Seunghoon Lee since 2015Curriculum Vitae
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Culture / 2016

Wangsan-ro Community Centre

What is a boundary in architecture?

Location
Seoul, South Korea
Typology
Culture
Status
Student project
Year
2016
A community bath with blurred boundaries
A community bath with blurred boundaries

This project transforms an existing building on Wangsan-ro 9-gil in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, into a community bath. What kind of shared space might bring together long-term residents, local craftspeople, traditional-market users and new residents arriving through redevelopment? Brass frames, glass and water blur the building’s solid boundaries through reflection and refraction. In spaces that change with light and the movement of people, we reconsider what community can mean.

Wangsan-ro Community Centre — image 1

Connecting a changing neighbourhood

Small craft businesses and the traditional market have shaped everyday life in Yongdu-dong. As redevelopment brings in new residents, the project asks how a community facility can do more than gather people in one place: it can help them discover shared interests. A centre for a fixed group becomes an open setting for exchange between communities.

Wangsan-ro 9-gil site analysis
Wangsan-ro 9-gil site analysis
Wangsan-ro Community Centre — From a closed centre to an open community
From a closed centre to an open community
Wangsan-ro Community Centre — Concept for a community space that connects across boundaries
Concept for a community space that connects across boundaries

Blurring the boundary

Exchange between communities requires more than rooms enclosed by clear walls. Rather than removing boundaries, the project makes their perception change continuously. Light superimposes brass frames on glass, while reflection and transparency overlap as the viewer moves. Instead of opening towards a distant landscape like a conventional outdoor bath, this bath draws its atmosphere from the courtyard and its ambiguous edges.

From spatial boundaries to time

Time and movement are added to boundaries defined by lines, planes and volumes. Reflections and refractions in glass and water shift with the position of people and changing light. Three assemblies explore different depths and visual effects: double-layered flat glass, double-layered fragmented glass and tilted single glass.

Studying boundaries beyond lines, planes and volumes
Studying boundaries beyond lines, planes and volumes
Light, people and glass: change over time
Light, people and glass: change over time
Reflections shaped by the position and angle of glass
Reflections shaped by the position and angle of glass

Three boundaries around a courtyard

A new mass strengthens the courtyard within the existing building, and the space is divided into three zones. A thick outer wall creates a sense of enclosure. Between two layers of glass, overlapping reflections form the most fluid zone. The thin innermost boundary opens towards the courtyard, allowing an outdoor experience from within a protected interior.

Design development
Existing building · Added mass · Courtyard · Trisection · Three zones

Plans and sections

Ground-floor plan
Ground-floor plan
First-floor plan
First-floor plan
Second-floor plan
Second-floor plan
Third-floor plan
Third-floor plan
Courtyard and bathing spaces · Section 1
Courtyard and bathing spaces · Section 1
Layered glass boundaries and vertical organisation · Section 2
Layered glass boundaries and vertical organisation · Section 2
Wangsan-ro Community Centre — image 15
Bathing spaces seen through layered glass and brass frames
Wangsan-ro Community Centre — image 16
Wangsan-ro Community Centre — image 17

Credits

  • 2016, Design Studio III