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The land of the building adjoining the main street (the well-formed commercial area) was in the form of the reversed letter of "L". It was not so wide for pedestrians; easy access to the building, for which I felt sorry to the client. We proposed the way of using this narrow land to attract more pedestrians, but it was excluded from the agenda because it meant a reduction of a lot of rentable space. First of all, it is important to maximize the rentable area by securing as much coverage and floor area ratio as possible. We satisfied the client's desire first and then infiltrated our desire into it inch by inch. At the time, we were just like diligent bees incessantly flying over flowers to get their desired honey. This was the way that we got our so tasty and authentic honey.

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Once enough area was secured, the volume was naturally decided on right away, except that some device was needed on the narrow land adjoining the main road to attract pedestrians. This narrow land becomes a road that traverses the ground back and fro or is divided into the two roads: one for crossing the ground to get behind the building and the other for climbing the building to rise far into the sky. The door to the road is always open, sometimes serving as a short cut for pedestrians to cross the street or sometimes as a small yard for pedestrians' brief rest.

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The client's demand that the building sides all should be built with curtain-walled windows put us at a little bit embarrassment. The side overlooking the Han River was fit for the demand to some degree, but the other sides were likely to create a little bit disconcerting situation in which one would be forced to see the backward appearance of the behind building adjoining the nearby land. The land was located in an area of no interest, and according to the deliberation criteria, the building had to have a less than 60% of window area. Laws are sometimes a good means to persuade clients. We decided to find a way to let the client know that the curtain-walled windows are not appropriate regarding the laws or the land situation and to bypass his demand. It was the client's single demand that the front side of the building should have a window, and we wondered what the fundamental reason for the demand was.

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For the client, the windows were a way of exhibiting the city (or the surrounding landscape). He wanted to see them all - the Han River at the frontal side of the building, the nearby streets, and the neighboring buildings. We needed not design the windows as a means of exhibiting the city. We modified the sizes of the windows according to the direction in which you saw them from each of the corner faces of the building and accentuated the sense of speed of the panorama when you get to each of the floors through the vertical traffic line.

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As a result, the windows get smaller as they are going backward from the side overlooking the Han River. When you get to each of the floors, the surrounding appearances are unfolding like a panorama and the perspective drawing phenomenon is further distorted as the sizes of the windows of each side vary..

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A shy yet sensual desire of seeing over there, with the eyes slightly covered with the fingers, is being expressed. As all these desires are fused into one, the building softly thumbs up. To someone, it may be the highest compliment or an expression of the encouragement saying, "You all worked hard. You did a great job."

Architects : B.U.S Architecture Location : Yonggang-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea Lead Architects : Jihyun Park, Seonghak Cho, Byungyup Lee Area : 2315.0 m2 Project Year : 2016 Photographs : Kyung Roh Manufacturers : Jeil Brick, Eagon Designers : Jihyun Park, Seonghak Cho, Byungyup Lee, Hyemee Park

BUS Architecture

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“There is a small gap which arises between the house and the village. It fills ‘the gap’in between its people” The project is located in Bokjeong-dong, South Korea. Being an area that has a couple of universities nearby, a demand for student studio-type accommodations have significantly risen in the past years. Being contiguous with Seoul, the office working, white-collared demographic has also joined the frenzy and has been a factor in the demand for residential units as well. Because of this, the area has become very crowded with multi-dwelling units, studios and student accommodations.

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The typical character of high density residential areas in the capital such as the monotonous and generic looking units – which were designed for maximum profit and efficiency of space has left residents with living spaces that were poorly designed to support the ideal lifestyle and routine. The concept of the Gap house is to support new life style of the young, single demographic household by sharing common spaces such as the living room, kitchen, and dining area. Archihood WXY focused on a design that creates a balance between the common and private spaces deeply considering the ‘share house’ amenity. The balance is coordinated by the outdoor space which is defined to ’The Gap’ – a design which helps bring in nature to the residents and encourage interaction and mingling amongst housemates.

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One large sized ‘Gap’ is a courtyard - a sharing open space through easily accessible pilotis. The front and rear façade get advantage of air ventilation and natural sunlight from the south through ‘the Gap’. The courtyard is originally inspired by a low wooden bench with deep, green shade under Korean zelkova where villagers used to gather. There also become a sense of place where people who walk the ally like to stop by and sit to break and talk each other. The smaller scaled ‘Gap’ represents the balconies of the six units. Designed to open up to the outdoor & courtyard, residents can feel nature and communicate with the neighbors. Typically, balconies placed in front of the house have caused serious privacy issues because of very close distance from neighbor. To prevent this, balconies are designed to be more linear in shape and are placed deep inside each of the units to keep onlookers from outside from looking in.

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The courtyard makes this possible to design. In addition, each floor balcony is laid-out in a crisscross pattern to further enhance the privacy between floors. The Gap house invites people who like to breath and enjoy peace of mind by escaping from their busy and complicated city life.

Architects : Archihood WXY Location : Bokjeong-dong, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Architects in Charge : Woohyun Kang, Youngjin Kang Area : 596.0 sqm Project Year : 2015

Archihood WXY

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Acne Studios opens its first flagship store in Korea, designed by acclaimed architect Sophie Hicks Seoul has a highly distinctive character. The narrow, winding side streets of Gangnam and Cheongdam house some of the most exclusive shops in the South Korean capital. It is in this setting that Acne Studios unveils its new flagship store on 19 September 2015.

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“With our architect Sophie Hicks in London, our partner Shinsegae in Seoul and our HQ in Stockholm, it certainly has not been an easy process to build this house together from scratch. That said, I think we are all very proud and excited about the result.” Mikael Schiller, Chairman Acne Studios. The standalone building plays with the contrast between modest discretion and forceful attitude. Viewed from the outside it is a restrained and elegant lightbox. Once inside, the visitor finds that the box conceals a heavy, concrete structure consisting of four pairs of columns holding up the roof and upper floor. A floating concrete staircase winds around one of the columns.

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There is no decoration. The concrete bears the imprint of rough timber such as that used to make boardwalks to the beach in the Stockholm archipelago; and Acne Studios’ clothing is shown against softly reflective metal walls, freestanding in the open space; but there is not a single decorative finish of a traditional kind.

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The concrete will bear the imprint of rough timber, and the collections will be shown against softly reflective metal walls, freestanding in the open space. Juxtaposing the concrete and steel, the building sits on vegetation typically found in the Swedish archipelago: including, of course, wild strawberries. The Acne Studios Cheongdam store occupies 230 sqm and will carry men’s and women’s ready-to-wear and denim as well as accessories and footwear. In addition, a specially designed limited edition unisex sweater will be sold exclusively in store to celebrate the opening.

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This is the structure of the building. It is a rectangular building on two floors, both of rough concrete, with four pairs of concrete columns holding up the roof and the upper floor. Around one of these columns winds a floating concrete staircase. Once upstairs, you realise that there is something else about this building that is a little bit strange. As you look down and about, you notice that the rough, lumpen, concrete structure is entirely separate from the translucent walls that enclose it; that it sits inside its elegant box as if in a display case.

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A102C Concrete Staircase

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Ground floor plan

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First floor plan

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Roof plan

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Section

Photography is by Annabel Elston.

Swedish culture prizes modesty and discretion. By contrast, Acne Studios’ designs are forceful and exude attitude. Our building reflects this contrast. Viewed from the outside, it is a restrained, rather elegant lightbox: translucent and ghostly but, in essence, plain and simple. Appearances, though, can be deceptive; and so they are, in this case. As soon as you enter, you realise that while it may only be a box, it is a box concealing a heavy, brooding, concrete monster.

Sophie Hicks







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