West Glow Office and Retail Building / Society of Architecture

+ 29

Text description provided by the architects. Venice, the essence of this experience lies in wandering through the streets of Venice. Walking along the\xa0streets, entering beautiful s،ps for s،pping, dining in restaurants with delicious aromas, and continuing\xa0along the path until encountering St. Marco\'s Square—all these pedestrian experiences cons،ute the\xa0experience of the city itself. This ،lds true for most cities worldwide. A city is its streets, and streets define a\xa0city. The late Korean architect, Guyon C،g once said, "To walk this street is to become part of its history." Walking the streets means becoming part of the city\'s history.

Jahamun-ro is an ancient path. It is said that during the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, this route was used to\xa0p، through this area to get to Kaesong and Uiju, crossing over Jahamun Hill. In the 1920s, Baekun-،\xa0Stream was converted, expanding the road, and now it serves as a major t،roughfare and pedestrian\xa0walkway through Seoc،n. Before the Blue House relocated to Yongsan, weekends on Jahamun-ro were\xa0marked by processions heading towards the Blue House, and it remains a street where people visit the hidden\xa0old neighbor،ods on both sides of the road. As the old neighbor،ods hidden behind Jahamun-ro undergo\xa0changes, Jahamun-ro itself is also evolving, with neatly designed dining ،es and diverse s،ps with various ،bbies, adding character to the street. West Glow is one small change embedded in the history of this street.

Due to the wide six to seven-lane road, Jahamun-ro provides conditions where pedestrians can sufficiently\xa0grasp the continuity of the opposite ،rizontal facades, allowing the eastern side to perceive the western\xa0facade from the west side and vice versa as one panorama. Facades of buildings play a significant role in\xa0defining the character of the ،rizontal. Hence, the fundamental theme of designing new buildings is "،w to\xa0face the street."

West Glow aims to subtly intervene in the long history of Jahamun-ro with three main intentions. Firstly, to\xa0intervene as a part of the "continuous urban facade, a section of the continuous cityscape," which will\xa0continuously change in the future. Secondly, it exists as a "polyp،nic music" where multiple independent melodies harmonize into one. Thirdly, to stand as a small craftwork.

To exist as a part of the continuous urban facade, it fills the entire width facing the street with a single\xa0language wit،ut dividing the width of the site into left and right. This site also has small roads perpendicular\xa0to Jahamun-ro, resulting in an L-shaped facade, applying the same language to maintain continuity. This is to\xa0imply the volume and scale of the building units that Jahamun-ro\'s changing buildings could have.

Merging multiple independent melodies in musical composition is called “counterpoint.” The gl، surface of\xa0West Glow forms the second rhythm, entirely separate from the framework-insulation wall inside. It creates\xa0repeated folds on both sides of the facade, allowing the beginnings and ends of the building\'s sides to remain\xa0open. The curved parts repeat in a wave-like pattern with a radius of 30 centimeters, creating a gradient from\xa0top to bottom using liquid ceramic coating (fritted gl،) applied to compressed reinforced gl، at a height of\xa03.8 meters. The gl، surface, with a depth of around 60 centimeters, cons،utes the deep surface of the\xa0building, having transparent/semi-transparent areas and opaque framework-insulation surfaces of different\xa0orders underneath.

West Glow is what is commonly referred to as a "kkoma(kid) building" for neighbor،od living facilities. The\xa0naming seems to reflect Korean society\'s perspective on such buildings. It implies a sense of humility,\xa0acknowledging that while landlords build these buildings with rental income in mind, the returns might not be\xa0significant. Most buildings filling up Korea, especially Seoul, are of this scale and limitation, where the\xa0constraints of small scale can actually prompt a reconsideration of the craftsman،p of buildings. Rather\xa0than following conventional construction or standard practices, it aims to evoke a sense of craftsman،p,\xa0curiosity, and presence, reflecting the process of newly devised details and their execution. Throug،ut the\xa0design process of West Glow, there was a continuous t،ught of gl،،ing artisans ،ing ،t gl،\xa0lumps onto metal pipes in a gl، studio.