lima PERU
suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.
alejandro vicente SOTO: The Hyper densification of Seoul Has led to its infrastructural proliferation thus the pedestrian realm has been overtaken leading to Seoul becoming a city adapting to the occupation of subterranean public zones, as a result the public domain operates through micro-spatialities; “Bang Culture.”[1] The premise of the project then becomes about adding sensorial experience to this underground realm and connecting it to the street.
The examination of this new underground frontier is carried through the expansion of micro-spatiality through Korean Bang culture. The importance on Korean Bang culture is that it has multiple embedded sensations related to its spatial and programmatic characteristics. The proposed study is a JJim-Jil Bang (Korean Bath House) mixed with other recreational typologies. The main focus is to unite them to provide a leisure cluster that aims to re-introduce Korea’s micro spatial identity back into the built urban fabric.
[1] Bang*: The Korean Bang, roughly translated as ‘room’. While the room has traditionally been considered a walled segment in domestic space, the bang has infiltrated the Korean Urban landscape of commercialized space with enterprises such as Pc Bang, Norae Bang, Soju Bang, JjimJil Bang …
sP: What or who influenced this project?
avS: Design Tutors Andrew Yau and Andrei Martin (Urban Future Organisation).
sP: What were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?
avS: Above and beyond, Axwell, John Digweed, Calle 13.
sP: Whose work is currently on your radar?
avS: Kokkugia, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Greg Lynn, MAD, Zaha Hadid, Urban Future Organisation.
Additional credits and links:
This design project was completed in my first year of post-graduate diploma in architecture at the University of Westminster, Design studio 13 under the tutorage of Andrew Yau and Andrei Martin.