Hi! Hill
Type
Adaptive Reuse / Cultural Complex
Location
Sejong, Korea
Year
2021
Collaborators
-
This project transforms the structural framework of a former public bathhouse into a new cultural complex, while expanding the building to accommodate additional programs. During this process, placing parking between the retained structure and the new extension would have divided the site and weakened the connection between its spaces.
To resolve this issue, a continuous sloped plane is inserted across the site. Parking is accommodated beneath the plane, while its upper surface becomes a publicly accessible landscape. This strategy addresses the area’s shortage of both parking and green space, while physically and spatially connecting the entire complex. The slope functions not only as circulation, but also as an elevated public ground that supports walking, rest, exhibitions, performances, and other outdoor activities.
The project also introduces exhibition, education, and creative programs alongside an artist residency. By allowing artists to live, work, and engage with the surrounding community, the residency establishes a continuous cycle of cultural production rather than relying on temporary events alone. Through the reuse of the existing structure, the integration of parking and landscape, and a program designed for long-term activity, the project proposes a sustainable cultural anchor for the neighborhood.
The site for this project contains an aging bathhouse building, and the massing strategy begins by tracing back to its original form. The later facade additions are removed to expose the bathhouse's original structure (1, 2), and the excess volume accumulated through unregulated additions over time is stripped away (3). New volume is then added as an extension, sized according to programmatic requirements (4).This site sits in an area that is chronically short of both parking and green space. The challenge was that placing a parking lot between the existing building and the new construction would physically sever the two, making them difficult to connect (5). To resolve this, a single deck is inserted between the two buildings — it functions as the connective path linking the existing and new structures, while simultaneously providing the parking the site lacks below, and the green space it lacks above (6–10). In other words, one architectural element becomes the device that resolves three problems at once: connection, parking, and landscape.
