mobilities and park. Semi-exterior space can be turned into interior space for commercial programs.
FREEDOM, RESIDENTIAL, FAÇADE
The project deliberates role of architecture for uncertain future uses. Undecided, the project has to be all about freedom. Structural freedom is devised to make the platform work. Spatial composition of residential area speaks of freedom as well.
Service area is located between the residences and the platform on each floor. The area act as a buffer zone between residential area and platform area for the public. Bathroom is located in the center of each houses. Residential area can be divided by curtain and sliding door if needed. Users can freely organize their own houses to their own taste.
To accentuate freedom of program and structure, the façade is made of curtain wall. In case of privacy for residences, outer wall rises up to 700mm, which is the same height of tables and some furniture, blocking the sight from the surroundings. Curtain and built-in blinds by the curtain wall guarantee the privacy. Dwellers taste for curtain and furniture, or lifestyle, make the impression of the façade.
Pseudo House 02
* 2022.01 - 2022.03
* Junglim Award Competition, "Korea-ism of the current"(Finalist)
* Team Project as a team leader
* Jeongbalsan-dong, Goyang City, Republic of Korea
* Private House
似而非(pseudo)
: looks real at glance, but not real or genuine
Language reflects the times and culture. Korean meme ‘Guk-rule’ is an good example of language reflecting the times in Korea. ‘Guk-rule’ is a composite word of Korean word ‘Gukmin’, meaning citizens, and rule. As a compound, it refers to the customs everyone follows. Koreans are fanatically self-conscious of others’ gaze. Koreans wear the black to be unnoticed among the group. Collective consciousness is deeply rooted in Korean culture, which is why ‘Guk-rule’ becomes the meme.
Eulji-ro is a weird town in Seoul. Although buildings in the front are shabby, alley is full of crowdy pubs and restaurants. The bars and cafes emit red and yellow lights among the old print and engineering shops. Juxtaposition of old industrial city and new commercial facilities makes unique atmosphere of the town. Just like the cityscape of Eulji-ro, Korea of nowadays is mixed up with unharmonious elements. Strange, but familiar.
The current Korea is quite pseudo. To meet the normality defined by the collective, people disguise themselves with pseudo persona. H wever, genuineness can’t be disguised. It reminds of a man wearing a black jacket on the outside and a showy green cloth for the inner. Black jacket masks the truth with collective consciousness. But personal identity cannot be hidden by shallow disguise. The personality disguised by clumsy camouflage comes as unfamiliarity.
Concept Drawing »
Fake concrete facade and the green marble wall disguise the genuinity. However, awkward pretending can be noticed in the end.
The site is in Goyang City, built with a masterplan considerate of road grids, residential blocks, and green axis. Over 20 years after the first masterplan, the city has become self-sustainable and grown organically. The site is surrounded by homogeneous 4-floor height public housings. Combined with old housings and new buildings, the site has become a popular place among the locals. Emerging programs like café and restaurants add a new time layer on the masterplan city. Besides, the site is located in a slightly curved parcel in the city’s grid shaped urban fabric. The site looks unique among the surrounding homogeneous buildings.
Pseudo House is familiar but strange. The exterior resembles buildings with cafes and restaurants on the first floor. The living room and kitchen on the first floor look alike furniture showroom and restaurants in the neighbor, attracting pedestrians’ attention. However, pedestrians soon recognize the concrete façade are fake mimicry of surrounding buildings without actual openings on the upper floors. Strangeness also derives from the location of the entrance to the house. Unlike usual private houses, the entrance is on the second floor. It reminds of Korean housing culture, in which people no longer step on their own yards because of apartment lifestyle.
Pseudo House consists of a living room and kitchen on the first floor, Youngja and Youngcheol's room, Minsu's room, and Yewon's room entering from the second floor. The reason why rooms are called by each individual’s name, not master’s room or children’s room, is to represent the housing as a small society of individuals rather than a private house. Individuals’ room are separated from public space(living room and kitchen) by a green marble wall. Living room can be accessed only from the second floor following the green marble wall. Private rooms are completely hidden by twostory height walls in the living room. The first floor exposed to the road feels like a show window space that boasts luxurious life.
Private area begins at the end of entrance on the second floor. Youngja and Youngcheol's rooms are on the first, second and third floors, Minsu's rooms are on the first and second floors, and Yewon's rooms are on the second and third floors. The 2.4-meter-wide private room is small, but it includes beds, desks, hobby spaces, and restrooms across multiple floors. It allows independent life without the need to use the public space behind the green marble wall. One stays in one’s room much longer time than public area of the house, such as living room and kitchen. A room is more than a room. It is one’s universe. Multi-story private rooms are narrow but long, which enables independency even in the collectives.
The green wall, which rises up to third floor, divides the house into collective space and individual space. The wall that makes the façade of the North-East elevation is fake. It only mimics the façade pattern of the surrounding buildings made of solid concrete. Pseudo façade pretends the normality. On the third floor, only the wall rises up and hides the terrace Youngja and Youngcheol’s room from the neighbors. Three independent rooms are placed behind the green wall. Pseudo house pretends to be a concordant house. Just like Korea, where only visible parts are neat, congregation of individual rooms behind the green wall makes the mass irregular.
Current status of Korea is pseudo. Everything looks similar overall. Observed closely, one can find heterogeneous aggregation, not a homogeneous identities. The boundary between the normal and the abnormal is ambiguous. It is because individuals disguises the intrinsic difference to assimilate themselves to the collective. However, strangeness arises from the gap between the fake and the reality. Pretending a concordant family and identical private a house as the neighbors, Pseudo House is both familiar and weird. Things look real at first glance, but it’s fundamentally different and pseudo.
Blurred 03
Programatical Versatility, Church
Church is like a music hall the public can use with no need to purchase expensive tickets to enter. Church is solemn in the time of worship. People sing and dance in church. Church is a place where important ceremonies, from marriage full of joy to funeral of sadness and mourning, are held in. Church also carry out the role of local education facility for the youths. No place is like church in which such a complex activities are held. Spatial composition of church, where many believers pay attention to the pastor on the foundation, is similar to that of music hall in which audiences look at the central stage. However, the only difference is that the church is a public space open to everyone for free.
Huam Lily Church, where more than 100 church members worship every Sunday, Is the most crowded place in Huam-dong. The Huam Lily Church is divided into the main building with a chapel and an annex with a kindergarten and a restaurant, by 4-meter-wide road. 8-meter-wide parking space in front of the chapel can be used as a event space, combined with the 4-meterwide road. Unlike the church's ideology of faith and the evangelism of love, all rituals and events of the church had a closed form that took place only inside the two building buildings. The site has an advantage of allowing neighbors to gather in through alleys. However, duration of occupancy is short because of inadequate exterior space.
Yards For Variable Uses
In return, the project proposes a magnetic field like church in which both exterior and interior space become a church. First, the project begins with the purchase of three parcels adjacent to the existing church and construction of six buildings. Arranging programs(residence for socially disadvantaged people, accommodation for travelers, chapel, restaurant, kindergarten, and library) into six buildings, different exterior spaces are formed in between them. The yard between the chapel and the restaurant building is used as a place for outdoor picnics and kimchi making event in fall. The yard beside the small meeting rooms and kindergarten can be used both as an outdoor chapel and playground for the youths. Yards linked to the program of neighboring buildings have different characteristics and embrace variable programs.
Urban Research, Small Interventions
Huam-dong is located at the hillside of the Mt. Namsan. The slopy landscape of the site had a great influence on the way buildings are placed on the ground. Vertical architectural approaches such as podium, stairs, and fences are employed in order to cope with the land slope. The site has 3 meter altitude difference in the East-West direction. Comparatively, there is slight height difference in the North-South direction. Accordingly, in the East-West direction, small steps and podium were placed to connect buildings and yards, while radical interventions such as sunken garden and stands are used in the North-South direction. Small architectural interventions, easily found in the neighboring area, further enrich the spatial experience of the narrow and monotonous site.
Boundary, Blurred
The project began with curiosity that the space between the existing church buildings divided into two separate buildings could have the potential to expand as a church area. Considering publicity of the church, newly constructed church is designed to spread throughout the neighboring area like viruses. Zoning of the yards is deliberated to accommodate variable purposes. Buildings maintain the current programs of the church while adding new residential facilities for the socially disadvantaged and travelers. Versatile application of programs might earn profits to the church community. Small interventions borrowed from urban research enrich spatial experiences and remind one of scenery of Huamdong. The church is not simply subordinate to the interior space of the building. It is where everyone can stay regardless of religion. The boundary of the church becomes blurred.
Mountain Like School 04
* 2021.09 - 2021.12
* Academic Work(Personal)
Renovation and Possibilities
The existing school is located at the foot of Mt. Yongma. Because it is at the highest point in the neighborhood, students can enjoy panoramic view over the city. The school consists of a new building in the west, the main building in the east and north, which are subject to the renovation project. There is small park in the eastern part of the plot on the hillside. Panoramic view of Seoul can be seen toward the west and north. Apartments are located in the southern part of the plot. Despite the possibility of connection with the surroundings, the mass of the current school is ‘c’ shape, in which every classrooms are arranged toward the playground.
Mountain, Full of Relationships
Triangular silhouette is the first thing that comes in mind when one recalls of mountain. It’s a massive chunk. But in reality, mountain is a collective of trees, animals, land, and layers of time. Winding paths and shelters are placed in the mountains. Mountain is full of relationships. Elementary school is also a place with countless relationships: students, teachers, administrative staffs, and even local residents. Besides, school can be linked with the neighbors. Hope the school be like the mountains.
Cascading Exterior Garden for Mingling
Classrooms are divided into junior classrooms, senior classrooms, and mobile learning classes. Junior classrooms are located in the west, senior classes in the east, and the mobile learning classes in the south-east building. Free from the existing ‘C’ shaped mass, where every classrooms looking down at the playground, cascading exterior garden was planned between masses. The garden links the existing shelter in the mountain to new buildings and serves as an event space. Smaller than playground, the garden can accommodate smaller outdoor events like picnic and bazaars. Cascading garden is where every students, teachers, local residents can mingle regardless of age and affiliation
« 1:100 Model / Stairs Following Facade of Library
» 1:100 Model / Terrace Space on top of Auditorium
• Atrium Linking Old and New Building
Atrium, Layers of Time,
Facade
Contrast of old and new can be found at the atrium linking the newly constructed building and the existing building. The current dry-bit outer walls were replaced with red bricks, which remind of neighboring buildings. Façade facing inward were finished with wooden panels. Red bricks resemble the robust feature of the mountain while wooden panels recall the comfort of the mountain.
« Plan / Atrium Linking Old and New Building
» Existing Status Section
School on Hillside of Mountain
The space used as a piloti parking lot in the western new building was interiorized to create a local library on the B2 and B1 floors, and a student-only library was placed on the first floor, the same level as the playground. Stairs linking public library and studentonly library can be accessed with security cards. 8m-height Multipurpose auditorium, where users can enjoy panoramic view over Seoul, is at the northern building. Students can look down the auditorium at the playground because of its height difference between the south and the north. The roof of the auditorium becomes a terrace space with a view over the playground. The terrace in front of the cafeteria becomes an informal meeting place at lunch.
Frame Your Community 05
*
As of 2018, Instagram is a mammoth SNS Platform with more than one billion active user accounts monthly. The reason why Instagram is popular is that one can see what others do through the platform. Observing what people like and how they think, one can think of his/her preferences.
The next step for Instagram, which has established online community, is to reconstructure offline community. The headquarter project proposes new face to face community among Instagram users and staffs by applying the actual operation method of the platform : observing what others do.
Using polycarbonate facade for the podium, and colored aluminium facade for the upper office floors, the facade strategically shows different characteristics of programs. Polycarbonate facade is an experiment of transparency, which stimulates curiosity of the public. Maintaining proper amount of illumination, it gives visual lightness to the building. The facade of floating office floors have five different sizes of frames, showing the identity of Instagram HQ.
Typical Floors Office floors(5F - 15F) are designed in consideration of corporation's department structure, in which 17 departments are involved. As an IT corp, 17 divisions communicates with each other frequently. Thus, vertical circulation except for the core connects 2 or 3 floors to facilitate casual meetings among other workers in different teams.
Podium
Podium(1F - 4F), open to the public, consists of meeting rooms for 'Instameet' and libraries with books related with humanities, films, and any other hobies. A large mezzanine penetrating 4 floors is formed in the podium. The mezzanine aligns with the public plaza with vegetation. The void enables people to observe what others do, read, and what kind of meetings they have, searching for their own preferences.
Harbor does not belong to neither the land nor the sea. The Harbor of Loano is operating just functionally, reflecting the needs of the past.
Exclusive experience in harbor as a transfer space between the land and the sea is never considered.
Besides, present axial flow inbetween the amenitites is insufficiently used. Meanwhile, physical experience of human beings hasn't changed yet despite online network and aerial transportation have diminished the status of harbor as a node point of adventure. The architecture should act as 'Lingua Franca' transcending time by focusing on perpetual, bodily experience.
Watch how the surface of the sea changes by day and night. Lean on the blowing wind filled with scent of the deep sea. Listen carefully to the voice of tranquil wave. Look forward to the venture of the sea. Look back on the everyday life on the land.
• The proposal takes three main actions to deliver the lingua franca.
1. Set frames to view the surrounding environment.
2. Let the architecture be as texture.
3. Reinvigorate sequential experience following the axial circulation by the sea.
Mast like FRP module divides each hotel room and forms balcony area. Each modular facade of the balcony reflects sunlight with different angles. (Bld A) Undulating facade and ceiling, which resmeble the waves of the sea, blurs inside and outside. (Bld B) Bld C reminds of Roman Villas of the land, maintaining its original orange facade. Steel frames and tessellated glass facade are inserted inbetween the masses. (Bld C) Massive stucco roof forms a horizontal frame toward the harbor and the sea. Pocket garden between the segmented masses makes circulation more pedestrian-friendly. (Bld D) Sanitation and rest areas are made with modules which can be recognized easily. Arch-like deck forms a frame toward the sea for swimmers and beach users. (Area E)
* 2019.07 - 2019.08
* Design and Production
* Project Seoul Competition
* Internship at Solidstates
* 2022.07 - 2022.08
* Image Production
* Project Seoul Competition
* Internship at KIMNAM
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Winston Churchill