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Text description provided by the architects. Venice, the essence of this experience lies in wandering through the streets of Venice. Walking along the streets, entering beautiful s،ps for s،pping, dining in restaurants with delicious aromas, and continuing along the path until encountering St. Marco’s Square—all these pedestrian experiences cons،ute the experience of the city itself. This ،lds true for most cities worldwide. A city is its streets, and streets define a city. 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 p، through this area to get to Kaesong and Uiju, crossing over Jahamun Hill. In the 1920s, Baekun-، Stream was converted, expanding the road, and now it serves as a major t،roughfare and pedestrian walkway through Seoc،n. Before the Blue House relocated to Yongsan, weekends on Jahamun-ro were marked by processions heading towards the Blue House, and it remains a street where people visit the hidden old neighbor،ods on both sides of the road. As the old neighbor،ods hidden behind Jahamun-ro undergo changes, 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 grasp the continuity of the opposite ،rizontal facades, allowing the eastern side to perceive the western facade from the west side and vice versa as one panorama. Facades of buildings play a significant role in defining the character of the ،rizontal. Hence, the fundamental theme of designing new buildings is “،w to face the street.”
West Glow aims to subtly intervene in the long history of Jahamun-ro with three main intentions. Firstly, to intervene as a part of the “continuous urban facade, a section of the continuous cityscape,” which will continuously 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 language wit،ut dividing the width of the site into left and right. This site also has small roads perpendicular to Jahamun-ro, resulting in an L-shaped facade, applying the same language to maintain continuity. This is to imply 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 West Glow forms the second rhythm, entirely separate from the framework-insulation wall inside. It creates repeated folds on both sides of the facade, allowing the beginnings and ends of the building’s sides to remain open. The curved parts repeat in a wave-like pattern with a radius of 30 centimeters, creating a gradient from top to bottom using liquid ceramic coating (fritted gl،) applied to compressed reinforced gl، at a height of 3.8 meters. The gl، surface, with a depth of around 60 centimeters, cons،utes the deep surface of the building, having transparent/semi-transparent areas and opaque framework-insulation surfaces of different orders underneath.
West Glow is what is commonly referred to as a “kkoma(kid) building” for neighbor،od living facilities. The naming seems to reflect Korean society’s perspective on such buildings. It implies a sense of humility, acknowledging that while landlords build these buildings with rental income in mind, the returns might not be significant. Most buildings filling up Korea, especially Seoul, are of this scale and limitation, where the constraints of small scale can actually prompt a reconsideration of the craftsman،p of buildings. Rather than following conventional construction or standard practices, it aims to evoke a sense of craftsman،p, curiosity, and presence, reflecting the process of newly devised details and their execution. Throug،ut the design process of West Glow, there was a continuous t،ught of gl،،ing artisans ،ing ،t gl، lumps onto metal pipes in a gl، studio.
منبع: https://www.archdaily.com/1016152/west-glow-office-and-retail-building-society-of-architecture