Monographies - Questionology in Architecture by Colibri

Questionology in Architecture

Questionology in Architecture Ga.A Architects + Moongyu Choi

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9 782955 998137

Ga.A Architects + Moongyu Choi

ISBN 9782955998137

Questionology in Architecture Ga.A Architects +

Moongyu Choi There are many learned dichotomies: imaginary/real, shopping/play, natural/synthetic, site/building, culture/commerce. Could architecture blur those dichotomies? [I Like Dalki] For a long time, architecture has tried to conquer nature. Instead, what is the best way to resemble nature? [Hansook Cheong Memorial] How about a building with four different facades? [C Publisher’s Building] Streets are streets. Buildings are buildings. Can streets become a building? [Ssamziegil] No more external addition! Why not internal addition? [Taehaksa] How about a building with different volumes stacked on one another? [Arumdri Media Houses] have clear divisions between rooms and uses. Since when? [Liquid House] Cities are solid with the rigid zoning system. What is the possible shape of a city without zoning? [Liquid City] How about a building of the third nature that respect and respond to nature? The first nature is nature itself and the second nature is its history and context. [KIST Jeonbuk] A suburban house is usually a remote stand-alone building. Why a suburban house can’t have communities? [W Houses] The museum site has maximum building height of 12m. What if we flip the building creating an art platform with various spaces underneath? [MOCA Seoul] Could a building have 25 access points like streets in a city? [SSU Student Union] What is the alternative way to put community space in a dormitory? [K Guest House] Buildings are hardly irrevocable. How does a building house PRADA’s ever-changing nature? [P Flagship Store] Which stance should a building take in a new campus? [Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus] People disappear behind the locked doors. How about facing each other, literally? [Maison de la Corée] What is the alternative for architecture by the street in a dense city? [H Music Library]How do you create spatial continuity in a sloping site? [Woods Kindergarten] Is it possible for a (museum) building to create a landscape and a series of paths at the same time? [National World Writing Museum] As a part of the city organ, is there another way to house various programs? New platform! [UOS Centennial Memorial Hall] All room sizes are different at our house. What if all the rooms are the same size? Architecture is about making space. So why do we sell the apartment in square meters, not cubic meters? [M3] The inside and the outside of the human body are very different. What if inside and outside do not match in the building? [Exterior & Interior] New thinking is like new shoes, uncomfortable but exciting![Questionology in Architecture]

I Protagonisti

Questionology in Architecture Ga.A Architects +

Moongyu Choi

I Protagonisti

Ga.A Architects 5F, 71-5, Bangbae-ro 26-gil, Seocho-gu Seoul Korea www.gaa-arch.com email: gaa99@korea.com tel: +82 2 523 3443 fax: +82 2 523 5121

Questionology in Architecture Ga.A Architects + Moongyu Choi Editorial Director Joseph di Pasquale Editorial Coordination & Graphic Design Pier Alessio Rizzardi Texts Professor Moongyu Choi , Yonsei University Professor John Hong, Seoul National University Editorial staff Elena Tomei Elena Cardani Sales and Marketing Andrea Bini Claire Nardone

© l’Arca International. All rights are reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of l’Arca International. Every effort has been made to gain permission from copyright holders and/or Photographer, where known, for images reproduced in this book, and care has been taken to caption and credit those images correctly. Any omission are unintentional and we will be happy to include appropriate credit in future editions if further information is brought to the publisher’s attention.

I Protagonisti Series of Books: Issue 4 First published in 2019 by Editions de l’Arca International S.A.M. M.D.O., 31, avenue Princesse Grace MC 98000 Monaco ISBN 978-2-9559981-3-7 € 40,00 Achevé d’imprimer Janvier 2019 Dépôt légal Février 2019 Printed in Italy by CPZ SpA, Costa di Mezzate (BG), Italy www.arcadata.com

Contents Building Contingencies: The Architecture of Moongyu Choi Professor John Hong

Conversation with Moongyu Choi Pier Alessio Rizzardi

I Like Dalki Intermixing Real and Imaginary

Hansook Cheong Memorial Nature Reflector

C Publisher’s Building Four-Sided Micro Context

Ssamziegil Vertical Extension of the Street

Taehaksa Publishing Internal Addition

Arumdri Media Expansion of Horizontal Space

Liquid State From House to the City

KIST Jeonbuk First, Second, and Third Nature

W Houses Living in the Suburb

MOCA Seoul Urban Art Platform

SSU Student Union A Viewing Stand in a Dynamic Edge Condition

106

K Guest House Houses with a Community Yard

116

PRADA Flagship Store Ever-Changing Container

126

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus Three-Dimensionally Space Opened to the Campus

134

Y Study House An Expansion of a Transparent Experience

146

Maison de la Corée A Place to Encounter “Openness”

154

H Music Library Urban Interstice

162

Woods Kindergarten Forest Roof For Children

174

National World Writing Museum Garden of Letters

184

UOS Centennial Memorial Hall Open Campus Platform as Part of the Neighbourhood

190

Biography

200

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Prologue

Building Contingencies: The Architecture of Moongyu Choi Text by Professor John Hong Seoul National University

The criteria with which we understand “excellence” in architecture are still crippled by the constant reproduction of images that supplant the part for the whole. Even with the recent backlash against social media, it seems we are witnessing a case of too-littletoo-late, as “viral” images have In the middle of the dot-com boom in 1998, a year before Moongyu Choi founded his office, Mario Gandelsonas in his essay, “The City as the Object of Architecture,” warned us about architecture’s “major obstacle,” namely its dependency on the “totalizing notion” of the city “as a network of monuments.” Twenty years later, we are perhaps still intoxicated by the fumes of the most recent economic bubble where in many cases architecture became the ideological tool of municipalities, developers, and even higher institutions to advertise a sense of economically driven cultural progress. Throughout these last two decades, however, Moongyu Choi has pursued an exemplary body of work, seemingly unaffected by the short-term direction of the many “emerging” leanings of architectural culture. He continues to steadily, almost autonomously, develop

become synonymous with our hyperconnected collective consciousness. This condition is then reinforced and institutionalized by our architecture schools which reward students for “newness” when in actuality their design solutions are better described within the lineage of historical and typological transformation.

his office’s conceptual frameworks: methodologies that eschew monumentality for urban contingency, that replace objectmaking with relational fields. The multiple scales of his operations are somehow like a restless search or more succinctly re-search: He could have easily started from small beginnings and increased the size of his commissions. Instead, we see masterplans in the beginning and end of his portfolio. We also see tiny projects like the Y-Study House in his list of recent works. The thread they all have in common is that they are contingent fragments of a larger urbanscape or conversely urbanscapes that allow the democratic emergence of related fragments. But that is not to say we cannot trace the progression in Choi’s work and learn from their continued refinement. Early projects such as Hansook Cheong Memorial and C Publisher’s Building are like conceptual

exercises for later designs in the way they literally or materially become continuous with their contexts. In Hansook Cheong Memorial for instance, the major program of the conference room is not expressed as a symbolic mass but is a half-submerged base for the building, invisible from the street view. An inscrutable reflective box, with articulation minimized, acts as the project’s anti-object: It hovers over the building’s base reflecting the mountainous surrounds, at times disappearing amidst the cloud cover. The indeterminate moment that keeps this volume from dissolving altogether is a horizontal transparent floor directly beneath it. This gap allows us to understand the reflective box as both finite and infinite, object and field. The project is a theoretical rumination on the role of architecture in its environment. Likewise, in C Publisher’s Building, the façade reflects its context: not through

taut glass, but by literally borrowing from its directly adjacent ground material. In this way, the building has four completely different sides that tectonically and materially seem not to belong to “it” (the building per se), but rather to its surrounds. Conceptually, we are denied the opportunity to apply an easy subject-object relation to the building. In other words, it is not an object that is exterior and separate from us, but part of a contingent field of the city we are contained within. This conceptual inversion compels us to question our assumed notions of what the delimitation between building and city is. Where the above projects work optically and therefore still play within the abstract or even metaphorical realm, Ssamziegil in Seoul’s Insa-dong neighborhood brings the idea of the liminal edge between building and city to actual embodied experience, the way we practice and experience space. The building (if we can even call it that) has no front door but is a space of continuous transition likened to the way urban streets converge continuous movement with social use. The main innovation is introduced in the way the vertical courtyard typology is merged with the surrounding horizontal streetscape: A spiraling ramp is not just the circulation system but also forms the floors of the building itself so that storefronts and programs peel up from Insa-dong’s lively pedestrian-ways making a seamless connection with the city. In the same way streets serve many purposes, Ssamziegil can also host programmatic transitions in the short and long term – instead of an autonomous building, therefore, it is more of an infrastructure inextricably connected to the larger urban field. When designing architecture as contingent with the city, the idea of expansion is not a one-sided ballooning of the envelope to create bigger buildings. It is a reciprocation, what Moongyu Choi calls an “osmotic” relationship between the building and its context. The Soongsil University Student Union, rather than appearing as a monumental center within a campus, is a complex negotiation of space and social conditions. The footprint of the project is a deceptively simple “L” that brackets the narrow zone between the existing formal campus of buildings formed around landscaped quads and the university’s large sports field. However, it is the 12m drop between campus level and field that Choi leverages: The student union’s dynamic section multiplies choices, thus creating new freedoms. With its 25 entrances, a clear demarcation

Prologue

of what is “interior” space is intentionally avoided so that the building can provide as many connections as possible between students and their school. Most notably, a large central stair pulls the circulation from the upper street level and connects students to the playing field below through a kind of “Kline bottle” space that obliquely passes through the entire building while technically remaining outside. Instead of a proliferation of corridors which would too quickly create a sense of interiority, ramps, pockets of collective spaces, and terraces constantly intersect the outside with the inside. In this manner, every surface of the envelope is a space of interchange including the roof itself which acts as a plaza and viewing landscape for the fields below. The final effect is a breathing porosity where the activities of the building expand out to the campus and reciprocally the social life of the campus expands into the student center. Embedded in Gandelsonas’s critique of monumentality is the architecture profession’s deep anxiety about the converse of an object – its negation, its invisibility, its state of being lost within the larger urban scene. Just as Moongyu Choi’s work focuses on the building as part of a network of relations, projects like his H Music Library play with the possibility that a contingent architecture might disappear altogether. Within a dense street in Hannam-dong where adjacent facades compete for prominence, the music library presents itself as an empty frame within the continuous street front. Therefore, what is striking is not the building in and of itself, but what it reveals: Through the negation of massing, monumentality is instead achieved through the opening of a wide vista toward the southern part of Seoul, over dense topographic cityscapes with the Gwanak Mountain peak in the distance. Even as we may be indirectly cognizant of Seoul’s topographic flow, the density of the city many times masks it. H Music Library affords us with an existential, archeological moment where we seemingly hover over layers of urban geography. The paradox of this kind of “non-building” is that it requires careful formal and tectonic efforts to actually create it. For instance, the void space of H Music Library, framed by walls and a roof, is not just a simple rectangular space although it initially seems so. The roof is pitched toward the viewer to minimize its perspectival effect, in essence bringing the vista closer to us by collapsing the depth between the front and back of the frame.

As we enter under the canopied void, we unexpectedly realize the ground plane is also not flat: It is a micro-topography that acts as the actual “façade” of the building. Its bulge and slopes hint at the main programs below-grade while directing pedestrians toward the entrance. This careful detailing of material and sequence hearkens back to Choi’s earliest works where there seems to be a recognition that architecture is a construct, literally and philosophically – it is an instrument that must actively create contingencies. Just like the city cannot be understood by a single building (or a vocabulary by a single sentence), the kind of architecture Moongyu Choi designs and builds cannot be apprehended without their context. In a case of “better-than-nothing,” the international reader of this monograph will have to imagine the efficacy of his architecture through still-frame glimpses. Rather than lament the actual experience of the work, however, we can read into the collection of these projects as a body of knowledge. From Choi’s early buildings which offer distilled insight into an architecture that visually reconstitutes the site, to his later works that are an embodiment of the social, cultural, and material dimensions of a site, we can understand a version of architecture that attempts to generate a constant reciprocity between it and its surrounds. Moreover, if we are to view the projects collectively, it is also useful to think of them as the progression of an important urban theory. In this way, this book is still a work-in-progress, but a significant one that marks a mid-point in the arc of Moongyu Choi’s thinking. In the near future, we will see the completion of a compelling body of buildings that includes the Maison de la Corée, a new educational, cultural, and residential hub for the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris. This project and many others will take on increasing challenges of coordinating sites, histories, and socio-cultural interactivity. Just as this book documents a converging theory of the city while displaying a sometimes surprisingly diverging set of formal and spatial strategies, we will not be able to imagine the literal forms Choi’s new projects will take on. But that is a positive thing and the wider lesson of his statement: That a project is never a finished “product” to be consumed as an image but a beginning point and dialogical catalyst. Instead of presenting a fixed monumentality, Moongyu Choi’s architecture opens up a cascading field of potentials between architecture and the city.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Pier Alessio Rizzardi

Conversation with Moongyu Choi

SSAMZIEGIL: UNEXPECTED EFFECTS […] Have you already visited Ssamziegil in Gwanhun-dong? It is near where you are staying. Yes. It is indeed a remarkable building with explosive potential… Surely many people were walking in the building as always. Ssamziegil is a quite

small building with 70 small shops along the spiral ramp, starting from the court to the rooftop. Though building’s popularity has stayed the same, the building itself has been changing ever since the opening of 2003. It is already old and worn out. Also, you can find graffiti in every corner of the building. Yamamoto Riken visited once and loved that chaotic atmosphere. Because too many people show up every

day, both the client and the owner have had many maintenance issues. Starting with its program “shopping”, this project is all about making space of public qualities to attract people. However, somehow it worked too effective, and well that had brought the congestion of people. After one year from the opening, the owner decided to charge the admission fee, not just for the profit but for the hope to control the

number of visitors. Which lead people to ask “Do I have to pay for walking the street and taking pictures?” (Ssamzie is the name of the client and Gil is “street” in Korean.) Even though the owner had his rights – people felt injustice. Visitors viewed this building not merely commercial but a public space; like streets in the city. The owner’s website got paste over his decision of admission fee, and he had to recant it just after one week. Everything emerged from the composition of the building. Yes, it came from my design, and it was all my faults! [laughs] All these problems, both overcrowd and degradation was a chain reaction from the building itself. This structure can be defined as a new archetype for shopping, with a significant impact on the public as well. Even though the building is private property, when it is open, the public owns and uses the spaces. The goal is to provide easier access to the public, and the focus is not on being a unique building. Instead, it is on the connectivity and accessibility. In Ssamziegil, the pedestrians enjoy looking inside the building for shopping and outside of the building for the surroundings. It links the urban fabric both visually and physically, bringing a powerful sense of connection and changing the notion of a building to the streets.

Conversation with Moongyu Choi

the real owner of those spaces every day. When I became a teenager, cars started to occupy streets. Since then, cars dominated everywhere. However, no compelling policy or design had been introduced to create alternative urban areas in the city. I miss those spaces a lot. This loss of urban space, regardless of its size, is a big problem because it is where people meet others and learn their differences. I think the role of the buildings within the city framework should be about this. Also, I am trying to propose more and more “open structures” which encourage public gatherings – even where it is not easy and even where the rules of urban planning do not welcome it. I believe it is a way to leave a good legacy for the generations to come… I know speaking of public space is a cliché. However, I feel pity for not talking to avoid seeming like one. Despite all the talks, we do not have enough good public spaces yet. We overuse the word “public” without making actual space for the public. Architects from all over the world are using it to sound good. They do projects with the word “public,” but when you check them in reality, the public cannot enjoy their spaces. It is real hypocrisy! What they make is an extra space with “green” on top. It is essential to build a real public space as an integral part of architecture; inside and outside.

Ssamziegil’s success, I had the opportunity to participate and compete with them. The current structure is no doubt iconic and sculptural. However, its main entrance is from the metro station which makes the main level underground. Other entries are hardly visible or accessible from the street level. Once you get inside, even at the street level, you cannot see the outside. Even with a relatively fluid environment, you feel trapped inside. It is undoubtedly a unique space, but it lacks the integration with the surroundings and becomes a closed, selfstanding object. I think Zaha has built a self-referential legacy. I cannot appreciate this attitude in Seoul which has a history of its own. The current DDP replaces any traces of the past; Dongdaemun stadium, the very first stadium built in 1925. My idea was very different from the current DDP. It started from the preservation of the green at the stadium which holds the memories of the players and visitors. It was about the shift from a built volume to open, green space in the city which evolved with the distribution of various small elements connecting pedestrians – integration with the city than isolation of a mega-structures or a legacy.

CITY INTERFACE

INNOVATIVE IMAGES VS INNOVATIVE SPACES

You often use the concept of “in-between space,” an area halfway in the building and the urban context, leaving the people to interact and increases the dynamic of pedestrian flow. … When I was a kid, which was the 1960s, there were not many cars in the streets, even in Seoul. So all the alleys and empty lots were for us children to play. We were

You had created a proposal for the area where the “Dongdaemun Design Plaza” now stands. What do you think of the project realized by Zaha Hadid? The commissioner, Seoul Metropolitan Government, had invited eight architects including four international (Steven Holl, FOA, MVRDV, and Zaha Hadid) and 4 Koreans for the competition. With the

The beginning of the DDP project was a significant date as well for a substantial cultural shift in Korea. 2008 marked the changing in the minds of clients – form “square meters” logic to “excellence logic.” For many other local architects, this has meant more projects and more quality in architecture. What is your experience? I have not been influenced by “shift” that much. Regardless of their scale, most of my projects are of the public than private. Since I have not been working with the developers, I am free from all the logic for “FAR game.” (Floor Area Ratio; the title of the Korean Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2016) I am trying to do more public projects,

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

and that is why more than half of my projects are from competitions. They vary in types, from education building to office, and in scales.

better, urban designers and bureaucracies are not changing yet. They are the people connected to the government, quite conservative, working with huge real estate companies. As a jury once said, “This project is new and brilliant, but it has nothing to do with urban planning I know.” […] PODIUM AS A REALIZED UTOPIA

peoples’ movements and use of spaces, this porous building brings neighboring buildings together and intersects at different levels. I am a firm believer in mixing different level and spatial fluidity both in and outside – to combine programs within the architectural complexity… I think this is a unique complexity, shaped by both tradition of Korean architecture and current city dynamics.

In many projects, you create plazas on top of accessible communal podiums. These spaces have public properties that are impossible to confine. I always want to make a new space for the people, not iconic buildings. […] I want to propose alternative spaces with possibilities. That could explain why and what I am doing now; making podiums and open spaces. […] In the Student Union of Sungsil University, all the roofs are easily accessible and open to the public. From the roof, people can both to watch soccer matches and to stage the city view. Even when the structure is closed, you can always access here. It is the biggest building in the campus but has a little impact because it is hidden in the ground and connects the surroundings. Stemmed from an in-depth analysis of the

It has always been considered utopian to create a separation between pedestrian and car fluxes. How does this logic work in your projects and how does it not tail – like in many all encompassing structures from the past? I think complexity could explain it all. Making the clean separation between pedestrian and car is easy. However, in reality, you have to deal with the more complicated movement of people. In the Student Union of Sungsil University, there are more than 25 doors to access the building – it is a real nightmare for the caretakers and deliverers. [laughs] I know – it is a little crazy because usually, a building has only two doors; front and back. However, in this building, one can take different routes every time to go all around the campus. Also, there are halfway spaces,

You enjoy the possibilities of competitions. [laughs] Not much! I do not enjoy competitions. Too much work to do and few chances to win. Also, when I get invited to a competition, recently that is several times every year, I have to do it… However, competition is a “must” for me to try a new project and building type. It also gives me time to think about the city. In this complicated, fragmented situation here in Seoul, large-scale projects are very challenging. With the competitions, I get a chance to think about it. I have been invited and participated in large-scale urban projects and new districts planning and learned a lot about urbanism. I wanted to escape the typical logic based on grid block and zoning regulation, and create a fluid city – not the organic shape – fighting against the alienation and disconnection of spaces. We need to find a logic that can generate a superimposition of different functions to support and to develop exciting urban life and stimulate the sense of belonging. Though the situation is slowly getting

Conversation with Moongyu Choi

neither the outside nor the inside. Here, people are safe from the rain and severe sunburns without missing the fresh air and warmth of the sun. My generation learned these from school, yet we cannot find them very often. CRITICAL MOMENTS OF THE CAREER […] I studied at Colombia University, then I went to Japan for a year to work for Toyo Ito. Back in Korea, I worked in medium-sized offices for seven years. In 1999, I founded my office, and in 2005, I became a professor. In your buildings, I see something from Steven Holl, from Toyo Ito, and related American architecture… I also see some experimentation derived from research and something with critical regionalism features. It seems you try to escape from a defined language and style… I went to Columbia to study because I felt I could not do anything in Korea in the 1980s. The oppression of education did not leave the possibility of new ideas. After three years in New York, I went to Toyo Ito’s office in Tokyo. In Japan, there was an active discussion about space and changes in society; nomadism, urban flows of people, shifts in family structure. They were trying

to avoid any reference to formal gesture – it was challenging. I learned both Japanese and new language of architecture. Admittedly, both Steven Holl and Toyo Ito have an influence on me. However, I think the most important teachers for me were in “Paju Book City” – the real collective effort of both Korean and foreign architects. There were so many good architects! Whenever I visited my building sites, I saw new projects going up. After discussing with other architects there, I always learned something new – this experience made me think then about where I am and what I am doing and thinking. Thanks to Paju Book City, I could see the problems of my projects and understand much more of what I had done and what I want to do in the future. ONLY VILLA SAVOYE CAN REMAIN THE SAME How to build a positive urban fabric? What do you teach your students? It is a political matter. The price of the land and the apartment continues to rise, and people are pushed to move far away from the city to where only fewer services and lower quality of life are possible. They can try staying in the city, but just in tiny spaces. We need solutions

to these situations. Usually, the quality of an apartment is decided by the market economy. So it is something that I can hardly change. On the other hand, public space is something architects can work on and make a substantial impact at the qualitative level – Forget about the quality of an apartment. It is a lost battle. Rather, you focus on interface between apartment and parking lot, parking lot and the road, the road and the city. I do not want to waste my time designing luxury duplex apartments because these are already quite fixed and dictated by the market. “Ssamziegil” was surprising. People used it very differently from what I designed. For example, I intended spaces to increase the movement, but instead, they were to stay… It is impossible to know everything. […] I think people should have the opportunity to renew buildings – even the grand buildings of the past – for contemporary uses. Structures merely serve only 30 to 40 years, and an architect needs to understand this to make one that makes sense. Architecture is not some art display in the museum. Apart from buildings like “Villa Savoye,” which are worth preserving, most architectures need to be used by people and adapt accordingly. It is the natural cycle of life.

Questionology in Architecture

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I Like Dalki Location Heyri Art Valley, South Korea

Architect in Charge Moongyu Choi (Ga.A Architects) + Minsuk Cho (Mass Studies) + James Slade (Slade Architecture) Use Neighborhood Facilities, Exhibition, Shop, Kids Play Park Year 2002 Site Area 3,583m2

Building Area 1,286m2 Gross Floor Area 2,010m2 Coverage Ratio 36% Gross Floor Ratio 56% Building Scale Three Stories Above Ground Structure SRC Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

I Like Dalki

Intermixing Real and Imaginary

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

I Like Dalki

“Dalki”, an imaginary girl who lives in a garden with her friends, is a cartoon character invented to market clothes and products for children and teenagers. In the Dalki Theme Park building, Dalki and her friends interact with human visitors, intermixing the real and the imaginary. The space accommodates shopping, playing, eating and lounging as well as exhibitions dealing with scale, nature, and the Dalki characters. Through atmosphere and scale, the

building emboldens a critical distance through a questioning of learned dichotomies (imaginary/real, shopping/ play, natural/synthetic, site/ building, culture/commerce). In essence, a “suspension of disbelief” potentially keeps users from fully engaging the realization of this imaginary world. Borrowing strategies from literature, a fluid organization of space and program blurs dichotomies and eases users into the story of Dalki. The building defines three zones vertically.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

I Like Dalki

15 The open ground level is a scaleless artificial garden. Different program areas spread throughout the raised interior space, encourage the mixing between programs and openness. A garden and lounge on the roof extend the natural landscape, referencing four lush surrounding hills. Rather than abstracting it, the building is a hyper-representation of nature, a metareal both mimicking and questioning the “nature” of nature. Merging these two levels into each other and the surrounds create a seamless transition between programmatic zones, between inside and outside, and between building and landscape. A strategic vertical overlap allows another type of connection – the short circuit. Like hypertext in HTML, users can jump in a non-linear way from one space/program to another, bypassing the linear sequence. The combination of the smooth flow of spaces, mixed program distribution, and short circuits allows users to choreograph their own spatial sequences, and ultimately their own version of reality.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

I Like Dalki

Roof Floor Plan Roof Plan Roof Plan Roof Plan

Roof Plan

Roof Plan Roof Plan Roof Plan

10 art storage and display 11 retail display 10 art storage and display 12 amphitheater 11 retail display 13 open to below 12 amphitheater 14 gift shop 13 open to below 14 gift shop

10 art storage and display

2nd Floor Plan 11 retail display 212Floor Plan amphitheater open to below Roof Plan 213Floor Plan 14Roof gift shop Plan

10 art storage and display 11 retail display 12 amphitheater 13 open to below 14 gift shop

2 Floor Plan

10 art storage and display 11 retail display 12 amphitheater 13 open to below 10 gift art storage 14 shop and display 11 retail display 12 amphitheater 13 open to below 10 gift art storage 14 shop and display 11 retail display 12 amphitheater

open to below 2 13Floor Plan 14 gift shop

2 Floor Plan 2 Floor Plan 1 terrace 2 exhibit space 1 terrace 3 theme-park entry/display 2 exhibit space 4 ramp and “Dalki room’ 3 theme-park entry/display 5 mechanical 4 ramp and “Dalki room’ 6 coat room 5 mechanical 10 art storage and display 7 art-warehouse entry 6 retail coat room 11 display 8 parking 10 art storage and display 7 art-warehouse 12 amphitheater entry 9 retail road display 11 8 parking 13 open to below 12 amphitheater 9 road 14 gift shop 13 open to below 14 gift shop

1st Floor Plan 1 Floor Plan RoofPlan Plan Floor 21 Floor Plan Roof Plan 2 1Floor Plan terrace

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2 exhibit space 3 theme-park entry/display 4 ramp and “Dalki room’ 5 mechanical 6 coat room terrace 7 art-warehouse entry exhibit space 8 parking entry/display theme-park 9 road ramp and “Dalki room’ mechanical coat room art-warehouse entry parking road

1 Floor Plan

1 Floor Plan 1 2 1 3 2 4 3 5 4 6 5 7 6 8 7 9 8 9

terrace exhibit space terrace theme-park entry/display exhibit space ramp and “Dalkiand room’ 10 art storage display theme-park entry/display mechanical 11 retail display ramp and “Dalkiand room’ 10 art storage display coat room 12 amphitheater mechanical 11 retail display art-warehouse entry 13 open to below coat room 12 amphitheater parking 14 gift shop art-warehouse entry 13 open to below road parking 14 gift shop road

1 2 3 4 1 5 2 6 3 7 4 8 1 5 9 2 6 3 7 4 8

terrace exhibit space theme-park entry/display ramp and “Dalki room’ terrace mechanical exhibit space coat room theme-park entry/display art-warehouse entry ramp and “Dalki room’ parking terrace mechanical road exhibit space coat room theme-park entry/display art-warehouse entry ramp and “Dalki room’ parking

5 road mechanical 9 6 coat room 7 art-warehouse entry

1 8Floor parking Plan 9 road

1 Floor Plan 1 Floor Plan

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

I Like Dalki

Section A

Section B

Section C, D

20 Use Neighborhood Facilities, Resident + Gallery Year 2003 Site Area 733m2 Building Area 123m2 Gross Floor Area 462m2

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Coverage Ratio 17% Gross Floor Ratio 63% Building Scale Three Stories Above Ground Structure SC+RC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun Ga.A Architects

Nature Reflector Location Heyri Art Valley, South Korea

Hansook Cheong Memorial

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

Hansook Cheong Memorial

Seated on a small mountain, this small memorial hall is a reflector of the nature around it. The program of the building consists of three parts. The first is a conference hall: even as a major space, it cannot be perceived from the main road because of its integration with the steep existing slope. Formed of heavy exposed concrete, it merges into the land working as a podium for the entire building. Secondly, a contrastingly light and transparent glass box housing a rest space and tea room are

lightly placed over this heavy mass. It reads as a void between the grounded conference hall and the hovering third element above it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2 bedrooms and a living space wrapped with reflective glass. From a distance, the building shrouds itself with the reflected images of the environment. As one approaches the building, the reflected scene constantly shifts from the perspective of the observer. The ever-changing movement, as well as the transformation of nature over

time, is captured on both sides of the floating mirror. To allow the second floor to be as transparent as possible, there are no large columns to support the upper floor. Instead, small mullion-like custom fabricated steel pipes are used. Wrapped with a mirror finish stainless steel, the mullions themselves also dematerialize while reflecting the surrounding landscape. The whole design process of the project was based on minimizing the dichotomy between the artificial and the natural with the real/ artificial material of glass and mirror.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Hansook Cheong Memorial

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

Hansook Cheong Memorial

Photo Credit Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

C Publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Four-Sided Micro Context Location Paju, South Korea

C Publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Building

Building

Use Factory Year 2003 Site Area 1,025m2 Building Area 512m2 Gross Floor Area 993m2

Coverage Ratio 50% Gross Floor Ratio 97% Building Scale Two Stories Above Ground Structure RC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

a site red brick bace panel grass block black rubble

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The program of this building is quite simple: 80% of the floor area is for the storage of books while the remaining space is for office use. In the near future, there will be a vertical addition of a third floor with a pointed roof. As a children’s books publisher, the clients called for a peculiar building differentiated from nearby buildings but executed within a very limited budget. Beyond the physical site, the building code and site guidelines provided an interesting context.

Along with standard items such as building-ratio and so on, the document also dictated the material of the pavement surrounding the building. Specifically, different materials should be used on the ground surface flanking the four sides of the building. The north side of the site, which is called the “Green Corridor,” should be planted with landscape, while the east side was called out as requiring concrete panels. Meanwhile, the west was to be paved with dark grey pebbles.

C Publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Building

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

C Publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Building

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Questionology in Architecture

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37 The design extends the jurisdiction of these guidelines vertically onto the four exterior walls. The simple box now reflects the surrounding materials and turns into a building with radically distinct sides, each responding to their respective micro-context. Each wall not only differs in material but also in construction method, color, and texture.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Ssamziegil

Ssamziegil Architect in charge Moongyu Choi (Ga.a Architects) + Gabriel Kroiz (Kroiz Architecture) Use Mixed-used facility Year 2004 Site area 1,503m2 Building area 893m2 Gross floor area 3,906m2

Coverage ratio 59% Gross floor ratio 260% Building scale Two Stories Below Ground Four Stories Above Ground Structure RC Photo credit Yongkwan Kim Ga.a Architects

Location Seoul, South Korea

Vertical Extension of the Street

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Ssamziegil

“Ssamziegil” building is as an amalgam of owner’s name, Ssamzie Co., and the Korean word “gil” which translates as “street.” The building is located in the art-shop district of Insa-dong where the fabric and scale of old Seoul remains. Although most of the buildings in Insa-dong are fairly new, the old streets and alleyways, filled with galleries and antique shops, imbue a sense of nostalgia. Because of the particular condition of this area, the site was classified as a special

building zone that required strict adherence to detailed design regulations regarding the height of the building, the size of its courtyard, as well as many other constraints. Even as various exhibitions and collectibles that are frequently on display draw the public to the area, the main charm of Insa-dong is that it is one of the few remaining pedestrianfriendly streets in Seoul. During weekends, the street turns into a “car-free zone,” bringing a swarm of merchants, shoppers,

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Ssamziegil

43 and sight-seers into the compact district. The main spine of Insa-dong, which connects the whole area with a web of minor paths, provided an ideal space to create an urban density based on “people encountering people.” Rather than a building proper, this function provided a major inspiration in developing an architecture that maintains characteristics of the area’s pedestrian network, transforming it into a vertical extension of streets and alleyways. The floor plan is quite simple: to maintain a street-like character, the building has 5 entrances into the courtyard from each of its sides. The courtyard is not only a meeting ground that engages the flow of visitors, it is also a resting node that serves the district. Different paths into this space lead the public to the large deck on the second floor via a grand stair that can be used simultaneously as seats, shops, and as part of an arena. Starting from the deck, one can browse the shops alongside a gently sloping ramp that ascends at a 1/20-1/25 incline, while overlooking Insa-dong and the courtyard. The horizontal streets of Insa-dong are expanded into the vertical dimension, encouraging the public to communicate with vendors, the objects on display, and between themselves. To “brand” this new building as part of the old fabric, all materials that did not blend into the context were removed, limiting the palette to those that were either natural substances or ones that kept their original colors. Today this “street-building” continues to function as a piece of the local urban fabric while harboring a wide variety of activities.

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

3 Floor Plan

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Questionology in Architecture

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Ga.A Architects

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Photo Credit Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Ssamziegil

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Ssamziegil Elevation 1 Elevations

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Location Paju, South Korea

Taehaksa Publishing

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Taehaksa Publishing

Use Factory Year 2006 Site Area 1,026m2 Building Area 442m2 Gross Floor Area 1,208m2 Coverage Ratio 43%

Gross Floor Ratio 118% Building Scale One Story Below Ground Four Stories Above Ground Structure RC Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim Ga.a Architects

Internal Addition

Questionology in Architecture

The local design code specifies that the book-shelftype buildings in Paju Book City should have a specific footprint such as a “U” or “L”. This typological configuration, applied to the lot coverage and floor area ratios, yields a building with a total floor area of approximately 2,000 square meters. Even as buildings are generally constructed to have the largest possible floor area, in this rare case, the client set the specific area as 1,300 square meters

Ga.A Architects

with the request that the building volume itself not to be expanded later. In regards to future additions, the typical methodology is that a building is constructed first with the understanding that it will be added to at a later time. But in such cases, problems occurring long after construction involve design consistency, unavailable exterior materials, and the process of construction itself. These challenges are exemplified in additions such

Taehaksa Publishing

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Questionology in Architecture

as ones by Gwathmey & Siegel for the Guggenheim Museum, Michael Graves for the Whitney Museum, and Ando Tadao for the Kimbell Museum. To surmount this issue, a concept called “internal addition” was invented for the Taehaksa publishing company. While accommodating the floor area of 1,300 square meters, this method dictates the creation of the maximum possible building volume allowed by guidelines and codes. The result is an interior consisting of diverse spaces which are intended to be “filled in” later. Such a concept of internal addition may be advantageous in terms of constructability and cost, as well as providing a multiplicity of interior spaces. The buildings and their natural environment in Paju Book City are controlled very delicately in comparison with other towns. Thus the condition of the diverse interior and exterior landscapes becomes a central design concern. Through varied views back to this townscape, a new relationship between the internally added spaces and the skin is created. An irregular layout of windows of the same size is deployed creating a sense of ambiguity to the number of storeys in the building even as it is organized into levels. The composition enables one to enjoy the landscape, not as an uninterrupted whole, but framed into distinct views. To this end, various elements were examined including positions of view frames, the structure of the exterior wall plane, energy efficiency, frequency of indoor ventilation, proper glazing size, and lighting effects at night. Ultimately, 66 openings 2.1×2.1m in size were designed to occupy 22% of the whole wall surface to introduce sufficient natural light into the interior. The remaining windows provide differing experiences through transparency, reflectivity, translucency, coloring, or operation, while the outside face of the sliding skylight was finished with an antiinsect net.

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Ga.A Architects

Taehaksa Publishing

4 3

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Taehaksa Publishing

Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Use Factory Year 2006 Site Area 3,160m2 Building Area 438m2 Gross Floor Area 1,149m2 Coverage Ratio 14%

Questionology in Architecture

Gross Floor Ratio 36% Building Scale One Story Below Ground Four Stories Above Ground Structure RC Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Ga.A Architects

Arumdri Media

Arumdri Media Location Paju, South Korea

Expansion of Horizontal Space

Questionology in Architecture

The four-storey office building was created for the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s books publisher Arumdri Media Publishing. To enjoy open and differentiated vistas in three directions, the client requested outdoor terraces on each floor. Beginning with this basic requirement, outdoor balconies on each floor were produced by sliding the slabs in every possible direction. The final result is based on the sun movement, vistas,

Ga.A Architects

and an optimized structure. This strategy is also a critique of the stacking of self-similar floors seen in typical office buildings. Freed from the constraints of a single elevation plane, each face of the building can be different: between each of the horizontal slabs, a unique set of materials span from floor to ceiling. The result is that each level, as well as the roof, provides its own experience.

Arumdri Media

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

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Arumdri Media

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Liquid State Location Yongin, South Korea

From House to the City Liquid House Use House Year 2008 Site Area 860m2 Building Area 172m2 Gross Floor Area 295m2 Coverage Ratio 20% Gross Floor Ratio 34% Building Scale Two Stories Above Ground Structure RC

Liquid City Project Type International Competition Honorable mention Use Administration City Masterplan Year 2007 Site Area 2,760,000m2 Building Area 4,278,000m2 Gross Floor Area 155m2 Building Scale Various Structure Various

Liquid State

Questionology in Architecture

Liquid House The Liquid House is a smallscale courtyard type residence in an open rural area. From the outside, thick and roughly textured masonry exterior wall signifies a secure sense of interiority within. As this wall wraps into the inner space tracing a ringlet-like spiral, it reveals continuingly

Ga.A Architects

differentiated â&#x20AC;&#x153;liquidâ&#x20AC;? space. In contrast to the roughness and massiveness of the exterior wall, the interior wall flows lightly from one space to another. The spatial division becomes ambiguous and indeterminate rather than defined by walls and doors inspiring the potential for new forms of residential living.

Liquid State

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Liquid State

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Liquid State

Liquid City While the Liquid House is a small circular residence with a diameter of 9.5m, the Liquid City is a master plan for a new 2km x 2km territory. While comparing these two scales and programs may pose difficulties, the seemingly opposing spectrums demonstrate an important similarity: they both are delivered through an inquiry on the idea of “Liquid Space” – the fluent spatial and sequential intertwining between programs. In other words, Liquid House experiments with the spatial notion of creating a new lifestyle by blurring clear divisions between rooms and uses. Similarly, Liquid City suggests an unprecedented system of an urban organization created from inter-mixing the rigid zoning systems common to most cities.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Liquid State

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

First, Second, and Third Nature Location Jeollabuk-Do, South Korea

KIST Jeonbuk

Project Type Invited Competition 2nd Place Use Laboratory/Masterplan Year 2008 Site Area 343,000m2 Building Area 21,240m2 Gross Floor Area

28,420m2 Coverage Ratio 11% Gross Floor Ratio 16% Building Scale Four Stories Above Ground Structure SRC Image Credit Ga.A Architects

Questionology in Architecture

It is difficult to reconcile architecture that is placed in nature: ancient examples were able to fit the building’s purpose into a compact size that reflected its material resource. Meanwhile, much of contemporary architecture dominates the landscape. In an attempt to further define the important role of nature, it is useful to describe it in two manners: “First Nature” is the shape of the land, the channels of the water, and the vegetation that gradually emerged from this process.

Ga.A Architects

“Second Nature” is the trace of rice paddies and stone walls created over time by agricultural activities. The architecture to be placed in these contexts should communicate with the two previous natures in a proper and harmonious way in what can be called “Third Nature.” The KIST masterplan begins with a careful understanding of a site, which existence has spanned first and second natures. The buildings are arranged to fit on a ground which was shaped through a history of an

KIST Jeonbuk

agricultural occupation that respected the topography’s flows and the traces. By utilizing as little of the ground as possible to leave the site’s traces and current appearance, the masterplan responds to the second phase of the institute’s plan while maintaining the existing wetlands and vegetation. Instead of proposing a research center that becomes an artifact resting atop the site, it is planned as a building that communicates with nature by not disrupting the flow of topography. It conforms to the valley’s slope and draws the surrounding environment inside. In this way, the masterplan achieves a sense of continuity with the original scenery without disrupting it with building masses.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

KIST Jeonbuk

Ga.A Architects

Questionology in Architecture 1 room 2 bedroom 3 bathroom

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KIST Jeonbuk

Questionology in Architecture

Living in the Suburb Use Houses Year 2009 Site Area 540m2 Building Area 104 m2 Gross Floor Area 250m2

Coverage Ratio 19% Gross Floor Ratio 34% Building Scale Three Stories Above Ground Structure RC Photo Credit Yongkwan Kim

Ga.A Architects

W Houses

W Houses Location Yongin, South Korea

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

detached house

street

neighbor houses

shared common ground

In Korea, many people dream of their own houses in the suburbs. However, the reality is not so simple: typically, one has to build a house with a subpar local contractor and when it is finally finished, it must be maintained by oneself. For this reason, until the 2000s there were rarely well-executed houses in the suburb. There are however some developers who dare to work with good architects and contractors for the growing demands of a quality house. Instead of

just building the houses, they provide a suburban lifestyle. In this way, it is not about building a remote stand-alone house, but rather a community where one lives alongside others. Typically, however, these kinds of projects remain more or less a gated development of detached houses with better maintenance standards and overall security. Well-designed houses associated with a community facility and planned without fences between them are still quite new, but becoming

W Houses

Questionology in Architecture

the prototype in Korea. Houses (not housing) in Yangji have been designed by several invited architects over a 5-year span. Each architect was commissioned to design two types and approximately 5 of each type were built. Even though the shape and materials of the houses are quite different from one another, they are mainly detached types with their own yards. Although there are no fences between the lots, trees and bushes divide the gardens – thus echoing the typical detached house. We have been working on the possibility of detached housing with a small communal living space. Although other houses in Yangji do not have absolute isolation between units like houses in the city, they reflect a strong territorial quality within one’s own private

lot. Our new prototype appears as a series of detached houses with individual parking spaces from the street side, but on the opposite side on the south, they look over one large yard that connects four houses. In this way, the building is pushed closer to the street front to create a sense of continuity with adjacent houses while providing the possibility of communal living with one’s neighbors within the enlarged backyard. Each unit then opens to a side on each floor. The balconies and eaves are the places where one discovers why he or she has dreamt of living in a suburban house with its immediate access to the indoors and expanding outdoor views. At the top of the roof, there is a small study – like an attic, it is a place for dreams and old memories.

Ga.A Architects

W Houses

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

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3 entrance 4 multipurpose room 5 hall 6 sunken 0

Section

1 factory

North Elevation

Roof Plan

1 factory

2 office 3 toilet 5 E/V 6 warehouse

1 Floor Plan

Roof Plan 1 Floor Plan

7 parking lot

1 factory

Sourth Elevation

4 shower room 5 E/V 6 warehouse 2

6 4

2 office 3 toilet

West Elevation

4 shower room

1 Floor Plan

7 parking lot

2 office 3 toilet 4 shower room 5 E/V 6 warehouse 7 parking lot

1 1 library 2 master bedroom 3 entrance 4 multipurpose room 5 hall 6 sunken

2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0

Section

south elevation

Section

library master bedroom entrance multipurpose room hall sunken

south elevation

south west elevation elevation

west elevation

westnorrh elevation elevation

norrh elevation

norrh elevation east elevation

east elevation

W Houses

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Location Seoul, South Korea

Urban Art Platform

MOCA Seoul Project Type Competition Finalist Use Museum Year 2010 Site Area 27,354m2 Building Area 15,460m2 Gross Floor Area 48,315m2

Coverage Ratio 56% Gross Floor Ratio 71% Building Scale Two Stories Below Ground, Two Stories Above Ground Structure SRC Image Credit Ga.A Architects

MOCA Seoul

old alley

100

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

old alley

Big Hall

Special Exhibition

To make a museum in an area that has a maximum building height of 12m, we flipped the conventional old alley idea of locating the most public space on the ground. Our proposal places a large platform on the +12m level and uses this new datum to generate various artsold alley related spaces beneath it. On this “Urban Art Platform,” the public can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the historical palace, mountains, and the surrounding old and the new cityscape. old alley The concept of an open museum for the public is achieved by

Courtyard

sections _ scale 1/1500

extending the main road and linking the old alleys to the site so that visitors can easily enter each part of the museum. The Main Hall opens to the public via a grand stair to the main street level. Each floor is then directly connected from the outside by a subtle arrangement of levels. By connecting volumes and rearranging the programs, the museum interacts visually and spatially with people outside as well as those inside. Through a desire for “newness,” modern art constantly evolves.

old alley

MOCA Seoul

101

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

MOCA Seoul

103 Traditional museums with typical exhibitions no longer satisfy the diversity being produced by new media and technology. Here we propose a new museum space for new art that has diverse and flexible exhibition areas for the constantly evolving arts. The goal is that the spaces themselves will stimulate new forms of creativity.

104

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

105

MOCA Seoul 1 factory

New Platform - Level +12m

om 1 ro m droo 2 be throom 3 ba

o 2 Flo

20m

2 Floor Plan 1 Floor PlanRoof Plan

n r Pla

o 2 Flo

n r Pla

3 Floor Plan

2 office 3 toilet

Invert Gallery - Level +6m

om 1 ro m droo 2 be throom 3 ba

4 shower room

20m

2 Floor Plan 1 Floor 1 Plan Floor Plan

5 E/V 6 warehouse 7 parking lot

2 +6.0

23 X 17

2 26 X 17

3 1

44 X 15

+12.0

28 X 34

+6.0 37 X 17

16 X 17

22 X 18

scale 1/1200

Level +6m

Level +12m

New Space 3 - Level -6m new space om 2 _ invert gallery 1 ro m

Urban Platform - Level +0m

om new space 1 _ new platform 1 ro oom bedr 2 throom 3 ba

r Floo

Plan

+5.0

+6.0

droo 2 be throom 3 ba

2 Floor Plan

20m

1 Floor Plan +4.0

+2.0

+3.0

n r Pla Floo

or 1 Flo

+5.0

20m

1 Floor Plan

Plan

om ng ro 1 dini hine ty mac 2 utili dio au 3 e ag or 4 st stroom 5 re om ing ro 6 liv

Temperary Exhibition BIG HALL -6.0

+2.0

+0.0

+1.0

om ng ro 1 dini hine ty mac 2 utili dio au 3 e ag or 4 st stroom 5 re 2 living room 6

+6.0

scale 1/1200

or 1 Flo

Plan

+4.0

+3.0

9 +0.0

media exhibition +2.0

old alley

4 +1.0

old alley

ART & BOOK Shop

Level +0m

scale 1/1200

old alley

Level old alley

-6m

scale 1/1200

old alley

new space 3 _ big hall

open museum for people

old alley

Cross Sections 0

o 1 Flo

old alley

old alley 50m

1 Floor Plan

om ng ro 1 dini hine ty mac 2 utili dio 3 au age 4 stor stroom 5 re om ing ro 6 liv

old alley

+0.0

old alley

n r Pla

old alley

om ng ro 1 dini hine ty mac 2 utili dio 3 au age 4 stor om restro old5alley om ing ro 6 liv

o 1 Flo

n r Pla

old alley

old alley Big Hall

Big Hall

old alley

Special Exhibition

Courtyard

Special Exhibition

Courtyard

sections _ scale 1/1500

106

Questionology in Architecture

Location Seoul, South Korea

Ga.A Architects

SSU Student Union

Project Type Invited Competition/Winner Use University: Cafeteria, Club Rooms, Office, Auditorium Year 2011 Site Area 120,89m2 Building Area 4,641.50m2 Gross Floor Area 19,283m2

Coverage Ratio 30% Gross Floor Ratio 131% Building Scale Two Stories Below Ground, Five Stories Above Ground Structure SRC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

A Viewing Stand in a Dynamic Edge Condition

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108

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

SSU Student Union

student union

main square

A public square located in the middle of the Soongsil University campus is surrounded by buildings and opens toward a sports field to the southwest. Designated for a new Student Union, the site was rather small and already densified. Furthermore, its surface was approximately 12m lower than that of the field surrounded by the aging stands of the stadium. Replacing the 20,000m2 of land occupied by the stands, the new Student Union influences nearby

buildings as well as the entire campus because its volume is compressed against the adjacent edge. Although low in height, it is elongated to suppress its physical presence while satisfying the demands of the program. In this way, the structure evolved from being a building to simultaneously becoming a viewing stand and a dynamic edge condition between the sports field and campus. The structure generates new urban relationships with nearby

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Questionology in Architecture

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buildings without obstructing the views and sunlight of the nearby Law School Building and Baird Hall. When architecture is based on a respect for the context after overcoming the objective to concede itself to its surrounds, there is a potential to generate urban public-ness. Because the land adjoining the Central Square of Soongsil University is confronted with a height difference of 12m, the sectional design results in half of the building. On the other hand, if the design levels up to the surface of the Central Square, it would not only obstruct the openness toward the sports field but also cause relational issues with other buildings. Unique external spaces were created by taking advantage of this land condition by procuring a large space at the eastern and southern areas for natural ventilation and daylight. The central stairway connecting the Central Square and the sports field functions as a dynamic connection to all adjacent buildings while further augmenting ventilation and daylight. The design process to solve these project constraints led to a question, “What does architecture do?” In contrast to an architectural design where a completed form and internal space becomes a central figure, the Student Union attempts to create a negotiation between outdoor and indoor.

Balconies and decks scattered through the scheme support the idea that architecture is not a mere act to produce interiority. 25 entrances leading to the outdoor in every direction allows the Student Union to act as if under osmotic pressure, multiplying the pathways through it. The building, therefore, poses a question about the borderline between architecture and the city through a “flaw-filled” architecture. The complex program contains approximately 200 rooms including 3 big cafeterias, a snack bar, a 200-seated theater, administration offices, and 80 rooms for various student clubs. As each element required different areas and heights, such demands could not be fulfilled with a single building structure with a standardized floor plan. All rooms in the building negotiate both the flat and the sectional, the functional and the organic, through dividing the program into two categories: spaces for student club

activities and spaces for the remaining functions. As the flat surfaces prepared in this manner have slight differences in the size and shape, they are placed in relation to other spaces with different sections. The method to connect each room then is via slope, outdoor stairway, or balcony rather than indoor stairway or elevator. This expands users’ experience beyond an interior-oriented architecture.

SSU Student Union

111

2 Floor Plan Questionology in Architecture

112

Ga.A Architects

20m

2nd ﬂoor _ clubrooms foodcourt / studios / publisher

1st ﬂoor _ clubrooms student union ofﬁce / auditorium / studio

20m

1 room 2 bedroom 3 bathroom

2 Floor Plan

1 dining room 2 utility machine

50m

1 Floor Plan 2

5 3

4 3

1st Floor - Clubrooms

1st ﬂoor _ clubrooms

student union ofﬁce / auditorium / studio

5th ﬂoor _ administration ofﬁce

5th Floor - Admisistration Office

2nd Floor - Clubrooms

2nd ﬂoor _ clubrooms

foodcourt / studios / publisher

Roof ﬂoor _ skydeck / stairdeck

Roof Floor - Skydeck/Stairdeck

SSU Student Union

113

114

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

West Section Detail 0

1.5

1 lounge 2 fan room 3 cafeteria 0 1.5 3m 0 1.5 3m 4 toilet 5 hallway Section detail of East Section detail of East

2 store 3 cafeteria 0

Section detail of East 1 Floor 1 Floor Plan Plan

1 office

East Section Detail

Section detail of West Section detail of West 1 Floor 1 Floor Plan Plan

1 office 2 store 3 cafeteria

115

SSU Student Union

Section detail of West Section detail of West 1 office 1 office 2 store 2 store 3 cafeteria 3 cafeteria

2 3

1.5

Section detail of West 1 office 2 store 3 cafeteria

1.5

Section detail of West 1 office 2 store 3 cafeteria

1.5

Section detail of East 1 2 3 4 5

lounge fan room cafeteria toilet hallway

1.5

Section detail of East 1 2 3 4 5

lounge fan room cafeteria toilet hallway

1.5

Section detail of East 1 lounge

4 toilet 5 hallway

5 hallway 5 hallway

2 fan room 3 cafeteria

1 lounge 1 lounge 2 fan room 2 fan room 3 cafeteria 3 cafeteria 4 toilet4 toilet

116

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Location Seoul, South Korea

K Guest House Houses with a Community Yard

K Guest House

Project Type Invited Competition Winner Use Dormitory, Community House Year 2011 Site Area 4,090m2 Building Area 1,243m2

Gross Floor Area 1,815m2 Coverage Ratio 30% Gross Floor Ratio 44% Building Scale Three Stories Above Ground Structure RC, SC+RC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

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118

Questionology in Architecture

Houses adjusted to the the nature

upper terrace type

Basic Module

A B

Ga.A Architects

Houses

B A

lower garden type

A B

A A

B A B

K Guest House is a gathering of 16 houses for a global group of researchers and their families who have left their hometown behind. The site is located on a long, sloping mountainside surrounded by forests. Preserving the natural surrounds, the entire building gently terraces to harmonize with the environment. Two types of house are proposed: a garden unit and a terrace unit. By stacking the terrace unit over the garden unit along

Community

the length of the site, each house can obtain its own view of nature. All the houses face the community facility and yard. Through the reciprocation between these private and public spaces, communication between residents is enhanced. Through various activities such as gatherings, parties, and exercise that emerge from this site arrangement, those who have left their hometown are able to naturally form bonds within the enclave.

K Guest House

119

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

K Guest House

121

122

Ga.A Architects

Questionology in Architecture

Site Plan 1 guest houses 2 court yard 3 community cebter 4 common kitchen 5 parking lot

K Guest House

Cross Section 0

1 Floor 1 Floor Plan Plan

123

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

K Guest House

125

126

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Use Commercial Year 2012 Site Area 609m2 Building Area 305m2 Gross Floor Area 2,386m2 Coverage Ratio 50%

Gross Floor Ratio 249% Building Scale Two Stories Below Ground Six Stories Above Ground Structure RC+SC Image Credit Ga.A Architects

PRADA Flagship Store

127

PRADA Flagship Store

Location Seoul, South Korea

Ever-Changing Container

128

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

PRADA Flagship Store

hosting

building to house building to house

EVER-CHANGING EVER-CHANGING Prada

working

Prada

building to house

EVER-CHANGING

working

Prada

sales

+ sales

sales

PRADA container = SALE + HOSTING PRADA container = SALE + HOSTING

Prada ﬂagship building should be the space for hosting as well as a store for sale. Prada ﬂagship building should be the space for hosting as well as a store for sale.

PRADA container = SALE + HOSTING

Prada ﬂagship building should be the space for hosting as well as a store for sale.

As a fashion innovator, Prada never stays in one era or place, but constantly leads in its field. The building for Prada has to house this ever-changing nature and not become fixed within a specific form. The building must have multiple faces so that the form becomes neutral enough to involve its multiple potentials. As Prada’s role as innovator, artist, and collaborator, expands the borders of the fashion field, the building should involve diverse activities as well as simple functions.

The site is in Cheongdam-dong, one of the most expensive commercial areas in Seoul with more than 25 high-end brand shops along the main street’s span. Located at a prominent corner, this building is able to gain two facades. To house the required programs in a mediumscaled site, a maximum volume in terms of zoning was desirable. Programmatically, the flagship building should be a space for hosting as well as a store for sales, therefore it must bridge the everyday and the particular.

129

130

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

PRADA Flagship Store

131 At the entrance, the corrugated glass becomes a soft skin that blurs the border of inside and outside. The glass acts as a light diffuser creating a unique and dematerialized scene while bringing natural light deep into the interior. An urban scale curtain behind the corrugated facade allows for semi-privacy inside the shop during seasonal events and other occasions. Through visual and physical connections, a multi-level space converges on a singular shop. Stairs allow each floor to seamlessly connect. With this circulation system, floors become an endless loop. The “Prada Tree” and “green wall” form new ways of displaying the products from above and below. By extending the height of the building to its limits, an 11.5m x 11.5m x 9m multi-functional “box” becomes a showroom that acts as an abstract generator for every possible program and activity. At night, the idea that “Prada never sleeps,” is represented in this illuminated space as it becomes a legible and a unique icon along the street.

132

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

H:7.9(2F)

H:18.2(5F) H:20.05(6F)

H:18.3(4F) H:10.7(2F)

et stre

H:29.5(7F) Louis Quatorze

H:21.5(5F)

H:25.8(6F)

3m setback

Rolls Royce Golden dew

4m street

H:15.8(4F)

Michael Kors H:15.5(4F)

Kraze Bugers H:25.9(6F)

35m street

Siteplan 0

10m

+3.8

1 2

1 1 for disabled

ENT.

thr

open

2nd Floor Plan

lan

2 dress room

m roo room d m be oo

B1 Floor Plan

loo

1 shop

133

2 3

lan

3 -8.7

m roo room d m oo be

thr

loo

+4.0

STAFF ENT.

PRADA Flagship Store

2 3

+4.0

3 canteen

4 BoH

10m

5 stock room

6 rest room 7 car lift

-8.7

1 Floor Plan

2 car lift

1 shop

2 office 3 toilet

4 shower room

6 rest room

5 E/V 6 warehouse

7 car lift

3 Floor Plan 1 Floor Plan B1F plan

5 stock room

shop

4 BoH

2 Floor Plan 2 car lift

1 factory

3 canteen

10m

1 shop

2 dress room 2 Floor Plan

2F plan 3 Floor Plan

7 parking lot

7 2

+3.8

shop 1 for disabled

m roo ine ing ach m din y 1 it 1 util io d au age r sto room m t 4 o res g ro 5 in

B1F plan 3

ENT.

liv

loo

-8.7

STAFF ENT.

+4.0

lan

1 shop

open

2 dress room

+4.0

3 canteen 4 BoH EV

5 stock room

1 shop

6 rest room

2 car lift

7 car lift

2 shop

10m

+21.5

3 deck

+21.5

1 Floor Plan 1 showroom

show room

2 meeting room

2 rest room

3 canteen

10m

2 rest room

1 showroom

1 Floor Plan 4 / 5F

4 rest room

3 canteen

lan

2 Floor Plan 6th Floor Plan

0 room 2 meeting

m roo room d m oo

loo

lan

4 / 5F

thr

2 Floor Plan 4th/5th Floor Plan

+13.5 /+17.5

loo

+13.5 /+17.5

thr

m roo room d m oo be

B1F plan

2 3

2F plan

shop

3 deck

4 rest room

2 3 0

4 / 5F plan

show room

6F plan

4 / 5F plan

6F plan

+13.5 /+17.5

m roo ine ing ach din y m it 1 util io 2 d e rag

+21.5

2 meeting room

1 showroom

3 canteen

2 rest room 3 deck

4 rest room

om m

roo

ing

tro

liv

res

sto

5 6

loo

4 / 5F

3 4

show room

lan

4 / 5F plan

6F plan

Section A-A’ 0

Section B-B’

10m

1 Floor Plan

1 showroom

3 VIP / showroom2 4 shop

3 VIP / showroom2

6 watertank room

7 storage facility

8 electric/generator room

3 BoH

B’

9 storage facility

4 canteen

6 watertank room

5 VIP / showroom2 6 shop

5 VIP / showroom2

6 shop 8 electric/generator room

7 parking

A’

7 parking

A’ 5 A.H.U room

4 canteen

1 showroom

5 A.H.U room 7 storage facility

4 shop

3 BoH

10m

1 Floor Plan

B’

9 storage facility

8 7

4 0

A-A’ Section

B-B’ Section

8 7

A-A’ Section 0

B-B’ Section

134

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Three-Dimensionally Opened to the Campus Use University: Exhibition Hall, Lecture Room Year 2013 Site Area 4,519m2 Building Area 3,646m2 Gross Floor Area 9,574m2

Coverage Ratio 81% Gross Floor Ratio 211% Building Scale One Story Below Ground, Four Stories Above Ground Structure SRC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus

135

Location Songdo, South Korea

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus

136

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus

Veritas Hall at the Yonsei International Campus in Songdo is located in the center of the new campus. The guidelines within the masterplan restricted the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s periphery, height, floors, corridors, and exterior finish. As the building is situated in a small university town, it was important that it did not stand alone, but instead congregate and respect the surrounding context. Additionally, as the campus will gradually change and develop over a long period of time, the design required a

connection to the city at large to be able to adapt to future transformations. Most buildings create a boundary at the perimeter and often break the flow of the land the moment they are built. At Veritas Hall, an open architecture provides diverse paths for students to traverse between the dormitory to the lecture hall. While maintaining the proposed outdoor corridor and site lines of the masterplan, an architecture open in four directions is created by eliminating columns along

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus

139 the periphery and only leaving structure where necessary. Additionally, the building appears to float over the site to emphasize this porosity. This is achieved through minimizing programs on the lower level while using transparent materials to dissolve the boundary between the building and the campus core. This transparency opens the building to its surroundings and conveys a seamless continuity between inside and outside. On the side facing the dormitory, there are long horizontal steps providing an open-air space where informal discussions or outdoor classes can take place. The outdoor steps also provide a natural circulation flow to the second floor, creating a three-dimensional open architecture.

140

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus Section 2

Section 1

1st Floor Plan

141

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus

143

2 Floor Plan

144

2 Floor Plan

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

2nd Floor Plan 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

3rd Floor Plan 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

4th Floor Plan 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

2 Floor Plan

Veritas Hall Yonsei Campus

South Elevation 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

North Elevation 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

West Elevation 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

Eaest Elevation 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Y Study House

Use University (Study Room) Year 2014 Site Area 1,165m2 Building Area 379m2 Gross Floor Area 336m2

Coverage Ratio 33% Gross Floor Ratio 29% Building Scale One Story Above Ground Structure RC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

An Expansion of a Transparent Experience Location Songdo, South Korea

147

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Questionology in Architecture

The Yonsei University International campus in Songdo, Korea was established following a threephased masterplan. With this in mind, this small study house was planned to extend across three buildings, scattered between their large masses in a way to allow easy access for students. Instead of a unified and completed structure, Y Study House is an open building that changes according to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s viewpoint while actively conflating the experience of being inside or outside. For instance, the exterior was meticulously planned to allow students to use both indoor and outdoor areas as study space while

Ga.A Architects

the large windows amplify this openness. While borrowing the rough epidermis of the red brick sloped roof and uneven surfaces of the adjacent dormitory, in contrast, the interior of Y Study House is rendered in a smooth white finish. Cutting the width of the building to its minimum and puncturing its faĂ§ade with unevenly placed low-iron glass panels furthers the expansion of a transparent experience of indoor and outdoor. This also contributes to a brightly lit interior, creating an open academic environment instead of a closed library-like atmosphere.

Y Study House

149

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Y Study House

151

152

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

153

Y Study House

elevation 1 1

1 factory 2 office 3 toilet

West Elevation

elevation 1

4 shower room 5 E/V 6 warehouse 7 parking lot

1 Floor Plan

elevation 1

elevation 1 2

1 factory

East Elevation

2 office 3 toilet

4 shower room 5 E/V 6 warehouse 7 parking lot

1 Floor Plan

elevation 2

elevation 2 1

3 5 6

2 4

elevation 2

6 5

om oom

2 Fl oo

rP la n

North Elevation 1

1 Floor Plan 1 2 3 4 5 6

terrace study room (a) entrance study room (b) toilet machinery

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

factory office toilet shower room E/V warehouse parking lot

2 4

6 5

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Floor Plan

terrace study room (a) entrance study room (b) toilet machinery

1 Floor Plan

5 3 5

6 1 terrace 2 study room (a) 3 entrance

5 6

4 study room (b) 5 toilet 6 machinery

1 Floor Plan 1

1 2 3 4 5 6

terrace study room (a) entrance study room (b) toilet machinery

1 Floor Plan

1 terrace 2 study room (a) 3 entrance 4 study room (b) 5 toilet 6 machinery

1 Floor Plan

Section Detail Section Detail 0 1

Section Detail

study room

3m 3m

study room 3m

Section Detail

study room 3m

154

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

A Place to Encounter “Openness” Location Paris, France

Maison de la Corée Architect in Charge Moongyu Choi (Yonsei University) + Ga.A Architects and Canale3 + Aum Lee Project Type International Invited Competition Winner Use Dormitory Year 2015 Site Area 2,601m2

Building Area 1,219m2 Gross Floor Area 7,471m2 Coverage Ratio 47% Gross Floor Ratio 287% Building Scale One Story Below Ground Nine Stories Above Ground Structure RC Image Credit Ga.A Architects, Herve Abadie Photo Credit Herve Abadie

Maison de la CorĂŠe

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Photo Credit Herve Abadie

Maison de la Corée

Established in 1925, the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris has been developing its unique urban environment and history. During these 90 years, the effort of many architects, city planners, and landscape designers shaped the campus. Thus, the new Maison de la Corée should integrate with its surroundings over time rather than overly emphasize its own presence. To do so, a thorough understanding of the context was foremost: the university grounds and the neighboring

Boulevard Périphérique, are among the important elements to respond to for a harmonious and functional building. Instead of a trendy building, therefore, a time-enduring architecture that can adapt to its users was proposed. As a place of encounter, the Korean version of “openness” becomes a central idea for the Maison de la Corée. The first floor is not just a sum of several entrances but acts as an empty hall fit for a diverse range of uses. In section, the basement

157

158 and second floor are connected visually, spatially, and functionally, forming a social and interactive space. This can be apprehended from every perspective – from the north-east side of the campus, the Maison de la Corée opens and welcomes. Upon a closer look, one can discover an austere traditional Korean garden with a stone archway inviting people into the interior. A multi-purpose auditorium is placed on the left side of the garden while the main entrance on the right is adjacent to an open cafeteria. Framed by these programs, a large staircase descends into the basement, making the auditorium more accessible. By following the gentle curve of the building, one can easily find the main entrance to the main hall where three different floors converge to create an extensive spatial impression. This is where various events and activities take place, enabling all the residents, staffs and visitors to interact. The interior space of Maison de la Corée naturally flows to the outside. Even as this is functional, it also allows the building to harmonize and “breathe” with the porosity of the existing campus.

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Maison de la CorĂŠe

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160

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

Cross Section 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

Long Section 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

Photo Credit Herve Abadie

La Maison de la Corée

161

Maison de la Corée

RDJ Floor Plan 0

20m

1 Floor Plan

PLAN DE RDJ _ 정원 레벨 평면도

Photo Credit Herve Abadie

RDC Floor Plan 0

R+2 Floor Plan

20m

1 Floor Plan

PLAN DE RDC _ 지상 레벨 평면도

20m

1 Floor Plan

PLAN R+2 _ 3층 평면도

162

Questionology in Architecture

Urban Interstice

Ga.A Architects

Interior Design Gensler Project Director Philippe ParĂŠ Design Director Sabu Song Use Culture Year 2015 Site Area 738m2 Building Area 389m2

Gross Floor Area 606m2 Coverage Ratio 53% Gross Floor Ratio 82% Building Scale Five Stories Below Ground, Two Stories Above Ground Structure SC+SRC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

H Music Library

163

H Music Library Location Seoul, South Korea

164

loremtitle

Ga.A Architects

H Music Library

What is the new metropolitan alternative for an architecture along the street in a city full of buildings? How do you create spatial continuity within a sloping topography? Fronting Itaewonro, the site for the Hyundai Music Library slopes from Hamsan Mountain to the Hangang River with a potential for a fantastic view towards the southern part of Seoul and Gwanak Mountain. However, pedestrians cannot experience this vista because roadside buildings literally block it out. The “Music Library” is the

result of a deep consideration for the relationship between the pedestrian experience and the building itself. Pushing the allowable buildable area into a subgrade performance studio, the project is allowed to become an “Urban Interstice” aboveground. As an urban gap within a dense street wall, it offers a flexible landscape for pedestrian activity throughout the seasons. Functionally and spatially forming a ramp from the naturally sloped site rather than artificial stairs, offers, created a smooth

165

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

H Music Library

167

continuum for the ground floor. This urban topography provides passersby with various experiences based on the location and direction of their standing point. People can sit and relax on the curved floor plate or enjoy outdoor concerts. A unique reciprocal relationship between building and city is generated demonstrating how the city can transform accordingly.

168

Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

H Music Library

169

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Questionology in Architecture

Ga.A Architects

3 Floor Plan

2 Floor Plan

Front Elevation Front Elevation

Long Section 0

10m

1 Floor Plan

Front Elevation 0

10m

1 Floor Plan

Cross Section 0

Front Elevation

10m

1 Floor Plan 1

Section 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

music library Section cafe office/studio 1 music library understage (concert hall) 2 cafe office 3 office/studio machinery room(concert hall) 4 understage parking 5 officelot

6 machinery room 7 parking lot

Section 1 music library 2 cafe 3 office/studio 4 understage (concert hall) 5 office 6 machinery room 7 parking lot

H Music Library

3 Floor Plan 4 Floor Plan

2 Floor Plan

3 Floor Plan

2 Floor Plan

B1 Floor Plan 0

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10m

1 Floor Plan

2nd Floor Plan 0

10m

1 Floor Plan

10m

1 Floor Plan

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3 Floor Plan

2 Floor Plan

East Elevation 0

10m

1 Floor Plan

South Elevation 0

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name of the project

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174 Use Kindergarten Year 2016 Site Area 4,357m2 Building Area 666m2 Gross Floor Area 631m2 Coverage Ratio 15%

Questionology in Architecture Gross Floor Ratio 14% Building Scale One Story Below Ground One Story Above Ground Structure RC+SC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

Ga.A Architects

Woods Kindergarten

Woods Kindergarten Location Seoul, South Korea

Forest Roof For Children

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Woods Kindergarten

Located on a slope in the middle of a forest, the Woods Kindergarten embraces nature and the surrounding environment. The first floor, as an extension of the site itself, creates a free and safe playroom for children. A light, roof structure creates various sizes and shapes of curved gaps

where natural light enters the interior. The light-filled courtyard additionally illuminates the indoor space and its open view further enhances the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scenery. Children learn and grow under the spacious curved roof and connect with nature in the open playgrounds that slip under its canopy.

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Woods Kindergarten

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1 Floor Plan 1 Floor Plan

20m 10 0 20m 10 0

1st Floor Plan Basement Floor Plan

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Woods Kindergarten

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National World Writing Museum Location Songdo, South Korea

National World Writing Museum

Garden of Letters Project Type International Competition Use Museum Year 2017 Site Area 19,418m2 Building Area 5,620m2 Gross Floor Area 15,310m2

Coverage Ratio 29% Gross Floor Ratio 36% Building Scale One Story Below Ground, Two Stories Above Ground Structure SRC Image Credit Ga.A Architects

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National World Writing Museum

CLOSED ENDLESS LOOP

MUSEUM LOOP

The National World Writing Museum was established to exhibit the existential conditions of humanity in relation to writing: both human and writing have something in common in the sky and the earth. The site is located on the border between nature and the city, where a remarkable contrast between the two is revealed. Unlike other parks, the site has an unusual setting. It is surrounded by four different contexts: man-made flat land, blue sky, hilly green parkland, and a grid of high-

OPEN LOOP CONNECTED TO PARK

rise buildings. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Museum of Lettersâ&#x20AC;?, maintains its unique character through reflecting all aspects of its surroundings. Serving as a park, a museum, a series of paths, and a landscape at the same time, it becomes a uniquely hybrid urban place. The building occupies a minimum portion of the site to leave the ground as a park for not only outdoor exhibitions but also pedestrian walkways. Many diverse approaches to the building, including the main entrance and gently sloped

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decks on the hills, allow the elevated floor to be connected with the city and park in all directions. The main exhibition hall and the terraces located on the upper floor level are directly linked with the pedestrian ramps and stairs. The exhibition level also can be approached through the grand escalator from the underground hall and parking lot. “Museum of Letters” is made up of a

continuous loop. A varying width of 8-20m between the site’s green hills and the museum’s reflective roof defines a variety of outdoor spaces. By obliquely overlapping 2 floors, the exhibition space is dominated by bright sunlight and opens to the park and surroundings. The endless loop of the exhibition space enables multiple display methods: ancient origin of letters on

wall surfaces, new letters in new media, endangered letters in fog, and rarely heard letters in sound. Also, various scales of exhibitions can be installed since the drifting cloud-like roof creates a wide variety of heights. Outside, the roof’s top surface reflects the surrounding nature while the ground level spaces welcome visitors 24 hours a day.

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National World Writing Museum 2 Floor Plan Level 2 - Exhibition entrance entrance

cafe terrace cafe terrace

from the city from the city

step deck step deck

entrance

cafe terrace

from the city

step deck

entrance

cafe terrace

from the city

step deck

GARDEN GARDEN OF OF FLOWERS FLOWERS

GARDEN OFthan FLOWERS Because of the unique design, more 75% of the land Because of the unique design, more than 75% of the land will be used as GARDEN a park. Hundreds of different trees and OF FLOWERS Because of the moreofthan 75% of the land will be used asunique a park.design, Hundreds different trees and flowers with sculptures of letter will give a characteristic will be used as a park. Hundreds of different trees and flowers with sculptures of letter will give a characteristic Because of the unique design, more than 75% of the land experience to the people inside and outside. flowers withexperience sculptures of letter willofgive a characteristic the people inside andtrees outside. will be used as a park.to Hundreds different and

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forest

from the park from the park from the park

garden of flowers

from the park

terrace terrace

from the park from the park

cafe terrace cafe terrace

step deck step deck

terrace

from the park

cafe terrace

step deck

terrace

from the park

cafe terrace

step deck

Level 1 - Exhibition

forest forest forest

grass grass

wild flowers wild flowers

grass

wild forest flowers

grass

wild flowers

forest

from the city from the city

10m

Exhibition Level 2 Plan

forest forest forest

from the city from the city bamboo bamboo

section A-A’ section A-A’ section A-A’

forest forest

lobby lobby

Special Exhibit

lobby

Special Exhibit

lobby

sunken

1F loo

30m

Site Plan

lan 30m

ranunculus borealisplants saxifraga stolonifera by the water

liriope platyphylla

ranunculus borealis

plants by the water saxifraga stolonifera

plants by the water plants by the water

salix integra salix integra

lotus garden lotus garden

parnassia palustris parnassia palustris

salix integra

lotus garden

parnassia palustris

salix integra

lotus garden

parnassia palustris

100m

1 Floor Plan

om e g ro in inin mach 1 d tility 2 u dio u 3 a rage to m 4 s stroo om 5 re ing ro v 6 li

Site Plan

liriope platyphylla

Special Exhibit

saxifraga stolonifera saxifraga stolonifera

scale 1/1000

Special Exhibit

ranunculus borealis ranunculus borealis

lan

scale 1/1000

section B-B’

Special Exhibit Special Exhibit

section B-B’

Auditorum

chionanthus retusa

liriope platyphylla liriope platyphylla

Auditorum Lecture room

loo

deck

scale 1/1000 scale 1/1000deck

cercidiphyllum

om 1 ro droom e m 2 b throo a 3 b

forest

section B-B’ section B-B’

Ground Park shade plantsLevel under -the museum

10m

shade plants under the museum

Lecture room Lecture room Auditorum Lecture room Auditorum

bamboo

Exhibition Level 1 Plan

sunken

bamboo bamboo courtyard courtyard bamboo courtyard bamboo courtyard

forest

deck deck

cercidiphyllum chionanthus retusa shade plants under the museum shade plants under the museum

forest sunken sunken

section A-A’

forest forest

chionanthus retusa chionanthus retusa

bamboo

forest

Special Exhibit Special Exhibit

cercidiphyllum cercidiphyllum

bamboo bamboo courtyard courtyard bamboo courtyard bamboo courtyard

10m

Garden level Plan

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Open Campus Platform as Part of the Neighbourhood Location Seoul, South Korea

Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

UOS Centennial Memorial Hall

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UOS Centennial Memorial Hall Project Type Competition/Winner Use University Year 2018 Site Area 270,595m2 Building Area 5,244m2 Gross Floor Area 20,780m2

Coverage Ratio 56% Gross Floor Ratio 19% Building Scale Six Stories Above Ground Three Stories Below Ground Structure RC+SC+SRC Photo Credit Namgoong Sun Ga.A Architects

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Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

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UOS Centennial Memorial Hall

CONNECTED TO PROMENADE

LECTURE ROOMS

MAIN ENTRANCE

CREATIVE CENTER

PUBLIC SQUARE

LIBRARY

CONTINUING EDUCATION

CONNECTED TO RESIDENTIAL AREA

FROM THE NEIGHBORING BLDG

The Centennial Memorial Hall is a public campus building, sited edge of the campus, next to entrance gate. The unique character about site is itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surrounded with small residential houses, where public common facility is rare. Naturally, the neighbors are easily found in the campus area. The building program is total 20,780m2 multi-functioned complex with various users. Lecture rooms, faculty rooms, administration, gymnasium for education of student, convention

center, and centennial memorial hall, museum for memorial or event and public library, center for continuing education, creative center for public-users. As student-use program and publicopen programs are all mixed up, it was quite complicated to solve the building in single volume. Also we imagined, rather than a single giant monument, campus place as a part of the city organ, where both students and neighbors can enjoy and relax. First, Programs are classified into 5 major volumes, clothed

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differently by each program adjusted to the 7.3m sloped down ground. Then a 100m long 55m wide “Platform” is placed in the middle, connecting various program both horizontally and vertically. It has 5.5m wide memorial hall in the middle, three core for each volume above, and grand stair to lower levels which let students easily find each classrooms and gymnasium along the campus street. Its upper skin “Deck” is guiding people from the campus square to the upper outdoor level where they can access to the public Library, center for continuing education, and creative center for public. Also “Memorial park” next to museum and “Book garden” next to public library are placed. In-between open spaces are welcoming neighbors just to drop by, for the resting, evening doggie walking, and weekend exercising and enjoy the natural surroundings.

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Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

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UOS Centennial Memorial Hall

Long Elevation 0

20m

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Long Section 0

Cross Section 20m

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Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

20m

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UOS Centennial Memorial Hall

Photo Credit Namgoong Sun

3rd Floor Plan

2nd Floor Plan

1st Floor Plan

B2 Floor Plan

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Main Works • • • • • • •

Cheong Hansook Memorial Ssamziegil SSU Student’s Union Yonsei University Veritas Hall H Music Library Maison de la Corée Centennial Memorial Hall

Awards • • • • • • • • • •

Ga.A Architects

• • •

Present Team: Daekon Koh / Bongki Song / Woon Park / Kyung Min / Jinwoo Roh / Sanghwa Woo / Yoojin Jeon / Hyungsuk Kim / Hyunmin Seo / Miyun Cho

• • • • •

Former Team: Ung Park / Inchul Kang / Dongjae Yoo / Gwangho Cha / Taekwon Yun / Jeonghui Kim / Jeyong Kang / Jeongeun Choi / Jeongho Park / Kihong Kim / Moojin Park / Jeongeun Kang / Sanghoon Yoo / Siwon Lee / Juwan Kim

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

International Invited design competition for Housing in Junggye, Cowork, 1st prize, 2018 Seoul National University Medical Center Library, Competition, 1st prize, 2017 KIST Main building Remodeling, Invited Competition, Seoul, 1st prize, 2016 Korean Institute of Architects Best 7 of the year, H Music Library, 2016 Korean Institute of Registered Architects Award, H Music Library, 2016 The Grand Prize, Seoul Architecture Prize, H Music Library, 2015 University of Seoul ‘Centennial Memorial Hall ‘Competition, 1st prize, 2015 Maison de la Corée Invited Competition, CIUP, France, with Canale3, Aumlee, 1st prize, 2015 Korean Institute of Registered Architects Award, Kangnam Social Housing, 2014 Korean Institute of Architects Best 7 of the year, K guest house, 2014 Excellence prize, Seoul Architecture Prize, K guest house, 2014 Korean Institute of Registered Architects Award, SSU Student Union, 2013 Eunpyeong Housing SH Corporation, Seoul, Cowork, 1st prize, 2013 Korean Institute of Architects Best 7 of the year, SSU Student Union, 2012 Seoul Architecture Prize, SSU Student Union, 1st prize, 2012 KIST Global Guest House, Invited Competition, Seoul, 1st prize, 2011 International Invited Competition for Gangnam District Housing, Seoul, Cowork, 1st prize, 2010 Hannam New Town Masterplan Competition, Seoul, 1st prize, 2009 KIST Seoul Masterplan + L4 Competition, Seoul, 2nd prize, 2009 KIST branch Masterplan Competition, Jeollabukdo, 2nd prize, 2009 SSU Student’s Center Competition, Seoul, 1st prize, 2008 Barbara Cappochin foundation Prize, International section, Best Works, Italy, 2007 Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard, 2007 Korean Institute of Registered Architects Award, Arumdri Media, 2007 International Masterplan Competition for Public Administration Town, Korea, Honorable mention, 2007 Gyeonggi Architects Award, I Like Dalki, 2005 Seoul Architecture Award, Ssamziegil, 2005 Korean Institute of Registered Architects Award, Ssamziegil, 2005 AIA Baltimore Design Awards, Honorable mention, Ssamziegil, 2005 AIA Maryland Design Awards, Merit award, Ssamziegil, 2005 Korean Institute of Architects Special Award, Cheong Hansook Memorial, 2005 Social Welfare Facilities Competition, LH, 1st prize, 2004 AIA-NY Award, I Like Dalki, USA, 2004 50th Progressive Architecture Award, with Cho Slade Architecture, USA, 2003 Traditional Cultural Center competition, Cheonju, 1st prize, 1999

Exhibitions • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Moongyu Choi Professor, Yonsei University Born in 1961, Received B. Arch & Master of Engineering from Yonsei University, and Master of Architecture from Columbia University. Worked in Toyo Ito Architects, Hanul Architects and Group See. In 1999 founded Ga.A Architects. Currently he is a professor of architecture and engineering at Yonsei University.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Invited at the 11th & 9th Venice Biennale, the 7th Sao Paulo International Biennial of Architecture, Shenzhen and HongKong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, Awarded 50th Progressive Architecture Award, AIA-NY Award, AIA Baltimore Award, AIA Maryland Award, Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard, Korean Institute of Registered Architects Award, Korean Institute of Architects Award, Seoul Architecture Award.

• • • • •

‘The Self Evolving City’, UIA 2017, SEMA, Seoul, 2017 ‘KIA Convention & Exhibition 2017’, Seoul 284, Seoul, 2017 ‘Sections of Autonomy Six Korean Architects’, Rome, Milano, Napoli, Italy, 2017 ‘A Certain Image of the Museum that you can conceive of’ MMCA Gwacheon, Korea, 2016 Urban Revival, SAF, Seoul, 2015 ‘Seoul: Towards a Meta-City’, Seoul Architecture Festival, DDP, Seoul, Korea, 2014 ‘Mun(gate), Communated boundaries’ exhibition, Arumjigi, Seoul, Korea, 2014 ‘Seoul: Towards a Meta-City’, Aedes, Berlin, Germany, 2014 Eastern Promises, MAK, Vienna, Austria, 2013 Home for all, LIFU, Japan, 2011 Paju Book City phase 2 Exhibition, 8th bridge, Paju, 2011 New Trends of Architecture,Museu do Oriente,Lisbon,Portugal/Milli Reasurans Art Gallery,Istanbul,2010 New Trajectories Convergent Flux: Korea, GSD, Massachusetts, 2010 Contemplating the Void, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2010 Megacity Networks, MOCA, Seoul, Korea, 2009 New Trends of Architecture, Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata, Japan, 2009 Megacity Networks, MEA, Tallinn, Estonia / Espai Picasso, Barcelona, Spain 2009 Architecture: A User’s Manual, Seoul Design Olympic, Seoul, 2009 Maximum house, Minimum dwelling, Coex, Seoul, 2009 11th International Exhibition of Architecture, Korean Pavilion, the 11th Venice Biennale, 2008 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale, Shenzhen, 2007 By_Product, Choi Moongyu + Jang Yoongyoo, Seoul, 2007 Megacity Networks, DAM, Frankfurt, 2007 Invited the 7th São Paulo International Biennial of Architecture, Sao Paulo, 2007 Door handle Exhibition, Lock museum, Seoul, 2007 Architecture Now in Korea. Kookmin University, Seoul, 2007 Furniture Exhibition, Lock museum, Seoul, 2006 KIA Convention & Exhibition, Seoul, 2005 Architecture Exhibition PAJU BOOK CITY, Aedes Gallery, Berlin, 2005 Invited the 9th International Exhibition of Architecture, the 9th Venice Biennale, 2004 Heyri Art Valley 2nd Exhibition, Paju, 2003 Heyri Art Valley Exhibition, Songgok Gallery, Seoul, 2002 Paju Book City 2nd Exhibition, Paju, 2002 Living Design Fair, Seoul, 2001

Questionology in Architecture

Questionology in Architecture Ga.A Architects + Moongyu Choi

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9 782955 998137

Ga.A Architects + Moongyu Choi

ISBN 9782955998137

Questionology in Architecture Ga.A Architects +

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